Jérôme d'Ambrosio


Jérôme d'Ambrosio is a Belgian Formula E racing driver for the Indian team Mahindra Racing. He has previously drove for Marussia Virgin Racing during the 2011 Formula One World Championship. As a result of the one-race ban given to Romain Grosjean for actions at the start of the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix, d'Ambrosio replaced the Frenchman for the 2012 Italian Grand Prix. In 2016, he is competing in Formula E driving for Dragon Racing. D'Ambrosio achieved his first Formula E victory in 2015 at the 2015 Berlin ePrix, and a second at the 2016 Mexican ePrix, both as a result of Lucas di Grassi's disqualification.

Career

Karting

Born in Etterbeek, Belgium, d'Ambrosio began his career in karting, between 1997 and 2002. He was a three-time Belgian champion, winning the Mini class in 1999, Junior in 2000, and Formula A in 2002. He won the Junior Monaco Kart Cup in 2000, and won World Cup Formula A in 2002.

Formula Renault

D'Ambrosio moved into single-seaters in 2003, winning the Belgian Formula Renault championship, driving for former Formula One driver and compatriot Thierry Boutsen's team. Also in 2003, d'Ambrosio drove in the German-based Formula König championship finishing fourth in the season standings. He also took part in a test for the Renault F1 Driver Development Programme, which he won, earning him a place on the programme for 2004, although he was not retained for further seasons. He moved into the French Formula Renault 2-litre series for 2004 where he finished fourth in the final standings and was top rookie. He also started seven races in the Eurocup. He switched to the Italian Formula Renault Championship in 2005, finishing fourth, also starting six Eurocup races. In 2006, he drove at the highest level in the Formula Renault hierarchy, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, for Tech 1 Racing, but left the series after four rounds having not scored any points.

Euroseries 3000

He switched to the Euroseries 3000, driving for Euronova Racing, taking three podium finishes and ending up fifth in the final standings despite missing the first half of the season. He also 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

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 teammate 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, rejoining the team's driver programme thanks to its newly formed links with the Gravity Sport Management company that looks after d'Ambrosio.
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.

Virgin (2011)

On 21 December 2010, Virgin Racing confirmed that d'Ambrosio would race for the team in. In his first 13 races for the team, d'Ambrosio finished 11 of them with his only retirements coming in Malaysia due to a problem with his car's electronics and in Italy due to gearbox problems. His best finishes have been two 14th places, in Australia and Canada. In his home race, the Belgian Grand Prix, he finished 17th, beating his teammate Timo Glock.
In the Virgin garage, d'Ambrosio was affectionately known as 'Custard', with the word pasted on his cockpit when he began testing for the 2011 season at Valencia. Ambrosia is a well-known UK brand of custard and rice pudding.
D'Ambrosio finished the season 24th in the Drivers' Championship, ahead of Glock, but was replaced by Charles Pic for the 2012 season.

Lotus (2012–2013)

On 24 January 2012 it was announced that d'Ambrosio would act as reserve driver for Lotus F1 ahead of the 2012 season and be present at all of the season's races along with drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean. He is also doing co-commentary work for Sky Sports F1 for F1 practice sessions, GP2 and GP3 races and for Belgian French-speaking channel RTBF for F1 races.
D'Ambrosio made his race début for Lotus at the 2012 Italian Grand Prix; he replaced Grosjean, who was banned for one race for causing a multiple collision at the previous round in Belgium. He qualified in 16th place, and started in 15th place due to a 10-place grid drop penalty applied to Pastor Maldonado. He finished in 13th place, on the lead lap, 76 seconds behind.

Blancpain Endurance Series

For 2014, d'Ambrosio switched from single seaters to GTs, joining Bentley to race a Continental GT3 in the Blancpain Endurance Series alongside Duncan Tappy and Antoine Leclerc.

Formula E (2014–present)

Dragon Racing

In 2014–15, d'Ambrosio contested the inaugural season of the FIA Formula E Championship for the Dragon Racing team.
2014–15
D'Ambrosio finished fourth in the drivers' championship standings, taking a victory at the Berlin ePrix after initial race winner Lucas di Grassi was disqualified for violating technical regulations. D'Ambrosio's late season form resulted in him taking three top two finishes in the final four races. D'Ambrosio was the only driver on the grid to finish every race, completing every racing lap in Formula E's inaugural season. D'Ambrosio achieved 113 points in 2014–15, 61 of which were collected in three of the last four races. Dragon Racing finished 2nd in the Teams' Championship having surpassed the Abt team in the final round with a double podium finish. D'Ambrosio out-raced his teammates, Oriol Servià and Loïc Duval in all but one race during the season, when he finished 14th in Buenos Aires.
2015–16
D'Ambrosio started the season well with 5th in Beijing but struggled in qualifying in the opening two rounds against Duval, only managing 10th and 8th places respectively. In Punta del Este he achieved his first Formula E pole position, with Duval joining him on the front row. He ended the race in third position, one place ahead of Duval. The result moved him into third place in the drivers' championship, behind Sébastien Buemi and di Grassi.
2016–17
D'Ambrosio placed seventh in the first race of the season.
2017–18
was D'Ambrosio's last season with Dragon Racing. He finished the 2018 Zurich ePrix in 3rd place, which was his last podium with Dragon. In 2018-19 Formula E Season he would move to Mahindra Racing.

Mahindra

D'Ambrosio moved to Mahindra Racing in 2018. He partners Pascal Wehrlein at the team.
2018–19
He finished third in the 2018 Ad Diriyah ePrix. In the 2019 Marrakesh ePrix, he won his first race on track in Formula E and led the championship for the first time in his Formula E career.

Other Appearances

D'Ambrosio featured in the first episode of the Amazon motoring show "The Grand Tour" as a test driver putting in lap times for the Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 and a McLaren P1.

Racing record

Career summary

† As d'Ambrosio was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

YearTeam1234567891011121314151617PosPoints
2006Tech 1 RacingZOL
1
19		ZOL
2
19†		MON
1
12		IST
1
14		IST
2
22		MIS
1
16		MIS
2
19		SPA
1		SPA
2		NÜR
1		NÜR
2		DON
1		DON
2		LMS
1		LMS
2		CAT
1		CAT
2		36th0

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete GP2 Series results

YearEntrant1234567891011121314151617181920DCPoints
2008DAMSCAT
FEA
Ret		CAT
SPR
15		IST
FEA
Ret		IST
SPR
Ret		MON
FEA
9		MON
SPR
7		MAG
FEA
6		MAG
SPR
Ret		SIL
FEA
9		SIL
SPR
12		HOC
FEA
Ret		HOC
SPR
11		HUN
FEA
9		HUN
SPR
Ret		VAL
FEA
5		VAL
SPR
2		SPA
FEA
8		SPA
SPR
2		MNZ
FEA
7		MNZ
SPR
6		11th21
2009DAMSCAT
FEA
3		CAT
SPR
3		MON
FEA
6		MON
SPR
2		IST
FEA
Ret		IST
SPR
15		SIL
FEA
19		SIL
SPR
12		NÜR
FEA
10		NÜR
SPR
7		HUN
FEA
16		HUN
SPR
Ret		VAL
FEA
9		VAL
SPR
4		SPA
FEA
Ret		SPA
SPR
Ret		MNZ
FEA
4		MNZ
SPR
4		ALG
FEA
Ret		ALG
SPR
10		9th29
2010DAMSCAT
FEA
Ret		CAT
SPR
10		MON
FEA
8		MON
SPR
1		IST
FEA
10		IST
SPR
8		VAL
FEA
Ret		VAL
SPR
8		SIL
FEA
11		SIL
SPR
11		HOC
FEA		HOC
SPR		HUN
FEA
6		HUN
SPR
Ret		SPA
FEA
Ret		SPA
SPR
Ret		MNZ
FEA
5		MNZ
SPR
2		YMC
FEA
14		YMC
SPR
8		12th21

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

YearEntrant123456789101112DCPoints
2008DAMSDUB1
FEA
11		DUB1
SPR
8		SEN
FEA
Ret		SEN
SPR
Ret		SEP
FEA
3		SEP
SPR
Ret		BHR
FEA
11		BHR
SPR
12		DUB2
FEA
7		DUB2
SPR
3		11th12
2008–09DAMSSHI
FEA
9		SHI
SPR
5		DUB
FEA
7		DUB
SPR
C		BHR1
FEA
2		BHR1
SPR
3		LSL
FEA
5		LSL
SPR
7		SEP
FEA
Ret		MYS
SPR
DSQ		BHR2
FEA
3		BHR2
SPR
2		2nd36

Complete Formula One results

YearEntrantChassisEngine1234567891011121314151617181920WDCPoints
Virgin RacingVirgin VR-01Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8BHRAUSMALCHNESPMONTURCANEURGBRGERHUNBELITASIN
TD		JPN
TD		KOR
TD		BRA
TD		ABU – –
Marussia Virgin RacingVirgin MVR-02Cosworth CA2011 2.4 V8AUS
14		MAL
Ret		CHN
20		TUR
20		ESP
20		MON
15		CAN
14		EUR
22		GBR
17		GER
18		HUN
19		BEL
17		ITA
Ret		SIN
18		JPN
21		KOR
20		IND
16		ABU
Ret		BRA
19		24th0
Lotus F1 TeamLotus E20Renault RS27-2012 2.4 V8AUSMALCHNBHRESPMONCANEURGBRGERHUNBELITA
13		SINJPNKORINDABUUSABRA23rd0

Complete Formula E results

YearTeamChassisPowertrain12345678910111213PosPoints
2014–15Dragon RacingSpark SRT01-eSRT01-eBEI
6		PUT
5		PDE
8		BUE
14		MIA
4		LBH
6		MCO
5		BER
1		MSC
11		LON
2		LON
2		4th113
2015–16Dragon RacingSpark SRT01-eVenturi VM200-FE-01BEI
5		PUT
14†		PDE
3		BUE
16		MEX
1		LBH
7		PAR
11		BER
16		LON
8		LON
3		5th83
2016–17Faraday Future Dragon RacingSpark SRT01-ePenske 701-EVHKG
7		MRK
13		BUE
8		MEX
14		MCO
Ret		PAR
Ret		BER
13		BER
13		NYC
Ret		NYC
10		MTL
11		MTL
9		18th13
2017–18Dragon RacingSpark SRT01-ePenske EV-2HKG
NC		HKG
15		MRK
15		SCL
8		MEX
11		PDE
9		RME
7		PAR
12		BER
19		ZUR
3		NYC
13		NYC
Ret		14th27
2018–19Mahindra RacingSpark SRT05eMahindra M5ElectroADR
3		MRK
1		SCL
10		MEX
4		HKG
Ret		SYX
6		RME
8		PAR
Ret		MCO
11		BER
17		BRN
13		NYC
9		NYC
11		11th67
2019–20Mahindra RacingSpark SRT05eMahindra M6ElectroDIR
9		DIR
DNS		SCL
NC		MEX
10		MRK
13		BER
BER
BER
BER
BER
BER
18th*3

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.
* Season still in progress.

Personal life

In December 2013, d’Ambrosio married Natalie Sifferman; Chilean American actress, producer and artist. The pair divorced later in 2015. On July 2020 d'Ambrosio married the Austrian Archduchess Eleonore von Habsburg at the Civil Registry of Monaco.