IndyCar: Could Jolyon Palmer make the switch from Formula One in 2018?

By Asher Fair | Sep 28, 2017

SINGAPORE - SEPTEMBER 15: Jolyon Palmer of Great Britain driving the (30) Renault Sport Formula One Team Renault RS17 on track during practice for the Formula One Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on September 15, 2017 in Singapore. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) /

Jolyon Palmer’s future in Formula One is far from certain. Could IndyCar be a legitimate option for him in 2018?

Jolyon Palmer, 26, is currently in his second career Formula One season driving for Renault. However, his future in the sport is very uncertain even up until the end of this season, much less in 2018 and beyond.

Palmer has made 33 starts in his Formula One career thus far. In his first career season, which was last year, he made 20 starts in 21 races but was only able to accumulate 1 point, as his season-high finish was just a 10th place result at Malaysia. He finished in 18th in the final standings.

However, last season, Palmer’s Renault teammate Kevin Magnussen was not much better than him, which makes it hard to come down completely on Palmer for his poor performances. Magnussen finished in 16th place in the final standings after racking up just 7 total points thanks to a 7th place finish at Russia and a 10th place finish at Singapore. He now drives for Haas.

Coming into the 2017 season, Palmer knew he needed a strong year to solidify his future spot at Renault. Given the uncertainty of his future at this point in the season, that looks like it has turned out to be completely true.

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In the first 13 races of the 2017 season, Palmer started 12 of them. However, his highest finishes were only 11th place efforts, which he recorded at Monaco, Canada and Austria. Up until that point, he had 0 points.

In the 14th race of the season at Singapore, which was Palmer’s 13th start, he finally secured a good finish, as he finished in a season-high and a career-high 6th place, which gave him 8 points and shot him up to 16th in the standings.

However, even with that solid 6th place finish, Palmer has not had a good year, which may mean he won’t be driving for Renault for much longer; in fact, he may not be driving in Formula One for much longer.

Unlike last season with Kevin Magnussen as his teammate, Palmer’s Renault teammate Nico Hulkenberg has consistently outperformed him, as he has six top 9 finishes, including three 6th place finishes, and currently sits in 10th place in the standings with 34 points through 14 races so far this season. As mentioned above, Palmer has just one career top 9 finish.

When two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso’s future was uncertain, there was lots of speculation that he would be coming to IndyCar full-time in 2018. While Alonso is set to stay in Formula One, there is now the same speculation for Palmer. And Palmer himself is not ruling out coming to IndyCar.

"“I’m open, it’s an option, but outside of F1 there are a lot of places to go and race. Indy is one of them, but I’m not saying if it’s a preferred option or not. It’s obviously very different, and requires a lot of thinking…I’ve always said that I prefer wheel-to-wheel racing.”"

Next: Looking back at Lewis Hamilton's record 69 poles

As if silly season needed any more huge developments, here we have yet another one involving a driver who may end up switching from the world’s most popular open-wheel racing series to the United States’ most popular open-wheel racing series. Will it happen? It certainly could.

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