Jolyon Palmer has said he is focussed on landing a reserve driver role in Formula 1, with a view to securing a race seat for 2016, after missing out following his championship triumph in the GP2 series.
The 23 year old tested for the Force India team at the post-season Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi, but it remains to be seen whether the outing will lead to a more permanent role in the top echelon of the sport.
“I did my best on track, I won the championship with three races to spare, but there’s outside factors I can’t control, not a lot of cars on the grid and big budgets I don’t have,” Palmer said at the Autosport Show.
“As a GP2 champion I’m not ready to give up on the Formula 1 dream just yet, for this year it won’t happen as there’s 18 cars and 18 drivers in them, so now the next best thing is working with a team, get some mileage in a car and focus on 2016.”
Palmer’s main title rivals from 2014, Stoffel Vandoorne and Felipe Nasr, have both secured F1 roles for 2015, with Vandoorne retaining his reserve driver role at McLaren, while Nasr will make his race debut with the Sauber team.
