INTERVIEW: Jolyon Palmer – The long road to earning a seat in F1

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  • Fresh face: Jolyon Palmer will be on the grid next season.

    He is the only new driver so far confirmed to join Formula One next season and he admits securing that seat has been a long time coming.

    Jolyon Palmer will be Pastor Maldonado’s team-mate at Lotus in 2016 as he replaces Romain Grosjean, who has moved to the new Haas outfit.

    The 24-year-old, who was Lotus’ test driver in 2015, was the first British driver since Lewis Hamilton in 2006 to be crowned GP2 champion but it took him a year before he finally got a place on the F1 grid.

    Sport360 caught up with Palmer at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to discuss his journey towards the pinnacle of motorsport, his hopes for next season and the financial difficulties that are threatening F1.

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    How did it feel when you found out you had an F1 seat for next year?

    It felt incredible because it’s been a very long time coming, I’ve been working so hard, and to get a drive in Formula One is not exactly easy, there’s only 22 (seats) for next year. So it felt incredible and a bit of a relief as well. I’m most looking forward to racing, just the lights going out in Melbourne and to be back in the race start, wheel to wheel with everyone and trying to do some overtakes.

    How would you describe your journey before finally making it into F1?

    Long (laughs). I started driving cars 10 years ago when I was 14. And all the way through, you move up the ranks and you start winning and then every level you move up it gets harder. And you get to GP2, which is the feeder series, and basically everyone in it wants to be in Formula One. And finally I won that last year so I wanted to be racing in F1. But because it’s so hard and there was only 20 seats available, it just wasn’t possible. So I had a year out this year, a test driver year and I gained a lot of experience and worked to be on the grid for next year. When I signed for Lotus to be their test driver, I knew there was a chance to be racing in 2016. But it’s still the same thing really, you need to have the right space at the right time. And luckily there’s a Haas team coming in next year and Romain is going there, leaving a seat open. I was in a good position as their third driver and I finally got promoted.

    From what you’ve witnessed this year as a test driver for Lotus, what parts of F1 took you by surprise?

    It’s intense in every way. It’s a long year with a lot of travel and that’s something I think that can be underestimated when you watch on TV. And then really the biggest difference is just the complexity of everything. You work with so many more people, the attention to detail is huge, and there’s so many different people are looking into maximising aspect of driving the car or even out of the car as well. To be honest that was a bit of an eye-opener. Coming from GP2, we think the level is really high and it is, the drivers are good and the car is good but it’s not a patch on the technology and the level of work here.

    You’ve had a front row seat this year to Lotus’ financial troubles as the sport is clearly getting outrageously expensive. How worrying is it for you, especially with more uncertainty surrounding the pending Renault takeover?

    Of course it’s not nice to have any uncertainties. I’d rather know exactly what’s going to happen. But either way we’re expecting the deal to go through and it’s not going to be Lotus next year. If it doesn’t, there’s a plan B at the moment which is to stay with the Mercedes engine and stay with Lotus. But anyway everyone’s planning for a Renault takeover. For me it’s not an ideal situation but there’s nothing I can do about it. So let’s see what happens. Of course as the years have gone on and the difficulties have become more and more, it’s not nice, not just for me, but everyone here, because it’s their job at the end of the day and it’s very very difficult and you don’t know what’s going to happen next. So hopefully we’re going to have some good news.

    Is it tougher now to get into the sport than any time in the past?

    Yes. I think it’s the hardest time ever to get into F1. Because firstly there’s not enough cars on the grid, even next year 22 is not a lot and 20 years ago there was 30. If there was 30 cars I would be on the grid this year already. Secondly it is so financially driven which is very difficult to breakthrough on the driving front. And if you win GP2 you think you’ve showed everything you can, and last year I got a new points record and won it quite convincingly and it wasn’t enough.

    The problem is that no one leaves F1 at the moment. There’s 20 drivers this year and I think they’re all staying for next year – only the Manor drivers aren’t confirmed and maybe they’re going to stay. So if no one is leaving and not really anymore seats coming – luckily there’s two more for next year – then how does anyone break in?

    What’s your mentality like for next year, do you feel you need to set your expectations in a certain way knowing what you know about the difficulties your team went through this year?

    It’s impossible to say at the moment. I know I want to have a good season myself. At this point next year I want to be proud of what I’ve achieved in the season. But I don’t know what that’s going to be because I don’t know what the team or the car is going to be. We’ll see in February or March what we can expect in terms of results. But the main thing is just to be proud of whatever I put out of the car.

    What has been a personal highlight for you this year?

    Driving an F1 car in Silverstone, my home race, was really special because it’s a track I’ve been driving on for so long. A lot of home support, the crowd was incredible, to be a British driver driving at home was pretty special. So between that and also I think for the team to be on the podium in Spa, Romain did a really good job that weekend. And it was when it was starting to look harder for the team and everything was coming in around us and it was a great result.

    What was it like working with Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado this year, did you get on well with them?

    I get on really well with Pastor and Romain. We had to work well together and Romain has to trust when I jump in instead of him that my feedback is what he would say anyway, which it basically is. So he’d jump in and go straightaway with that setup. And Pastor, I’m team-mates with him next year but we get on well from this year. It’s a good head-start. It’s nice also, not just the drivers, but the rest of the team they’ve been very very helpful. When you’re first coming into F1, it’s a tough environment but they’ve been really good.

    What about the other British drivers in the paddock, have you spoken to Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton at all?

    I spoke with Jenson a little bit and I didn’t speak with Lewis at all. To be honest they’ve got their own things to do. 

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