Jolyon Palmer upbeat about first F1 race in front of British crowd

Jolyon Palmer will race a Formula One car in front of his home crowd for the first time at Silverstone this weekend, and the Renault driver says it will be a highlight of his season.

His father Jonathan made his F1 debut with Williams at Brands Hatch in 1983, and went on to compete a total of seven times in front of his home crowd, including four races at Silverstone.  Jolyon is too young to have seen his dad race at the top level, but he's been a regular visitor since his early years.

"It's going to be a pretty incredible weekend actually," he said. "I've been going to the race since I was a small boy, passionate about F1 and watching my heroes, and now I'm going to be out there doing the Grand Prix."

"I don't remember when I first went there, but I do remember I was at Stowe in the grandstand in 1999 when Michael Schumacher crashed and broke his leg. That was one of my early memories! I know for the British public F1 is huge, and there's always a big turnout. And I know what it means to them to have British drivers there, and to be one of them, it's going to be a proud day."

Palmer loves the track and he has a good record in GP2, and he's hoping that things will fall into place for him this weekend.

"I really liked the old circuit as well, but the new one adds some good overtaking opportunities. I love the track in general, because it has high-speed corners, and that's the biggest challenge for us. There's a lot of run-off, but we're going very quickly.

"To put a lap together is very difficult, it's a long one with lots of challenges, but very rewarding to drive. I've been on the podium in GP2 -- I should have won! -- so I'm hopeful of doing a good job."