A move to the Barwa Addax team for the non-championship GP2 Finals saw a breakthrough on his return to Abu Dhabi, with third and fourth places to end his debut year in the category on a high.

Despite topping the first practice session of the year in Malaysia, persistent electrical problems blighted the early part of his season, precipitating a change of chassis.

[17] At Monza, Palmer was forced to start at the back of the grid for the Feature Race, after his DAMS car was found to have less than the mandatory one litre of fuel remaining, having originally qualified fourth.

Lotus F1 Team's Trackside Operations Director Alan Permane said: "Today was about data accumulation and Jolyon did a great job in his first time in the car, especially with the particularly cold conditions to start the session in the morning.

[26] He drove in Free Practice One at the Spanish Grand Prix, recording the 13th fastest time and finishing ahead of Maldonado,[27] before topping the timesheets on the second day of the in-season test in Barcelona on Wednesday 13 May.

[28] On 11 June 2015 it was announced that he would drive in Free Practice 1 for the rest of the European season, a total of 5 Grands Prix, which would take him from Austria to Italy, replacing Frenchman Romain Grosjean.

[30] Palmer tested a new front-wing for Lotus F1 Team in the next Free Practice One session at Spa-Francorchamps, as Romain Grosjean came home third in the Belgian Grand Prix that weekend.

[31] Palmer took part in several further sessions, his final appearance in the Lotus E23 coming at the Abu Dhabi season closer, where technical issues limited him to just 10 minutes' running.

At his debut event in the Australian Grand Prix, Palmer outqualified Magnussen to fourteenth, and after a good start finished the race eleventh ahead of his teammate, just outside the point scoring positions.

A car issue in the next races in Bahrain and China prevented Palmer from showing his true form but he bounced back in the Russian Grand Prix, finishing a strong 13th having started 18th on the grid.

After an early exit in Monaco, a water leak put paid to his race in Canada before he finished the European Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan, in a creditable 15th.

Palmer's Italian Grand Prix came to a premature end as he once again led the way for the French manufacturer, as Sauber's Felipe Nasr hit the Brit and eventually forced his retirement from the race on safety grounds.

Magnussen departed Renault at the end of the year for the newly created Haas F1 Team,[33] and Nico Hülkenberg stepped in from Force India to replace him and be Palmer's teammate.

[34] Renault unveiled its brand new R.S.17 at a special launch event in London on 22 January, in a yellow and black livery, adorned with Jolyon's signature race number, 30.

[35] Palmer made his first public appearance behind the wheel of the R.S.17 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain in late February, ending the week with the third fastest time on the final day, behind only the Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

[36] On the day after he learned that he would be losing his seat for 2018, he survived a race of attrition at the Singapore Grand Prix to gain a career-best finish of sixth, securing his only points of the season.

[citation needed] Palmer offers further insight and analysis from the point of view of the competitor with his regular post-Grand Prix column on the BBC website.

[40] He was the regular co-commentator for the GP2 Series on Sky Sports F1 in 2015, and previously commentated alongside future BBC partner Jack Nicholls on the FIA Formula Two Championship.

Palmer competed in the Race of Champions Nations Cup event for Team Young Stars, with DTM race-winner Pascal Wehrlein as his team-mate.

The pair narrowly missed out on progressing from the group stages, with Palmer losing in close races to Robby Gordon and nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen but defeating European F3 Champion Esteban Ocon.

The duo were beaten in the quarter finals by England's touring car drivers Andy Priaulx and Jason Plato, before Palmer was edged out by GT racer Alex Buncombe in the individual competition.

2005  N. Rosberg 2006  L. Hamilton 2007  T. Glock 2008  G. Pantano 2009  N. Hülkenberg 2010  P. Maldonado 2011  R. Grosjean 2012  D. Valsecchi 2013  F. Leimer 2014  J. Palmer 2015  S. Vandoorne 2016  P. Gasly 2017  C. Leclerc 2018  G. Russell 2019  N. de Vries 2020  M. Schumacher 2021  O. Piastri 2022  F. Drugovich 2023  T. Pourchaire 2024  G. Bortoleto