Quick Facts
Aquarius
Biography
William Palmer born 15 February 1997is a British Motor racing driver, the son of Jonathan Palmer and brother of Jolyon Palmer. He is a past winner of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.
He won the BRDC F4 Championship in 2015 having previously won the 2014 BRDC Formula 4 Winter Championship.
Career
Ginetta Juniors (2011-2013)
A successful 2013 season saw Palmer finish third in the 2013 Ginetta Junior Championship.
BRDC Formula 4 (2013-2015)
Palmer competed in the BRDC Formula 4 Winter Championship in 2013, ahead of graduating to the category for 2014. A promising debut full season in BRDC F4 saw Palmer take two wins and finish sixth in the 2014 overall standings. He followed that up by winning the F4 Winter Championship, taking four wins from eight races. He was nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award and he was named the winner at the Autosport Awards.
2015 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award
After his record-breaking BRDC F4 season, Palmer was nominated for the 2015 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award alongside Jack Aitken, Ben Barnicoat, Jake Hughes, Ricky Collard and Toby Sowery. After two days of assessments at Silverstone, Palmer was named the winner at the Autosport Awards in London, receiving the prize of £100,000, a McLaren F1 test, Arai Carbon helmet and BRDC membership.
After the end of the 2016 season, Palmer received his McLaren F1 test for winning the 2015 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, impressing the team throughout with McLaren simulator test engineer Alice Rowlands commenting that Palmer should be "very happy" with his maiden run in a Grand Prix car. "It's not easy," she added, "he doesn't know anyone and it's a step up from anything he's done before, working with this many engineers. Looking at the data it was clearly someone driving a Formula 1 car properly - not someone that was out for a little afternoon drive around."
Formula Renault 2.0 (2016-17)
For 2016, Palmer graduated to race in Europe and competed in both the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship and Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup for the R-ace GP team. He scored five podium finishes over the course of the season and claimed his maiden victory in European racing as he took the chequered flag in the penultimate race of the Eurocup season at Estoril in Portugal.
In December 2016, it was announced that Palmer would continue with R-ace GP for the 2017 championships.
Racing record
Career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Ginetta Junior Championship | Hillspeed | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 18th |
| Ginetta Junior Winter Series | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | ||
| 2012 | Ginetta Junior Championship | HHC Motorsport | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 170 | 12th |
| Ginetta Junior Winter Series | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 70 | 3rd | ||
| 2013 | Ginetta Junior Championship | HHC Motorsport | 20 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 406 | 3rd |
| BRDC Formula 4 Winter Championship | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 131 | 5th | ||
| 2014 | BRDC Formula 4 Championship | HHC Motorsport | 24 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 356 | 6th |
| BRDC Formula 4 Winter Championship | 8 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 239 | 1st | ||
| 2015 | BRDC Formula 4 Championship | HHC Motorsport | 24 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 15 | 592 | 1st |
| Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 | ART Junior Team | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC† | |
| 2016 | Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 | R-ace GP | 15 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 76 | 7th |
| Formula Renault 2.0 NEC | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 126 | 13th | ||
| BRDC British Formula 3 Championship | HHC Motorsport | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 39 | 25th | |
| 2017 | Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 | R-ace GP | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 80 | 1st* |
† As Palmer was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. * Season still in progress.