Jolyon Palmer returned to the track with Lotus F1 Team at Spa-Francorchamps this morning (Friday), setting the 17th fastest time overall in Free Practice One at the Belgian Grand Prix. The Southwater-based driver was successfully able to complete 23 laps of the legendary circuit as he continues his role as the Enstone outfit's Third and Reserve Driver.

Jolyon emerged from the pit-lane almost immediately at the start of the 90-minute session, joining the majority of the field to carry out installation runs and assess the circuit in clear conditions.

Following his initial foray onto the tarmac, Jolyon returned to the flowing Ardennes circuit with an hour and 10 minutes remaining for a long run on Pirelli's medium tyre, the harder of the two rubber compounds supplied to the teams by the Italian manufacturer this weekend.

Jolyon quickly settled into a rhythm to record a time of 1m54.488s, less than a second adrift of his  more experienced team-mate on the longest lap on the Grand Prix calendar.

Following a short period in the garage, Jolyon took to the track once more with 45 minutes remaining for another run on the medium tyre. He immediately improved from 15^th to 13^thin the standings with a personal best time in sector two allowing him to shave seven tenths from his previous best, despite losing time in the early part of the lap. His run was interrupted before he could complete a second flying lap when Maldonado spun, bringing out the red flag.

Jolyon returned to the track as soon as the session resumed with half an hour still remaining on the clock, and set a personal best time in the first sector on his first flying lap. The remainder of the run was completed without interruption.

Jolyon made a final appearance on the track with just less than three minutes remaining but it wasn't possible to improve on his earlier effort, meaning he finished 17^th overall in the session.

Jolyon said: "It was productive; I got some good laps in. It's always difficult at Spa to find the balance because it's a compromise between having aero and having straight line speed with the nature of the track, so we tried something different across the two cars and we had it also a new front wing to try as well which was a good test. The good thing was, across the two cars, we picked up a lot of data and showed that there's some reasonable pace in there.

"This is a proper old-school track; I like the challenge of it. Eau Rouge in a Formula One car is pretty awesome and it's always a nice one, I enjoy driving here a lot. The corners come a little bit quicker in a Formula One car, but the main thing was focusing on the job and collecting the data." 

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director of Lotus F1 Team, added: "Today Jolyon assisted with the evaluation of a new front wing, running with the new and older specifications so we can assess the performance benefits the development brings to the car. He completed a good tally of laps, completing his programme for the session and giving strong feedback afterwards."

Belgian Grand Prix - Free Practice One - Results

1, Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m51.082s
2, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +0.242s
3, Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, +0.291s
4, Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, +0.396s
5, Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, +0.784s
6, Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Racing, +0.878s
7, Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, +1.076s
8, Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, +1.339s
9, Sergio Perez, Force India, +1.341s
10, Valtteri Bottas, Williams, +1.429s
11, Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, +1.457s
12, Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, +1.532s
13, Felipe Nasr, Sauber, +1.558s
14, Felipe Massa, Williams, +1.571s
15, Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, +2.344s
16, Fernando Alonso, McLaren, +2.420s
17, Jolyon Palmer, Lotus, +2.717s
18, Jenson Button, McLaren, +3.143s
19, Will Stevens, Marussia, +4.419s
20, Roberto Merhi, Marussia, +5.004s