2014 GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer joins the grid for 2016 for a deserved shot at F1. The son of Dr Jonathan Palmer but probably quicker than he ever was. He has a younger brother named Will Palmer who is BRDC F4 champ and probably quicker than him but that's for a future debate.
Palmer's pedigree is questioned by some due to that fact he spent 4 years in GP2 before winning the title but when you see that he joined the series as a 20 year old, and had only done 2 years of single setters prior, it's easy to see he did his development within the series. Anyone who saw his impressive 2014 championship will have no doubts this boy is a racing driver. He showed he was the master of consistency and very good at being in the right place at the right time tactically. I would say he was a better defensive driver than an attacking driver but is always fun to watch. Something that the media obviously agree with as he won the journalist's driver of the year award 2014.
With Palmer stepping on to the grid it does reignite a simmering little rivalry between himself and Sauber's Felipe Nasr. The two were GP2 teammates in 2013 and whilst Nasr was on average the quicker he scored no wins whilst Palmer was able to notch up some P1s. In 2014 they were no longer team mates but title rivals and whilst the fight was close for a while Palmer got the upper hand and in fact completely phsyced Nasr out mentally to the point where the Brazilian just spent his time ranting on team radio rather than racing. Palmer's post race podium interview where he said Nasr needs to 'stop whinging' whilst Felipe was standing next to him was very fun to watch. No love lost between the two so will be interesting to see what happens when they're on the same piece of road this year.
Palmer is a quick driver with a good head on his shoulders but I'm not really sure he has what it takes to be much more that a top end midfield guy. Think Johnny Herbert rather than Damon Hill. Unfortunately due to the state of his Renault car he will most likely not get a chance to prove us wrong. I expect to see lots of him walking away from parked cars with smoking engines. How he holds up against the much fancied Kevin Magnuersen will be an interesting one though.
Palmer's pedigree is questioned by some due to that fact he spent 4 years in GP2 before winning the title but when you see that he joined the series as a 20 year old, and had only done 2 years of single setters prior, it's easy to see he did his development within the series. Anyone who saw his impressive 2014 championship will have no doubts this boy is a racing driver. He showed he was the master of consistency and very good at being in the right place at the right time tactically. I would say he was a better defensive driver than an attacking driver but is always fun to watch. Something that the media obviously agree with as he won the journalist's driver of the year award 2014.
With Palmer stepping on to the grid it does reignite a simmering little rivalry between himself and Sauber's Felipe Nasr. The two were GP2 teammates in 2013 and whilst Nasr was on average the quicker he scored no wins whilst Palmer was able to notch up some P1s. In 2014 they were no longer team mates but title rivals and whilst the fight was close for a while Palmer got the upper hand and in fact completely phsyced Nasr out mentally to the point where the Brazilian just spent his time ranting on team radio rather than racing. Palmer's post race podium interview where he said Nasr needs to 'stop whinging' whilst Felipe was standing next to him was very fun to watch. No love lost between the two so will be interesting to see what happens when they're on the same piece of road this year.
Palmer is a quick driver with a good head on his shoulders but I'm not really sure he has what it takes to be much more that a top end midfield guy. Think Johnny Herbert rather than Damon Hill. Unfortunately due to the state of his Renault car he will most likely not get a chance to prove us wrong. I expect to see lots of him walking away from parked cars with smoking engines. How he holds up against the much fancied Kevin Magnuersen will be an interesting one though.
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