Jolyon Palmer endures frustrating Monaco weekend

Southwater driver Jolyon Palmer was left bitterly disappointed after being unable to secure any points from the Monaco GP2 event last weekend, having been the innocent victim of a first corner collision in the opening race.

Jolyon Palmer

Photo by: XPB Images

The 22-year-old, who drives for the Carlin team in the F1 feeder series, started his weekend in promising fashion with the fourth fastest time in free practice. He then converted that to a sixth in qualifying for the main Feature Race which took place on Friday.

Thoughts of a strong points finish in the race were eradicated quickly though, after he was caught up in a 14-car first corner collision triggered by polesitter Johnny Cecotto, who was subsequently excluded from the remainder of the meeting. The race was red flagged but the damage to Palmer’s car was such that he was unable to make the restart.

That meant Jolyon started a lowly 19th on the grid for Saturday’s Sprint Race, the event he won this time last year. Despite being a circuit renowned for overtaking difficulty, he managed to fight his way up to 12th, including an excellent move on Sergio Canamasas at the ultra tight Rascasse hairpin.

Speaking at the end of the weekend Jolyon commented: "It was a tough race coming through from 19th but I managed a few moves and got into 11th. Then I was pushing really hard to get 10th and made a big mistake costing me a place.

"I'm happy to have had an aggressive race, making a number of places at a track that's difficult to overtake on and most importantly avoiding a penalty for Silverstone. Now we need to move on and focus on taking a win next time out."

Jolyon is next back in GP2 action at Silverstone on 28-30 June, his home round, where he secured a podium last year.

Jolyon Palmer