Jolyon Palmer is beginning to suspect that a chassis problem may be behind his recent struggle to match his Renault teammates' pace in 2016.

After a solid Formula 1 race debut in Melbourne, the British rookie struggled notably in China - finishing dead last - and he says that those troubles have carried over into Russia.

"I am having the same problems," he said after Friday practice, where in the morning session he was even soundly beaten by new team test driver Sergey Sirotkin.

Palmer, the son of former F1 driver Jonathan Palmer, said that his main problem is sudden oversteer.

"You go into a corner and don't know how the car is going to react. It's the same situation as in China, which went on all weekend - I don't feel confident in the car because the balance is constantly changing," he added.

Palmer said that after an unpleasant Chinese GP debrief, Renault identified some potential avenues including trying the old Melbourne setup, "but nothing has changed".

A similar situation has taken place at Sauber early this season, when Felipe Nasr complained constantly about the handling of his chassis until the Swiss team gave him a new monocoque to use in Russia.