Jolyon Palmer

Jolyon Carlyle Palmer (born 20 January 1991) is a British motorsport commentator and columnist, covering the Formula One World Championship on BBC Radio 5 and F1TV.

Having spent 2004 racing in MiniMax karts, Palmer moved up to cars in 2005 and specifically the T Cars championship's Autumn Trophy – a racing series for drivers between the ages of 14 and 17.

Palmer finished fifth in that championship, with a grand total of 92 points, 46 behind championship winner Adrian Quaife-Hobbs.

He moved up to the main championship in 2006, earning one pole position and four podiums, and again finished fifth in the championship with 101 points, 69 behind champion Luciano Bacheta.

Palmer also took part in a second Autumn Trophy, winning four of the six races.

He took part in two races of the 2007 season, winning both but decided to concentrate on Formula Palmer Audi.

In 2007, Palmer moved to the series which his father, Jonathan, created nine years before.

He recovered in time for the start of the 2008 season, in which he was a championship challenger right up until the last few races of the season.

Palmer secured one win (at the overseas race at Spa) and 11 podiums along with three pole positions and ended up just 22 points behind Jason Moore, in third place.

The Autumn Trophy and the FPA Shootout also brought third places for Palmer, taking three podiums from the six races.

2009 saw Palmer move up to the FIA Formula Two Championship, driving car number three.

His best result was a sixth-place finish at Imola.

He returned to the series in 2010, winning the opening race of the season at Silverstone, taking the first F2 win by a British driver since his father did so at Mugello in.

Palmer picked up one fifth-place finish in the next round at Marrakech, but bounced back to take both wins and the championship lead in the third round at Monza.

He eventually finished 2nd behind fellow Briton Dean Stoneman.

Palmer made a one-off return to F2 during the 2011 season at the Nürburgring, but was a non-starter in both races.

Palmer made his GP2 Series main season debut in 2011, driving for the Arden International team alongside Josef Král.

He scored a top ten finish on his debut weekend at Abu Dhabi and more top ten finishes followed at Istanbul and Valencia.

A move to the Barwa Addax team for the non-championship GP2 Finals saw a breakthrough on his return to Abu Dhabi, with third and fourth places to end his debut year in the category on a high.

Next came a podium position at Silverstone, putting Palmer into the top ten of the leaderboard as the season entered its second half, although he ultimately slipped to 11th despite another podium finish at Monza.

Palmer, the son of former F1 driver and major UK race circuit owner Jonathan Palmer, was educated at Dorset House School, after which he attended Cranleigh School and the University of Nottingham (from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Management Studies in 2012).

He finished 12th on debut at Silverstone, and his results gradually improved with him taking two wins (one at Brands Hatch and one at Oulton Park ) and two pole positions at Brands, on his way to tenth in the championship.

He missed the final two rounds of the championship, due to an abdominal injury suffered in a quad bike accident at his home in West Sussex, in which he nearly died as he lost a kidney, punctured a lung, suffered liver damage and lost a lot of blood.

For the 2012 season, Palmer switched to the iSport International team, alongside Marcus Ericsson.

Despite topping the first practice session of the year in Malaysia, persistent electrical problems blighted the early part of his season, precipitating a change of chassis.

Results immediately improved and a sixth place at Monaco was followed by his maiden GP2 victory in the sprint race there.

For the 2013 GP2 Series Palmer drove for Carlin, partnering Brazilian 2011 British F3 Champion Felipe Nasr.

He scored his first win of the year in the Feature Race at the Hungaroring and took pole, fastest lap and the Feature Race win on the streets of Singapore, ending 13 seconds ahead of team-mate Nasr.

Palmer qualified in the top three in each of the final three events and finished 7th overall in the points table.

Prior to his media career, Palmer was a racing driver and the 2014 GP2 Series champion.

Palmer drove for Renault Sport F1 Team in Formula One.

He made his Formula One debut with the team at the start of the season, during which he scored his first World Championship points at the.

Palmer stayed with Renault for through to the.

Palmer switched to DAMS for the 2014 GP2 Series and topped the opening day of pre-season testing at Abu Dhabi.

He qualified on pole for the first race of the season in Bahrain and finished on the podium.

He won the Sprint Race the following day to lead the championship, a lead he held for the rest of the year and added another win in the feature race at Monaco.

At Hungary he prevailed in wheel-to-wheel contests with Felipe Nasr in both races, and tensions boiled over during the Sprint Race podium ceremony.

He drove for the Lotus Formula One team as a test driver in 2015, stepping up to a full-time race seat the following season when the team received manufacturer backing from Renault.

After being dropped by Renault during the 2017 season, Palmer became an F1 analyst for BBC and the F1 app alongside Jack Nicholls.

He is a regular columnist on the BBC Sport website and is also a special contributor to the official F1 website, offering detailed analysis on racing incidents following each Grand Prix.