JOLYON Palmer will head to Azerbaijan this weekend hoping for a change in fortunes after a luckless Canadian Grand Prix.

The Briton, who drives for Enstone’s Lotus team, was forced to retire with a water leak on lap 17, by which time he had been in two other incidents.

He said: “I received some contact from Carlos Sainz on the first lap then I was stuck behind one of the Manors early on, but once I was in clean air my pace felt good.

“I’m happy with the car so I’m looking forward to Baku. Certainly, a little bit of luck wouldn’t go amiss too.”

Teammate Kevin Magnussen also had little to shout about in Montreal, finishing 16th in a race won by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

Sean Walkinshaw was a frustrated figure as the fifth round of the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship at Silverstone was cut short due to heavy rain and thunderstorms.

After a dry race on Saturday, which saw Chipping Norton-based SWR’s Jan Jonck, Thomas Maxwell and Eugene Denyssen all finish in the top ten, torrential downpours hampered Sunday’s racing.

After the trio came 12th, 16th and 14th respectively in the second race, the third was subsequently abandoned with standing water on the track.

Team owner Walkinshaw said: “It was not the weekend we hoped for, but there are some positives to take away – especially from race one where all three guys did a great job.

“We had high hopes for race two, but it didn’t work out unfortunately, and although it was a shame not to get the third race the officials made the right decision.”