Jolyon Palmer makes his Formula 1 race debut for Renault Sport Formula One Team, after performing Third Driver duties for the previous Enstone iteration of Lotus F1 Team in 2015. He rose to Formula 1 on the back of his 2014 championship-winning GP2 season, as he became the first British driver to win the F1 feeder series since Lewis Hamilton in 2006. Following is an interview with Palmer ahead of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.
Q1: Were you happy with the progress made in Russia?
Palmer: If I'd been asked that question at the end of Friday in Sochi, I'd have said no as that day certainly wasn't going my way. However, the team changed the floor of my car on Friday night and for Saturday onwards the balance felt normal and consistent again, which was a positive for the rest of the weekend and hopefully looking forward too.
Q2: What's the plan for the Spanish Grand Prix?
Palmer: A strong, solid weekend would be nice. We've made progress with the car and I'm happy with the balance and how it drives again. Kevin scored points for the team in Russia so we know what's possible. It's the first race in Europe and at a track we all know really well. I'm pretty pumped-up for a strong weekend.
Q3: What do you think of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya?
Palmer: I've been there many times and it's a track that most Formula 1 drivers know extremely well, even just from the pre-season testing we've already done there this year. From a driving point of view we know exactly what to expect, however it's traditionally the first circuit where you see a lot of updates brought so you can see some differences in relative competitiveness depending on who's got updates, and how well those updates work.
Q4: Lots of fast corners = a physical circuit for the driver?
Palmer: It's certainly one of the more physical circuits as there are a lot of long, fast corners, lots of high lateral Gs that put your neck and your core under strain. For the long corners the aero is really important, and with the DRS on the straight and the tyre degradation we see there, there's potential for a good race.
Q5: Do you like the long fast corners?
Palmer: I prefer quick stuff – a long quick one or a short quick one I really don't mind, as long as you really hang it out and commit hard to it. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has a couple that really take my fancy: turn three's a really long, fast corner, and then turn nine as well is a really good one; it's quick and it's blind to the exit so you really have to commit.
Q6: Any good racing memories from Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya?
Palmer: I had a double podium in 2014 with two second places in the GP2 Series with some good overtakes in two fun races there. It's not been a circuit that's been especially kind to me, but it's a good challenge and one I enjoy.
Q7: What do you think of the city?
Palmer: Barcelona's a cool city. The weather's nice, the atmosphere's always good and it's just a very happening place with great culture. There's also strong enthusiasm for Formula 1.
Jolyon Palmer Bio
Jolyon Palmer makes his Formula 1 race debut for Renault Sport Formula One Team, after performing Third Driver duties for the previous Enstone iteration of Lotus F1 Team in 2015.
He rose to Formula 1 on the back of his 2014 championship-winning GP2 season, as he became the first British driver to win the F1 feeder series since Lewis Hamilton in 2006. Driving for the successful French team DAMS, the now 25-year-old set a new record for the greatest number of points scored in a season with 256 points. He qualified on the front row seven times, won four races (at Bahrain, Monaco, Monza and Sochi) and secured an additional eight podium placings to win the championship with three races to spare.
Prior to GP2, Jolyon enjoyed an outstanding season in the 2010 FIA Formula 2 Championship where he finished runner-up after dominating the first half of the campaign. He pushed eventual champion Dean Stoneman all the way until the final round of the season, scoring five wins, ten podiums and five pole positions.
Key Dates
2015: Formula 1
Jolyon began his Formula 1 career with Lotus F1 Team, undergoing extensive free practice work alongside other Third Driver duties such as a simulator program.
2011-2014: GP2 Series
Champion with four wins, eight podiums and a series record of 256 points and 19 consecutive points finishes in 2014 to round off his GP2 season in style. The Brit had made his GP2 debut back in 2011, scoring a top ten finish on his debut at Abu Dhabi and continued to score highly in his first year. The following year, Jolyon partnered current Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson at the iSport International team. Electrical issues blighted his early season although a change of chassis fired Jolyon to a point-scoring sixth place in Monaco soon after before winning the following sprint race, also in the principality. 2013 proved a good precursor to his championship-winning season, grabbing the feature race victory in Hungary, dominating in Singapore and finishing seventh overall in the standings.
2009-2010: FIA Formula 2 Championship
Jolyon took a best finish of sixth in his first year, and began his second year with victory at Silverstone as he became the first British F2 winner since his father Jonathan at Mugello in 1983. He continued to impress and had the championship lead by the third round at Monza before eventually slipping to second behind Dean Stoneman.
2007-2008: Formula Palmer Audi
Jolyon finished 12th on his debut at Silverstone before improving to take wins at Brands Hatch and Oulton Park. A quad bike injury stopped him finishing his first season but he recovered to challenge for the title in 2008, eventually finishing third after winning at Spa and taking 11 podium finishes.
New floors, new chassis, new parts: Q&A with Renault Sport Formula One Team Chassis Technical Director, Nick Chester
Q1: Was there a revolution in the team's performance in Russia?
Chester: In China there were a lot of factors that worked against us and in contrast, in Russia there were a lot of factors that were beneficial to us. It illustrated the importance of having a completely straightforward weekend with no issues to deal with – whether in the practice sessions or in the race. Getting all the data from practice is important: we did that in Russia so our engineers were better placed to make the best set-up calls. On top of that we were able to show decent race pace and capitalize on the events around us in the race and get a strong result. Kevin drove a brilliant race with other cars breathing down his neck; he did everything he could and seventh was the result. On the other side of the garage, Jolyon was much happier with his car so we're in a good place heading to Spain.
Q2: What elements would you add to the post-race debrief?
Chester: The Sochi Autodrom is unusual in the respect that it's tricky for tires. Getting the tires into the correct temperature operating window is a particular challenge and we saw all teams paying particular attention to this over the weekend. In qualifying there are some approaches used like a fast-slow-fast sequence of laps to try to get both front and rear tires in the correct working window. We made good progress in this regard. Then for the race it was a real positive to see a Melbourne-level of race pace return.
Q3: Jolyon seems to have made good progress with getting his car back to where it should be?
Chester: Jolyon was much happier in his car on Saturday in Sochi and this translated to a stronger performance over the weekend. As part of our assessments to get his car to work better for him we changed the floor, which is a very important aerodynamic aspect of the car. This looks to have delivered what we wanted so a positive step was made. For Spain Jolyon will run with a new chassis – R.S.16-03 which we used at our filming day this week to shake down.
Q4: What else do we have new for Barcelona?
Chester: For the race we have an updated rear wing as well as some updates for the front wing. For the test we have a full raft of things to try; new suspension, further aero updates over various areas of the car, some mods to cooling as well as evaluating the B-spec power unit, so we should have a full two days.
Q5: Is Barcelona likely to be cruel or kind to the team?
Chester: We fared decently in relative terms at pre-season testing there and when you look at the qualities required for a handy car around the circuit there are no initial fears from our side. That's not to say we wouldn't welcome some more downforce, but there's potential as we currently stand.
Renault Sport Formula One Team Chassis Technical Director, Nick Chester
Nick graduated from Cambridge in 1991 to join Simtek Research in vehicle simulation, moving to their Formula 1 entry in 1994. He joined Arrows Grand Prix in 1995, first for vehicle simulation then suspension design before becoming Performance Engineer for Damon Hill and Pedro Diniz ('97) then Race Engineer for Mika Salo and Pedro de la Rosa ('98-'99).
In 2000 his Enstone career began, joining Benetton as Test Engineer to Alexander Wurz, Giancarlo Fisichella and Mark Webber. He later became Performance Engineer for Fisichella ('01) then Jarno Trulli ('02-'04); helping the Italian to his first and only Grand Prix victory in Monaco in 2004.
From 2005 Nick took on the position of Head of Vehicle Performance Group, governing suspension, brakes and simulation. VPG played a key role in bringing both the Constructors' and Drivers' World Championships back to Enstone in the 2005 / 2006 seasons and introducing the 'tuned mass damper' system that would prove a major innovation of the period.
In 2010 he became Head of Performance Systems, overseeing the VPG as well as Control Systems and Dyno operations. Additionally he oversaw the planning and introduction of Enstone's driver in the loop simulator. From 2011 Nick was Engineering Director, responsible for planning and delivery of the race winning E20 and E21. 2013 saw Nick step up to Technical Director and responsibility for design direction and development of E21, E22, E23 and R.S.16.
About Infiniti
Infiniti Motor Company Ltd. is headquartered in Hong Kong with sales operations in over 50 countries. The Infiniti brand was launched in 1989. Its range of premium automobiles is currently built in manufacturing facilities in Japan, the United States, United Kingdom and China. Infiniti plans to also expand manufacturing into Mexico by 2017.
Infiniti design studios are located in Atsugi-Shi near Yokohama, London, San Diego and Beijing.
Infiniti is in the middle of a major product offensive. The brand has been widely acclaimed for its daring design and innovative driver-assistance technologies.
From the 2016 season, Infiniti is a technical partner of the Renault Sport Formula One team, contributing its expertise in hybrid performance.
More information about Infiniti, its Total Ownership Experience® and its industry leading technologies can be found at InfinitiUSA.com. For the latest news on Infiniti, visit InfinitiNews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and see all our latest videos on YouTube.
# # #