JOLYON Palmer could not hide his delight after securing his first points of the season and best finish in Formula 1 in an eventful Singapore Grand Prix.

The Briton, who drives for the Enstone-based Renault team, discovered before the race that he would be replaced by Carlos Sainz in 2018, but finished sixth at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Palmer benefited from a first lap collision, which saw Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel crash into teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

But he drove a strong, clean race to finish in the top six.

Palmer said: “I’m so happy, it’s been a long time coming but everything fell into place.

“It was a tricky race with the drama at the start and the heavy rain, but the circumstances put us in a good place to score some points.

“We had a good strategy, good pit-stops and the car was good in the wet conditions.”

Teammate Nico Hulkenberg was as high as third early on in the race, before being forced to retire on lap 48 with a technical issue.

l SEAN Walkinshaw says his team are relishing the 2018 TCR UK Championship after the calender was published.

Chipping Norton-based outfit SWR will start the season at Silverstone on March 31.

The team intend to field two Honda Civic Type-R cars in the championship.

Walkinshaw said: “It’s great news for the teams planning to compete in TCR UK that the provisional calendar has been revealed so early. It gives everyone the maximum possible time to prepare and put plans in place for 2018.”