Jolyon Palmer may now stand on the brink of realising a childhood dream after signing to be Lotus's third driver for 2015, but he also knows he will have to work harder than ever to turn his new role into a permanent F1 race drive.
In a candid interview, the 2014 GP2 champion sets out his goals for the forthcoming season and explains why joining Lotus was a 'no brainer', even if other third drivers haven't always capitalised on their roles...
Q: Congratulations on landing a third driver role with Lotus for 2015. Can you tell us how it came about? What were the timescales - and had you been talking to other teams?
Jolyon Palmer: We first started talks in the summer last year. At that point we were looking good in the GP2 championship [Palmer was 43 points clear at the top of the standings heading into August]. We were looking for a race seat, so we started speaking with all the teams we could. Slowly the seats filled - or dropped away - so first things first, we put a deal together with Force India to test in Abu Dhabi. They were our main contact over the winter too. Then Lotus called up. We had already had talks in 2014, so we went from there, and it all came together quite quickly. They were keen to have me on board, offered me good track time and complete immersion within the team, so all the boxes were ticked.

Q: You'll be driving in a

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