Jérôme d'Ambrosio

I thought I'd give poor old Jerome his own thread to sit in the current drivers section for a little bit as I think, unfourtunatly, he'll be moved to the past drivers section very soon.

Got to feel a bit sorry for this nice Belgium bloke as you can't really credit him with having done much wrong on his debut F1 season but as the Virgin car was designed on a ZX Spectrum 48k its proven once again to be permantly glued to the back of the grid. He's not done too badly compared to his more illustrious team-mate. Out of the 8 times they've both finished the GP who's finished in front of him 3 times and sits in front of him in the championship due to having 2 14th place finishes - one on his debut in Australia and one in Canada. Glocks highest finish was 15th in Canada and Italy.

You'd have thought Glock should really be putting his rookie team-mate to the sword especially as they've resigned him again but Jerome is holding his own but unfourtunatly the only bragging right the man nicknamed 'custard' has gained is the right to shout "in your face Di Grassi!" as lets face it he's put him to shame.

Virgin will probably rotate in someone else next season and poor old Jerome will probably be scrabbling around unsucessfuly for a drive next year bless him. He is an Eric Boullier driver so there is some hope but Eric has a lot of drivers and I don't think Jerome is his priority.

What do we think guys? Has he done a good job or not? how do you think he'd fair in a more competitive car?

 

[Brogan]

Rest easy RasputinLives, Jerome has been confirmed as the replacement by Lotus this morning

 

[RasputinLives]

Apparently Jerome woke up this morning in a cold sweat screaming "Please don't let me do a Karun Chandhok!" so in order for him not to destroy his entire rep in one race he's decided to try and channel the spirit of Mika Salo in 1999 by growling at pictures of Mika Hakenien and being genuinally unpleasent. He's also switched his phone ring tone to "Subsititue" by the Who.

So after confirmation Jerome D'ambrosio week will conclude with him starting his 20th Grand Prix at Monza its time to continue with the D'ambrosio fact file.

Jerome D'ambrosio is named Jerome because his mum was a big fan of the TV series Soldier Soldier and the actor Jerome Flynn.

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

I think Jerome is hoping he doesn't pull a Nicola Larini and end up getting lapped by the likes of Bruno Senna...

Good luck son... and remember... the black and gold Lotus that passes you on the outside of the Parabolica with two wheels in the dirt is not Ayrton Senna... it is just Kimi driving like Ayrton...

 

[MCLS]

Well he can't do any worse than Badoer in 2009!

 

[Jos the Boss]

Kimi could qualify 6th with JDA last and then he lets a Ferrari Massa he's racing for position with through in the pit lane and to top off a great day hits the parked Force India of Paul di Resta in Parc Ferme

 

[MCLS]

I'm sure Kimi would be happy as he'd finish third! Although I would be very surprised if D'Ambrosio is slower than the HRT's

 

[Brogan]

I suspect Jerome has already driven Monza double figures on the simulator since Sunday evening.

I doubt he will trouble Kimi too much but he should be solidly in the mid field.

 

[MCLS]

It's a good car so he could be in contention for a point or two, he'll get plenty of practice time as FP1,2 and 3 will all be sunny and warm

 

[Jos the Boss]

What if, Raikkonen and Maldonado team up and take everyone, literally everyone, out at the first corner, and Jerome started in the pits and was the only one not out, and he wins be default?

 

[gethinceri]

Don't get carried away Jos the Boss, we know where your prediction skills lie.

 

[RasputinLives]

If the boy gets anywhere near the top ten with his car intact I reckon he can be pleased with himself.

I bet he'll be tempted to give Timo Glock a wave on the way past if he laps him though.

 

[RasputinLives]

Whilst being out of F1 Jerome has kept himself race ready by driving the Lotus round his local park

 

[canis]

There's nothing like a quick nip out in the car on a sunny Sunday afternoon to the park

 

[RasputinLives]

1.1 off of Kimi in Practice 1 - not brilliant but not awful

 

[RasputinLives]

and down to 6 tennths in P2. I think that was doing long runs but of course we never can be sure of the set ups. I think if he's within 6 tennths of Kimi in quali tomorrow we can say he's not done a bad job.

 

[Brogan]

Maybe he can ask Alonso if he can borrow his...

 

[Galahad]

Monza isn't a bad place to come in as a stand-in driver, as Mario Andretti and Tonio Liuzzi have shown. I seem to remember Marc Gene doing well there in Ralf's Williams, though that memory is a bit hazy.

Anyway he's doing well considering he's only had 40 laps of wet running in the E20 before today.

 

[RasputinLives]

I think he's showing he's a 'steady eddie' type of driver rather than a superstar which is what I kind of expected. I think if you give him the rqupitment he'll get the result the equiptment can get, which is not a bad thing coz I'm sure plenty of teams need a driver like that. Don't ever think he'll be lighting up the time screens though. Could be wrong though lets see what he does race wise.

The reason I cheer him on though is everytime he's interviewed he just comes across as a nice bloke.

 

[sushifiesta]

Let's see how he does in the race, to be frank he was a long way off Raikkonen in modern F1 terms (6 tenths, and I think he was on options while Raikkonen was on primes). The Lotus doesn't seem particularly quick this weekend either so it's probably unlikely that he will be finishing in the points.

I'm not sure he'll be making many team principles stand up and say they want him in their team, nice guy or not.

 

[Galahad]

It is difficult to judge these days. Do you compare him to Grosjean or to Badoer?