Renault hopes Singapore a "wake-up call" for Palmer

Palmer's future at the French car manufacturer had been the subject of intense speculation over recent weeks, as Renault pondered making an early swoop for 2018 driver Carlos Sainz.

But with Palmer standing firm that he would not be moving aside before the end of the campaign, the situation subsequently calmed down when the British driver produced his best result in F1 with sixth place at the Marina Bay circuit last time out.

However, Abiteboul is firm that Palmer is now expected to keep bringing points home to help Renault's constructors' championship ambitions.

Asked by Motorsport.com about if there had been any regrets about not keeping Palmer in the frame for next year after what he showed in Singapore, Abiteboul said: "Jolyon is with us, I want him to get good results, and there are no regrets.

"There are regrets about all the results that did not materialise until now, either because he didn't have the pace, or because we also put him at a bit of a disadvantage with reliability: like Silverstone and Spa. There are races where we let him down.

"However, there clearly is an obvious lack of pace relative to Nico [Hulkenberg], independently from reliability issues.

"But I'd like Singapore to be a wake-up call for him, I'd like him to score points again in Malaysia. In any case, the car will be able to score points in Malaysia."

Renault is currently seventh in the constructors' championship with 42 points, and has ambitions to move past Toro Rosso on 52 and Williams on 59.

To do that, Abiteboul is adamant that he needs both Palmer and Hulkenberg to be scoring at each race.

"Absolutely," he said. "Seventeen points off Williams, it's completely feasible, but it will always be small points - from seventh to 10th in normal conditions. It means we need to have both drivers in there."