Renault team boss Frederic Vasseur has said that the French works team have retained Jolyon Palmer to join the incoming Nico Hulkenberg next year for sake of "continuity".
Many have questioned the Palmer re-signing, given that the Briton has been generally outperformed by Dane Magnussen this year and is significantly supported by backers linked with his father, former driver Jonathan Palmer.
However, team boss Frederic Vasseur insists that Palmer fully deserves his place.
"We had planned to decide based on the outcome of the final races, and in several grands prix Jolyon performed at the level of Kevin and achieved excellent results," the Frenchman told Infosport Plus.
"He is developing rapidly and next year even more so we decided to continue.
"Also, we wanted to keep the continuity, because next year's car will be completely new because of the regulations and there are very few tests in the winter."
With Magnussen departing, the former McLaren driver will be unveiled in the coming hours as Romain Grosjean's new teammate at Haas for 2017 and beyond.
