How successful Formula One’s rule book reshuffle has proved will certainly be clearer once the long straights of Shanghai have tested the new generation of cars on Sunday. A significantly different circuit to the opening round at Melbourne’s Albert Park, it places F1’s restart under the spotlight again. But somewhat off centre stage, the importance of making the right impression this season is recognised as being just as crucial by Jolyon Palmer.
Palmer is, alongside Lewis Hamilton, one of two British drivers on the grid and the pair are very much at opposite ends of their career spectrums. The three-times world champion made it clear last week that he feels his achievements speak for themselves but for Palmer, 2017 is all about making a point.
In Shanghai, the Renault driver remained unequivocal about his ambition, despite being sent to the back of the grid for ignoring yellow flags in qualifying for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix. “I am here because I want to be an F1 world champion,” he says. “I am motivated to prove myself. I am motivated to give a good account of myself, to show what I can do and fight to be one of the best drivers in the world.”
The 26-year-old is now in his second the season in F1 having been kept on by Renault, which was a surprise to many but was a sound decision. He had been expected to be outgunned by his team-mate, Kevin Magnussen, and while the Dane did outscore him seven points to one, Palmer outdrove him in the second half of the season – when the crucial decisions on seats were being made. The real cause of surprise was that Magnussen was still seen as being the better driver.
Perception of himself and his career is something else Palmer intends to address. He would almost certainly not be in the sport but for his father, Jonathan. The former F1 driver runs a variety of circuits and organised various series, most notably Formula Palmer Audi and the FIA Formula Two Championship – both of which Palmer competed in on his way to F1. The suggestion that he enjoyed some form of unfair advantage has led to reports that Palmer is unhappy to talk about his route into the sport, which he insists has never been the case .
“He has been really important,” he says of his father. “For me to be where I am now I owe a lot to him, he has the history of racing in F1 – I got a lot of my racing passion from him.”
Palmer concedes that his father has helped him financially but no drivers make it to the top nowadays without backing of one kind or another. As for having been favoured on the track, he believes the opposite was the case. “Those championships were very cost effective,” he says. “Everyone had the same car, you had one mechanic, there was data sharing across every car. There was no way I could have an advantage and the way that my father is he made sure that there was no hint of me having an advantage.”
He cites an example from Formula Two. “At Monza I took pole in one qualifying and won the race,” he explains. “Then another driver said: ‘Well he’s got the best engine’ – so they took my engine out and put in a different one and I still took pole and won the race the next day. Any other driver would not get an engine change from one day to the next because a driver complains but that’s happened because of my father’s role in it.”
There followed a difficult year in his debut season in GP2 in 2011 with Arden, one poor campaign he believes has shaped opinions to this day. “I came into GP2 young and inexperienced and it took me a while to get on top of it,” he says. “Having said that I had one tough year, the next three years I won at least one race every year including the championship in year four. Probably that poor year is giving people a more negative perception than is the reality.”
Better was to follow. In 2014, he won the titlefor DAMS with a record points score, finishing outside the points only once and with one retirement. A role with Lotus as test driver followed in 2015 and a full drive for Renault a year later.
This season opened with a troublesome weekend in Melbourne. He crashed in practice, retired from the race with a brake issue and was frustrated after what proved to be an anti-roll bar problem following the repairs had left the car unmanageable. There were further travails on Saturday after he was penalised for failing to slow sufficiently following Antonio Giovinazzi’s crash as he exited the final corner. Palmer claimed he slowed down, but the stewards took an alternative view, stating that the Renault driver made no attempt to slow sufficiently following Giovinazzi’s crash. A grid penalty of five places and three penalty points is Palmer’s punishment.
The rest of the season is shaping up to be something of a challenge. “I have quite high standards for myself,” he says. “Showing well to my team-mate is an important element but if I can get to the end of the season and be very happy with the job I have done and think there was not a lot I could have done better then whatever the outcome for me that will have been a successful season.”
