Jolyon Palmer's Australian GP Display Proves He Won't Be Renault's No. 2 in 2016
"Around £250,000" was the price Jolyon Palmer paid for each of his 13 free-practice appearances over the course of the 2015 Formula One season, according to the Telegraph's Daniel Johnson.
When the British driver was announced as one of Renault's race drivers for 2016 last October, that £3.25 million—in addition to any extra funds he provided to initially join the team, then under the name of Lotus, as a reserve driver and then to secure his promotion to a full-time seat—seemed like money well spent.
But come the end of pre-season testing, when Palmer's preparations for his first year as a grand prix driver were frequently interrupted by technical issues, all those FP1 appearances—the experience of driving current-specification F1 machinery on unfamiliar circuits, blending into the team environment all the while—had become priceless.
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As Kevin Magnussen, his new team-mate, enjoyed an almost trouble-free winter, passing the 100-lap mark on each of his four days behind the wheel of the R.S.16 car and ending testing with a total of 509 laps, Palmer's track time was far less productive.
"It has been a little bit disastrous to be honest," he admitted, per ESPN F1's Nate Saunders, after being restricted to just 267 laps in total, leaving him among the few drivers who failed to complete a century of laps on a single day of testing.
Despite Palmer's lack of mileage at Spain's Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, however, it remained unclear which of the Renault drivers, who both paused their racing careers in 2015, would begin the new season as the team leader.
Magnussen, of course, claimed an assured podium finish in his very first race for McLaren at the beginning of 2014, a rookie season in which his raw pace was often concealed by teething problems common among youngsters.
Although he lacked the advantage of racing in F1, meanwhile, Palmer had become a fully integrated member of Team Enstone in 2015, with his competent practice runs offering the 2014 GP2 champion more recent experience of V6 turbo-powered F1 cars.
But in the eyes of Cyril Abiteboul, the Renault managing director, there was seemingly no debate to be had.
Eight days ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, Abiteboul told Autosport's Mitchell Adam that while Renault have a "fantastic" driver lineup with "the energy of young people who want to make a point," they trusted Magnussen "to be a leader for the technical team" in 2016 due to his "natural talent" and "sufficient experience."
In truth, it was hardly surprising that a company of Renault's stature had elected their young marquee signing—a talent they can nurture and potentially lead to the success they achieved with Fernando Alonso a decade ago—as their No. 1 driver over the team's unassuming, unfashionable former reserve driver.
It was, however, unusual for a team, particularly one with such limited expectations, to nominate their lead driver in such a public fashion prior to the start of a season.
And it meant that Palmer arrived in Australia, where Magnussen excelled on his F1 debut just two years earlier, with a little pressure to perform and demonstrate that he can be more than a short-term fix for a team in transition.
Rather than carrying the frustration of pre-season into the opening race, though, Palmer conducted himself like a driver who had finally earned his opportunity in F1 and, more than taking it, was determined to simply enjoy it.
Indeed, enjoyment was at the essence of his first grand prix weekend as a disarmingly relaxed Palmer—who, at 25, is the oldest full-time rookie to arrive in F1 since Giedo van der Garde in 2013—offered a first hint that Magnussen might not have it all his own way after all.
The new elimination-style qualifying format was much derided at Albert Park, but one of the few highlights of the hour-long session was the sight of the two Renaults, having just managed to escape the depths of Q1, fighting between themselves to avoid being the first to be eliminated from the second segment.
As the last drivers to post their laps at the beginning of Q2, Palmer and Magnussen effectively engaged in a one-lap shootout to beat the drop, and the Dane—who later told the team's official website that "traffic" interfered with his effort—was 0.141 seconds adrift of his team-mate's time.
Circumstance aside, the importance of dumping his team-mate out of qualifying at the very beginning of their partnership should not be underestimated. And while a first-lap puncture for the No. 20 car prevented another inter-team scuffle the following afternoon, Palmer had no trouble finding alternative playmates in the race itself.
His very first lap in F1—his first racing lap in almost 18 months—was spent side-by-side with Alonso, the most complete driver on the grid. Palmer battled him admirably, passing the McLaren-Honda around the outside of Turn 4 and into 5, before the two-time world champion shoved him wide at the following corner.
Then it was Valtteri Bottas, against whom he defended sternly on Lap 12, sweeping around the outside of Turn 4 before conceding his position at Turn 9. The Williams swept past in a move that may have ended in disaster had Palmer not acknowledged he was fighting a losing battle and avoided a collision.
And later came his defence from the two standout rookies of last year: Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen. Palmer kept them behind for far longer than his chassis, engine and ageing medium-compound tyres merited.
The Toro Rosso drivers, whose mid-race argument was partially provoked by the frustration of being bottled up behind a slower car, eventually ambushed Palmer at the beginning of Lap 42, and losing those two positions in the space of three corners condemned the debutant to an 11th-place finish.
After the race, he explained how it was a "shame to just miss out" on the top 10 after "some great scrapping," via his official Twitter account.
Yet while he left Albert Park without a world championship point to his name, Palmer had at least proved a point, and proved his true worth, to Renault.
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