Jolyon Palmer produced a strong performance to finish 15th overall in his first official session on a Grand Prix weekend this morning (Friday) at the Shanghai International Circuit in China. The 24-year-old took over driving duties of the E23 Hybrid from Romain Grosjean in Free Practice One as part of his role as Third and Reserve Driver for Lotus F1 Team and posted a fastest lap of 1:41.967s.

The 2014 GP2 Champion completed an initial installation lap for systems check purposes as the 90-minute session began, before returning to the pits to begin work on his schedule for the team. A number of drivers had minor excursions in the cold and breezy conditions including Jolyon, 2014 World Champion Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg also left the track.

Focusing on long runs for the majority of FP1, Palmer gradually improved his pace and posted his best lap time of 1:41.967s to jump to 11th on the timesheets with just under 30 minutes left. He couldn't improve on this time as the session came to a close and Palmer ended in 15th place as other drivers improved. The British driver will take part in a significant number of further Free Practice One sessions throughout the 2015 season.

Free Practice One in China was topped by the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, with the Brit edging his German teammate by 0.541s with a lap time of 1:39.033s. They were followed by the Ferrari pairing of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen who took third and fourth respectively in the opening F1 session of the Grand Prix weekend.

Jolyon then had additional off-track commitments as he joined David Croft in the Sky F1 commentary box to provide analysis on Free Practice Two.

Jolyon commented: "It was awesome to be on track in an official F1 session and I am happy with P15. The conditions were quite tricky this morning as there wasn't a lot of rubber down on the track. It was my first time driving here so I had to learn the circuit and there were quite a lot of mistakes from drivers in general. It was great to be out on track and mixing it on a Grand Prix weekend."

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director, Lotus F1 Team, added: "Jolyon did a great job for the first time in the car in an official practice session. There are a lot of procedures to be followed as well as learning what is quite a technical circuit for the first time. He ended the session just outside the top-10 and only six tenths off of Pastor's lap time so that was a strong effort. He gave us all the feedback we required so we're happy with his first practice session."

2015 Formula One Chinese Grand Prix, Free Practice One, result:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:39.033s
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, +0.541s
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, +1.124s
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, +1.628s
5. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, +1.979s
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, +1.996s
7. Danill Kvyat, Red Bull, +2.064s
8. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, +2.079s
9. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, +2.270s
10. Felipe Massa, Williams, +2.271s
11. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus F1 Team, +2.302s
12. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, +2.542s
13. Jenson Button, McLaren, +2.812s
14. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, +2.885s
15. Jolyon Palmer, Lotus F1 Team, +2.934s
16. Sergio Perez, Force India, +3.108s
17. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, +3.128s
18. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, +3.151s
19. Will Stevens, Marussia, +6.346s
20. Roberto Merhi, Marussia, +7.410s