Jonathan Palmer

A brilliant early career for Palmer failed to bring the fully competitive
Grand Prix car his efforts had so obviously merited, and so another talent
was never truly tested at the highest level.

Palmer's racing career took a back seat while he qualified as a doctor, but
early races with a van Diemen in 1979 and 1980 brought him a drive with Dick
Bennetts' crack Formula 3 team for 1981. In a superb year, Jonathan took
seven pole positions and eight wins and set ten fastest laps to win the
Marlboro F3 championship by a large margin from his rivals. A move into
Formula 2 with the Ralt team brought him back down to earth with a jolt as
they struggled to find a competitive set-up, but it was a different story in
1983 when, with the full attention of Honda, Jonathan and his team-mate Mike
Thackwell dominated proceedings, Palmer winning six of the 12 rounds (five
of them in a row at the end of the season) with a display of brilliant
driving backed by much planning and hard work behind the scenes.

After a drive for Williams in the 1983 European GP, Palmer found himself
first with the RAM team, then the ambitious but overstretched Zakspeed
outfit, struggling even to gain sight of a top-six finish. Luckily he kept
his competitive edge sharpened in sports cars; driving a Richard Lloyd
Porsche, he won at Brands Hatch in 1984 with Jan Lammers and finished second
at Le Mans in 1985, and in 1987 he won the Norisring race with Baldi in
Brun's Porsche.

By now Palmer was at the start of a three-year association with Tyrrell. The
first two years, spent struggling with a Cosworth against the turbo brigade,
found him picking up the crumbs, but some excellent drives brought
hard-earned points for the team and Jonathan won the Jim Clark Trophy for
top non-turbo driver in 1987. A competitive new chassis allowed Palmer to
take a splendid fifth at Imola in 1989, but his form sagged after the
arrival of Jean Alesi, who stole the show. The season's finale saw a
despondent Jonathan fail to qualify, and his Grand Prix career was over.

In 1990 he acted as a test driver for McLaren-Honda and returned to
competition in sports cars with a Porsche 962, but after the sudden death of
James Hunt the personable and ever-talkative Palmer moved into a commentary
role for BBC TV.

Jonathan then set up his own ultra-professional junior single-seater series,
Formula Palmer Audi. At a realistic cost the identically prepared cars offer
up-and-coming young drivers the chance to show their skills as they seek to
make their way in the sport. One such hopeful was Justin Wilson who, having
won the title, forged a successful career under Jonathan's astute
management.

In 2004 Palmer was part of a consortium that took control of Cadwell Park,
Oulton Park, Snetterton and Brands Hatch and he now spends much of his time
reviving the fortunes of these famous British tracks.