F1 Half Term Report: Rate the Grid - Jolyon Palmer

[Paul Jeffrey]

Renault driver and former GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer is the next driver in line for our mid season community rating feature.

Half way through his second season of Formula One racing for the works Renault team, Palmer has so far found himself firmly in the shadow of his more experience team mate.

Under pressure to retain his drive pretty much from the opening day of the season, Palmer has struggled in 2017 to loosen up his driving and show the world just what the Englishman is capable of. Allowing unfortunate and often expensive mistakes to creep into his race weekends, Palmer seems to be spending more time in the wall than actually racing wheel to wheel this year.

Still to score points in 2017, despite Hulkenberg having an impressive 26 to his name, Palmer has rarely shown anything like the performances displayed during his formative years in the sport.

With fan favourite Robert Kubica quietly waiting in the wings, Palmer needs to up his game in the second half of the season, or risk finding himself without a seat at the table in 2018.

Vote now to tell us how you rate the first half of 2017 for Marcus Ericsson, and leave a comment below!

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[Lorenzo Bonder]

Can't see a 0 rating here (or anything less than zero).

I abstain from voting.

Have a good day.

 

[vee10]

Although he is not a elite F1 driver by any means, I think it is easy to bash Palmer without always knowing all the facts, I am no apologist for him and would love to see Kubica take his drive but that does not mean he is a bad driver. His results suggest he is at least consistent, in the recent past due to reliability some of those 11 & 12 places would have been points but such is the reliability of modern F1 the top 10 is a tough nut to crack for a middling F1 driver in a middling F1 team.

He beat 'Suck My Balls' Kmag last year in the latter half.

AUS Ret
CHN 13
BHR 13
RUS Ret
ESP 15
MON 11
CAN 11
AZE Ret
AUT 11
GBR DNS
HUN 12

In conclusion he is not as bad as the hater's suggest but he is not a elite driver either. Personally I have heard and it does come across that his attitude and demeanour does not help either within the team and engaging with fans. So he will never be someone to get behind, but he is still a very good driver who has come up against a driver like Hulkenburg and been found wanting when racing against the top drivers.

 

[Tim Ling]

He will be gone next year, and Kubica will be gracing the tracks again.

 

[prun]

palmer is not good as nico bath hi si not bad as you think

 

[GianmarcoFiduci]

One second off the pace every qualfying, on Sunday when they let hulk pass he lost almost 7 seconds in 10 laps. Embarrassing, but I hope that he can turn back criticism and make a strong second part of the season, as last year

 

[LeSunTzu]

He cannot even take comfort in comparing with Stroll, as he is not only struggling but unlucky as well.

 

[Sky]

i like to pronounce it 'jolly-on'. that is all.

 

[rw3]

I have no idea how he is a professional formula 1 driver.

 

[Matthew327]

He is - in my opinion - one of the many drivers who just lacked the final few percent to actually make it in F1. After all, he's made it this far, and while his F1 stats look devastating to say the least, there have been far worse drivers in F1 history than him.

While obviously not cut out for F1 glory, I can see him running at the very front in a number of series where, above all, the pressure to perform is a little less crushing. In F1, running against K-Mag last year while driving an underperforming Renault certainly harmed his confidence (even though, as has been pointed out, he picked up his pace in the second half of 2016); and this year, facing a driver like Nico Hülkenberg who's capable of showing the Renault's full potential (which is, at the moment, a solid top ten finish) he's simply left without a chance.

I don't think any driver has been bashed as much as him in a while - in a way he's the Honda engine among F1 drivers - but we should not forget that he's being pitted against some of the world's most gifted racers, among which he probably shouldn't be in the first place.

 

[Matthew Allington]

Is this rate the grid or hate the grid?

Seriously though, comparing his performances to Hulkenberg's (remember folks, your teammate is the best marker!) says enough really...

 

[darkelf1]

Eh who? ...............
lol well i focus too much on Hamilton and Vettel conflict, good to see F1 this years is like a drama . i'll check his car in ACFL 2017 again..

 

[Nick Hill]

He got a '2' from me. In terms of pace, I think there is a distinct possibility he may be the worst driver on the grid. The Hulk has routinely brought home points in this car, while Palmer hasn't scored a single point - that's not a good angle.

The only thing saving Palmer from a '1' in my book is that I don't think he's made a nuisance of himself the way say a Maldonado did. If he causes a wreck or two in the 2nd half of the season, I wouldn't hesitate to drop him to a '1'.

 

[Nick Gregory]

Remember when "pay driver" was basically another term for a Hired Gun?

Pepperidge Farm remembers...

 

[paracletus]

Can't be bad to win GP2 - can you?
Some of it has been bad luck. Some, maybe not.
They'll probably at least see the rest of the season out, last chance saloon i suppose.

 

[betterstranger]

Kubica on reverse gear will be faster than Palmer.

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

He's terribly slow and to make matters worst, he gets a lot of space on the media and he blames his complete lack of performance on "luck" which makes him seem arrogant and oblivious.

Can't wait to be rid of him.

 

[Christian Moreau]

He crashed into the tyre wall in the latest F1 2017 trailer (showing off the tyre wall deformation), so he has that going for him.

 

[psynusoid]

3 - 1 for his tyre wall crash, 1 for being British and 1 for being an ITFC supporter.

 

[fortyfivekev]

Sadly for him I don't think he is even good enough to switch across to Indycar. I expect he will be driving rich guys around at his dad's race school for the rest of his career. Very disappointing.