Jolyon Palmer in awe of ‘career killer’ who’s cost ‘very good’ driver seat on 2025 F1 grid

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Jolyon Palmer believes ‘one of the best’ qualifiers in Formula 1 does not drive for one of the top teams having now become a ‘career killer’ for the second time this season.

The grid for the 2025 F1 season is almost in place, with only Audi/Sauber and Visa Cash App RB still to finalise their driver line-ups. A clutch of drivers are also now eying new challenges to race outside of the pinnacle of motorsport ahead of losing a place on the Formula 1 grid.

Kevin Magnussen is exploring his options after Haas signed Esteban Ocon plus rookie Oliver Bearman for 2025. Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu are also waiting on Audi to decide their futures for Sauber with them out of contract, like Daniel Ricciardo is with Visa Cash App RB.

Jolyon Palmer thinks Nico Hulkenberg is ‘one of the best’ qualifiers in Formula 1

Haas considered retaining Magnussen before signing Alpine exile Ocon to secure experience next to Bearman in the garage. But his results so far this year pale in comparison to those of teammate Nico Hulkenberg. The German has thrashed the Dane in several areas this season.

The manner in which Hulkenberg has dominated Magnussen in qualifying this year shows to Palmer his ‘career killer’ habits, too. How competitive Hulkenberg is across a single lap is not lost on Palmer, either, having himself suffered beside the 37-year-old back in the 2017 term.

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Hulkenberg joined Palmer at Renault for the 2017 season, but the latter failed to see out the year before Carlos Sainz took his seat. Yet the Spaniard also failed to regularly get the better of Hulkenberg, before Sainz left for McLaren in 2019 on the back of losing 16-9 in qualifying.

Palmer endured an even heavier defeat at the hands of Hulkenberg as the German posted a 16-0 whitewash in the Renault garage during qualifying in 2017. So, seeing Hulkenberg beat Sainz in their qualifying head-to-head whilst teammates for Renault did not surprise Palmer.

“It didn’t surprise me,” Palmer said on the Beyond The Grid podcast. “Carlos is a great driver but I just think Hulkenberg is rapid. On one lap, I still think he’s one of the best out there.

“And, in fact, he’s now doing to Kev a similar thing to what he did to me – he’s beating him comprehensively on one lap, which also doesn’t surprise me.

“Magnussen’s got his own strengths, he’s very good in the race. But if you want to stack up to someone on one lap quality, Hulkenberg is generally the career killer. He’s so fast. And, yeah, I was on the receiving end of it.”

Nico Hulkenberg has dominated Kevin Magnussen in their head-to-head at Haas

Palmer failed to beat Hulkenberg in any head-to-head category whilst teammates at Renault to pre-empt his premature departure from the Enstone team and Formula 1 entirely. He lost 10-6 for Grand Prix results to the German in 2017 and never returned to the grid in F1 again.

READ MORE: Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg’s life outside F1 from wife to height

Now, Magnussen has fallen victim to Hulkenberg and is set to leave Formula 1 after the 2024 season after struggling to match the German’s results for Haas. Despite the Dane earning his third points-paying result of the term in the Italian Grand Prix, he has six to Hulkenberg’s 22.

Hulkenberg is even beating Magnussen 13-3 in qualifying and for Grand Prix results, enough to convince Haas to drop the Dane at the end of his contract. But the American team had to find two new drivers after Audi/Sauber signed Hulkenberg to a multi-year contract this April.