Jolyon Palmer is the son of former Formula One driver, Jonathon Palmer. He started racing in karts but soon moved to cars and, in 2005, he competed in the Autumn T Cars Championship and finished in 5th overall. the following year, he competed in the main series, finishing 5th and going on to win the Autumn series.
In 2007, Palmer moved to Formula Palmer Audi, a series founded by his father previously. He took two poles and two victories and ended the season in 10th. He stayed in the same series the following year, but had more success – 11 podium finishes secured him third in the championship.
Moving to Formula 2 in 2009, Palmer achieved a best result of 6th in his first season. Continuing in F2 in 2010, he won the opening round and went on to win a further four races. He ended the season in 2nd overall and joined the Arden GP2 team for the following season.
He had little success in his first year but managed to get 2 top ten finishes. A move to iSport International GP2 team in 2012 saw Palmer take one win and two podiums. He finished 11th. The following year, he moved to Carlin, alongside Nasr. Consistantly scoring points, he was 7th overall and got 2 wins.
For 2014, Palmer switched to DAMS and finished on the podium in the opening race. He went on to break the record for most consecutive points finishes (19) and most points scored in a year (256) in GP2. He became the first British driver for 8 years to win the series.
In 2015, he was the third and reserve driver for Lotus F1 team and took part in practice sessions throughout the year. He has been confirmed as the replacement for Grosjean in 2016.