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Jonathan Palmer

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Jonathan Charles Palmer (born 7 November 1956) is a British former racing driver, motorsport executive, and broadcaster. He competed in Formula One from 1983 to 1989, driving for Tyrrell, Williams, RAM, and Zakspeed, winning 14 championship points from 83 starts. Before motorsport, Palmer trained as a physician at London's Guy's Hospital and worked as a junior physician at Cuckfield and Brighton hospitals.

Following education at Brighton College, Palmer raced an Austin Healey Sprite and a Marcos in club events while a medical student. He participated in Formula Ford from 1978 to 1980, won the British Formula 3 Championship in 1981, and landed a Williams Formula One test drive in 1982. In 1983, he won the European Formula Two Championship, earning the British Racing Drivers' Club Gold Star.

Palmer joined Williams as a test driver for the 1982 and 1983 seasons while racing in F2. He made his Formula One debut at Brands Hatch on 25 September 1983, driving a Williams in the European Grand Prix as a gesture from Frank Williams and Patrick Head, finishing 13th of 26 starters.

Moving to the Skoal Bandit RAM March team in 1984, his six finishes included one eighth place, three ninth places, one tenth place, and one 13th place. He joined Zakspeed in 1985, starting eight races and retiring from all except the 1985 Detroit Grand Prix, where he finished 11th. Sixteen starts with Zakspeed in 1986 yielded eight retirements and a best finish of eighth in Detroit. At his home race at Brands Hatch in 1986, Palmer used his medical qualifications to assist in the extrication of Ligier driver Jacques Laffite after Laffite suffered a career-ending crash on the opening lap.

In 1987, Palmer spoke with McLaren team principal Ron Dennis about becoming the team's No. 2 driver to Alain Prost. Dennis ultimately signed Stefan Johansson, and Palmer joined Tyrrell a week before the season's opening race in Brazil. Tyrrell's naturally-aspirated Cosworth-powered car proved reliable and nimble on tighter circuits. Palmer won championship points in three races and achieved his career-best fourth-place finish in Australia. He also won the Jim Clark Cup, a championship for drivers of normally aspirated cars. He remained with Tyrrell for the following two seasons, with best results of two fifth-place finishes and three sixth-place finishes. At the end of 1989, he signed as McLaren's test driver.

Between 1983 and 1990, Palmer competed in the World Sportscar Championship driving a Group C Porsche. With co-driver Jan Lammers, he won the 1984 1000 km of Brands Hatch. At Le Mans, his best result from five starts was second place in 1985 with co-drivers James Weaver and Richard Lloyd. In 1987, he won the Toyota Rallysprint at Brands Hatch outright.

In 1991, Palmer came seventh in the British Touring Car Championship driving a Prodrive BMW. That same year he became a pit lane reporter for the BBC F1 commentary team. Following James Hunt's death after the 1993 Canadian Grand Prix, Palmer joined the BBC commentary box alongside Murray Walker. After BBC lost the rights to broadcast Formula One at the end of 1996, Palmer joined CBC for its annual commentary on the Grand Prix of Canada.

Palmer's work with McLaren included development of the McLaren F1 road car; he drove one to a record-breaking 231 mph at the Nardo test track.

PalmerSport was founded in 1991 for corporate hospitality motorsport events, initially run from Bruntingthorpe airfield before relocating to Bedford Autodrome, which Palmer opened in 1999 as four separate circuits totalling six miles of track. Palmer launched the Formula Palmer Audi Championship in 1998; inaugural champion Justin Wilson went on to win the Formula 3000 championship, and with Palmer managing his career, an innovative share issue secured Wilson a Formula One drive with Minardi.

In 2004, Palmer, John Britten, and Sir Peter Ogden acquired Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Snetterton and Cadwell Park circuits from Octagon under the umbrella of MotorSport Vision (MSV). Snetterton underwent a near total redesign in 2011. MSV also secured the right to operate the FIA Formula Two Championship from 2009 to 2012, acquired the commercial rights for the British Superbike Championship, and now runs the GB3 and GB4 Championships. In 2017, MSV acquired Donington Park. On 30 September 2022, MSV won the bid for purchasing Circuito de Navarra in northern Spain.

Palmer's son Jolyon Palmer, the 2014 GP2 Series champion, drove for the RenaultSport F1 Team during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. His younger son Will Palmer won the BRDC F4 Championship and the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 2015, and finished second in Renault Eurocup in 2017.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.