56 replies to this topic

[nomeg1]

I just heard on the Belgian radio that Jerôme d'Ambrosio has been chosen as Glock teammate for the 2011 season starting March 13th. The contract is valid one year.
As Belgian, I am very proud of him succeding Thierry Boutsen !

Career

Karting
Starting in karting, D'Ambrosio won the Junior Monaco Kart Cup (KF3) in 2000.

Formula Renault
In 2003, D'Ambrosio won the Belgian Formula Renault (1.6 litre) championship driving for former Formula One driver and compatriot Thierry Boutsen's team. For 2004, he moved into the two litre formulae, competing in the French series in 2004, the Italian series in 2005 and the Eurocup in both years. In 2006, he drove at the highest level in the Renault single-seater motorsport hierarchy, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series.

Formula König
Also in 2003, D'Ambrosio drove in the German-based Formula König championship finishing fourth in the season standings.

Formula 3000
In 2005, D'Ambrosio had a single race outing in the Light class of the Italian Formula 3000 series, which led to a full season in the championship (renamed the Euroseries 3000) in 2006. Combined with several FR3.5 races, he finished fifth in the championship.

Sports car racing
In 2006, D'Ambrosio took part in a single race meeting of the FIA GT Championship, driving a Gillet Vertigo in the GT2 class.

Formula Master
For 2007, D'Ambrosio took part in the inaugural season of the International Formula Master series with the Cram Competition team. He won five races, scored 100 points and became the category's first champion.

GP2 Series

D'Ambrosio driving for DAMS at the Turkish round of the 2009 GP2 Series season.
D'Ambrosio driving for Virgin Racing as the team's third driver at the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix.For 2008, D'Ambrosio competed in both the GP2 Series and the new GP2 Asia Series for the DAMS team, alongside Kamui Kobayashi. He finished eleventh in the GP2 drivers' championship, with a best finish of two second places. He continued with the team into the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season, and despite not taking a single victory, D'Ambrosio managed to finish runner-up to team-mate Kobayashi. He continued with DAMS into the 2009 season, and finished ninth despite failing to achieve a victory. He remained with the team for the 2010 season, as part of DAMS's co-operation with the Renault Formula One team. He took his first series victory at Monaco, but was later rested for two races in favour of Romain Grosjean. He took his first series pole position for his home round, but retired from the feature race whilst leading. Following a podium finish at Monza, he finished twelfth in the drivers' championship.

Formula One

In January 2010, d'Ambrosio was announced as a reserve driver for Renault F1.
It was announced on 16 September that d'Ambrosio would replace Lucas di Grassi at Virgin on four occasions during Friday practice: at the Singapore, Japanese, Korean and Brazilian Grands Prix. He broke the news to Belgian TV channel RTBF. At his first Friday Practice in Singapore, he finished 21st, two-tenths behind teammate Timo Glock. For the Japanese Friday Practice he did not drive as planned.

His manager, and Renault team principal, Éric Boullier has claimed that d'Ambrosio is "95% certain" that he will drive for Virgin Racing in 2011.

21 décembre 2010 : Jérôme D'Ambrosio signed at Virgin Racing - They are very quick on Wikipedia !

[kenny]

finally we have a driver again in F1...

[MadYarpen]

Di Grassi isn't someone I will miss, so I'm happy for Jerome. He did a good job during the fridays, so good luck for him.

[nomeg1]

kenny, on Dec 21 2010, 11:04, said:

finally we have a driver again in F1...

Cool hey !

[Bonaventura]

nomeg1, on Dec 21 2010, 11:09, said:

Cool hey !

http://www.autosport...php/id/13264907
nice

[wim_jtd]

Another proud Belgian here

[Raziel]

Great! After di Grassi now we have Ambrosia flower!






j/k

[nomeg1]

wim_jtd, on Dec 21 2010, 11:23, said:

Another proud Belgian here

The eye of the tiger !

Here we go :

Vas-y Jérôme, fonce !

[noikeee]

I like Jerome more than Lucas, I think he's quite quick and a good racer, on the other hand it has to be said that Lucas had better GP2 results. We just don't know if that was because of the teams they raced for or not. I'm sure Jerome's reputation was helped a bit by affinity with Kobayashi, who he regularly beat as a team-mate but then did very well in F1... doing well in F1 fridays can't have hurt too. Or does he simply bring in more money than Lucas?

[ColchesterF1]

It is always good to see a new face in F1. He did well in the friday practice sessions and hopefully we see great things of him!

[Burai]

Happy for Jerome, but sad for Lucas. Another promising young driver prematurely thrown on the scrapheap along with Romain Grosjean and, perhaps, Nico Hulkenberg.

[nomeg1]

Burai, on Dec 21 2010, 12:07, said:

Happy for Jerome, but sad for Lucas. Another promising young driver prematurely thrown on the scrapheap along with Romain Grosjean and, perhaps, Nico Hulkenberg.

I sincerely hope Nico gets through ! Yeah, Grosjean, another one of Briatore's victim, just like Jarno.
For d'Ambrosio, it's going to certainly be very tough @ Marussia-Virgin, but at least, he might be spotted by some bigger teams ?
He's going to have to show no fear from the others. I truly think he is capable.

And Julius Cesar disn't say for nothing "Of all the peoples of Gaul, the Belgians are the bravest" ?, so a new Jacky Ickx ? who I hate, because he stole my girlfriend ! (real story)

[Rob]

Nice to have a Belgian in the sport again. He'll make his debut just over 15 years since Bertrand Gachot raced his last GP at Adelaide in 1995.

Edited by Rob, 21 December 2010 - 11:43.

[Brian O Flaherty]

Congrats and he seems a nice enough bloke too.

Doesn't someone in here have a pre-F1 formula rating thingy that they use to work out the likely strength of an F1 rookie? Out of curiosity I wonder how Jerome fares in that test.

[nomeg1]

Addtional information from "YallaF1.com" : Yalla on d'Ambrosio

Marussia Virgin Racing Team Principal, John Booth, commented: “Jerome had been on our radar for quite some time as a driver we should seriously consider for a 2011 race seat. We had followed his progress in GP2 closely and it was clear he was ‘one to watch’, but when we put him in the car for the four race weekends and the Abu Dhabi test he surpassed even our own expectations.”

“He slotted into the team perfectly and everyone took a shine to him, including our partners and the media. Apart from his obvious skill at the wheel of a Formula One car, he is an immensely personable young guy who is a pleasure to have around. He has secured this seat absolutely on merit and I think coupled with Timo we have the perfect blend of youth, experience, speed and potential and we can’t wait to see what they can achieve together next season.

Marussia Virgin Racing’s new driver, Jerome D’Ambrosio, commented: “I’m thrilled to have achieved my goal of a Formula One race seat with Marussia Virgin Racing. When I came to the team in September this year it was everything I could hope for. I had a tough test to complete because there was a lot of competition for this seat, but at the same time I got on well with the team and felt that I had found my home.”

He added, “I feel very comfortable with them – they are extremely professional and ambitious people and it is exciting to think that I can be a part of shaping the team’s future. I would like to thank everyone at Marussia Virgin Racing for the faith they have shown in me and everyone at Gravity Sport Management for the support they have given to my career so far.”

Timo Glock said: “My congratulations to Jerome on joining the team and I look forward to working with him next year. After a tough but rewarding debut season for our team we now have a lot of hard work to do to take Marussia Virgin Racing to the level we should be performing at in 2011. I for one cannot wait to get started in the new car when testing begins in February.”

[Disgrace]

Interesting. He was definitely strong on his day in GP2, showing good racing ability but seemed to be plagued by bad luck, particularly this year. Looks like he turned it all around after DAMS dropped him for a round. He deserves it though, di Grassi was by far the most anonymous driver of 2010. He had nothing to show after 19 races.

Edited by Disgrace, 21 December 2010 - 12:38.

[billm99uk]

Well I prefer my F1 recruits to have at least managed top 3 in GP2 or equivalent (even Lucas managed that - three times in fact!). But it's only the Virgin, so all he's going to be doing is trundling around at the back with the Hispanias until the money runs out...

Edited by billm99uk, 21 December 2010 - 21:08.

[rhukkas]

Brian O Flaherty, on Dec 21 2010, 11:49, said:

Congrats and he seems a nice enough bloke too.

Doesn't someone in here have a pre-F1 formula rating thingy that they use to work out the likely strength of an F1 rookie? Out of curiosity I wonder how Jerome fares in that test.

Without knowing the financial accounts of each racer, such rating system would be utterly pointless

[Brian O Flaherty]

rhukkas, on Dec 21 2010, 15:33, said:

Without knowing the financial accounts of each racer, such rating system would be utterly pointless

Nonetheless, the results are interesting to read and IIRC are historically quite a good barometer.

[SpeedFanatic]

billm99uk, on Dec 21 2010, 14:15, said:

Well I prefer my F1 recruits to have at least manged top 3 in GP2 or equivalent (even Lucas managed that - three times in fact!). But it's only the Virgin, so all he's going to be doing is trundling around at the back with the Hispanias until the money runs out...

A bad day or what.

[highdownforce]

SpeedFanatic, on Dec 21 2010, 11:47, said:

A bad day or what.

His opinion.

Edited by highdownforce, 21 December 2010 - 14:13.

[JPW]

Very happy for Jerome and his fellow Belgians, I hope he does well.
Only bad thing is that my usual tactics of trying to score a cheap last-minute ticket for Spa probably won't work this year.

[Cenotaph]

tbh, his resume is not particularly impressive for a f1 driver, but I hope he does well. im a bit frustrated because it could easily have been Parente getting the seat now...

[nomeg1]

Rob, on Dec 21 2010, 12:43, said:

Nice to have a Belgian in the sport again. He'll make his debut just over 15 years since Bertrand Gachot raced his last GP at Adelaide in 1995.

And Philippe Adams Mugen Honda in 1994. But nobody remembers him, at least Gachot made noise when he peppered sprayed a cab driver in London, and was put in jail
He was replaced by...Schumi himeslf @ Spa.

I think we have to welcome this news with caution, nothing is yet done, let's hope he shows something worth it ?

[Sukhoi]

He is NOT a "pay driver" ? i am right ?

[rhukkas]

Sukhoi, on Dec 21 2010, 15:42, said:

He is NOT a "pay driver" ? i am right ?

Apparently he's bringing in 5 million or so from gravity soprt management

Edited by rhukkas, 21 December 2010 - 16:34.

[nomeg1]

Sukhoi, on Dec 21 2010, 16:42, said:

He is NOT a "pay driver" ? i am right ?

Yes he is. They all are in small teams, even @ ex-Renault w/ Petrov.

[billm99uk]

SpeedFanatic, on Dec 21 2010, 13:47, said:

A bad day or what.

No, I'm just naturally cynical

[billm99uk]

Sukhoi, on Dec 21 2010, 15:42, said:

He is NOT a "pay driver" ? i am right ?

He's not untalented, but unlikely to have been picked for the seat on talent alone. So no in the "Yamamoto" sense but, say, Maldonado, Petrov, Senna and Di Grassi all had better pre-F1 resumes and are considered by some to be pay drivers, so depends on how exactly you define it.

[highdownforce]

Quote

[My exit] ws something I already knew for a while. This was the situation on the team, which is entirely dependent on sponsorship, be it from my part or from D'Ambrosio. He managed to get it, and I did not, then the financial aspect was more important.

It's a shame, but there are other possibilities. There are still one or two seats available. But being a reserve driver for a bigger team may be even more beneficial than running by very small one.

I am calm, I'm 90% sure that I'll be in F1 in 2011, one way or another. Now [what I've to do] is working on other conversations that I've had and see what you can be done. That's why I've came to Brazil early after the season finale. I came to work, I came to try to find more sponsorship, but it was very difficult after the lower than expected performance of the car.

On the sporting side, the engineers wanted me to continue. Nevertheless, it was not enough. The year in terms of result was not what I expected, but it ended with and Glock together [on the final standing] and I have had good races, even if sometimes I hadn't the same car as him. That everyone on the team saw.

Lucas Di Grassi

Source

[santori]

I think it's more a case of people thinking Petrov hasn't shown enough to drive a Renault ahead of some other drivers and that Maldonado hasn't shown enough to be replacing Hulkenberg than thinking they haven't shown enough to drive in F1 (I don't think anyone reasonable thinks that di Grassi and Senna hadn't done enough to deserve their seats).

I've been following d'Ambrosio for a while so I'm pretty pleased about this, although sorry that it looks like di Grassi won't be able to build on this year.

Edited by santori, 21 December 2010 - 20:29.

[highdownforce]

santori, on Dec 21 2010, 15:58, said:

I don't think anyone reasonable think that di Grassi and Senna had done enough to deserve their seats.

When compared to?

[gd2]

Another Gravity Pay Driver in Formula 1, great!

Would be something if a British team looked closer to home.

[Lotusseven]

Congratulations to F1 Belgium, Jerome D'Ambrosio and his fans !

[rhukkas]

gd2, on Dec 21 2010, 18:15, said:

Another Gravity Pay Driver in Formula 1, great!

Would be something if a British team looked closer to home.

In essence every driver below F1 is a pay driver. Hence why F1 teams like McLaren, who aren't interested in pay driver, sign up young karters. Reason being their talent is more at the forefront.... well that's what I imagine they think any way. it's not necessarily true.

[Fastcake]

gd2, on Dec 21 2010, 18:15, said:

Another Gravity Pay Driver in Formula 1, great!

Would be something if a British team looked closer to home.

At who? There's no Brit really ready, Turvey's on McLaren's programme and possibly might get a shot, but there's no one for next year.

[billm99uk]

Fastcake, on Dec 21 2010, 19:11, said:

At who? There's no Brit really ready, Turvey's on McLaren's programme and possibly might get a shot, but there's no one for next year.

di Resta? Or doesn't he count?

[Fastcake]

billm99uk, on Dec 21 2010, 19:59, said:

di Resta? Or doesn't he count?

Yeah I thought someone would bring him up

I left him out cos he's pretty much in Force India

[santori]

highdownforce, on Dec 21 2010, 20:06, said:

When compared to?

Sorry, I didn't like my post when I first typed it and I cut and pasted before submitting it and ended up writing the opposite of what I meant. It's been edited back to what I meant to say ('I don't think anyone reasonable thinks that di Grassi and Senna hadn't done enough to deserve their seats').

[highdownforce]

santori, on Dec 21 2010, 18:31, said:

Sorry, I didn't like my post when I first typed it and I cut and pasted before submitting it and ended up writing the opposite of what I meant. It's been edited back to what I meant to say ('I don't think anyone reasonable thinks that di Grassi and Senna hadn't done enough to deserve their seats').

Don't worry!

[ensign14]

Fastcake, on Dec 21 2010, 19:11, said:

At who? There's no Brit really ready, Turvey's on McLaren's programme and possibly might get a shot, but there's no one for next year.

There's the guy who dominated Hamilton and Kubica in EuroF3 whilst still a rookie. Jamie Green.

[DinocoBlue]

Nice interview with Jerome on RBTF 1 o'clock news today. I was trying to think who was the last Belgian in F1, I'd forgotten about Bas Leinders.

Good Luck to d'Ambrosio, hope he does well.

[JPW]

gd2, on Dec 21 2010, 19:15, said:

Another Gravity Pay Driver in Formula 1, great!

Would be something if a British team looked closer to home.

If there would be a Brit with 5+ million for a drive then I'm sure they would look but no islander seems to be able to cough up that amount of cash so Jerome it is and I wish him well.

[gd2]

Fastcake, on Dec 21 2010, 19:11, said:

At who? There's no Brit really ready, Turvey's on McLaren's programme and possibly might get a shot, but there's no one for next year.

Adam Carroll is ready and has been for a long time. He's never had a backer, 5 wins in GP2, A1GP champion and was on John Booth's list for Virgin last year but had no money.

His CV makes d'Ambrosio's look like the bottom of the class!

[JPW]

gd2, on Dec 21 2010, 22:48, said:

Adam Carroll is ready and has been for a long time. He's never had a backer, 5 wins in GP2, A1GP champion and was on John Booth's list for Virgin last year but had no money.

So tough luck, Carroll then obviously doesn't qualify because he doesn't have the money and isn't able to convince people who do have money to back him.

[midgrid]

Congratulations to D'Ambrosio, it'll be good to see a Belgian driver on the grid again.

He may not have a particularly good CV (notwithstanding his Formula Master championship), but his GP2 main series record is still better than Kobayashi's, so let's see how he gets on.

[Disgrace]

Fastcake, on Dec 21 2010, 21:11, said:

At who? There's no Brit really ready, Turvey's on McLaren's programme and possibly might get a shot, but there's no one for next year.

Di Resta seems ready. Sam Bird and/or Oliver Turvey could be one year away should they be in the championship battle in GP2 next year. They must be.

[MaxisOne]

billm99uk, on Dec 21 2010, 14:59, said:

di Resta? Or doesn't he count?

I wouldnt want Di Resta ANYWHERE NEAR a Virgin F1 car. Di Resta deserves his shot in a proper mid field team .. sorry for being a snob .. but FI or Sauber are the lowest rungs i would tolerate to see Di Resta in. Anything lower and theres a high probability that he could fall into the clutches of the unknown talents... Some cars are just too bad no matter how you look at it .. The HRT, Virgin and to a slightly lesser extent Lotus Racing were rolling career killers this last season.. I dont want any rookie that i root for to step in any of those vehicles ... sorry ..

[gm914]

About time we had another Belgian in F1, so well done to him.

Anyone else think he looks a little like Francois Cevert?? Should be a hit with the gf

[phil1993]

Sam Bird could make the step up to F1 - some of his races in GP2 were brilliant and he overtook in places that aren't overtaking places. Plus he had a lot of bad luck in terms of being hit or the car packing up (I think he was 4th on the grid in Silverstone & 1st on the grid in Hungary and both times the car packed up at the start)