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?

 

[teabagyokel]

Galahad - both - in 2009

 

[sushifiesta]

Yes, well everyone looks good compared to Badoer and his cameo didn't exactly reinvigorate his F1 career. Having said that, Fisichella didn't actually fair that much better so it would seem that it is very difficult to get in to a car mid-season and be on the pace.

In terms of securing a drive though, D'Ambrosio needs to do something special, it's not enough to be solid.

 

[Galahad]

In terms of securing a drive though, D'Ambrosio needs to do something special, it's not enough to be solid.

I agree completely. Producing a cheque for 5 million euros would be pretty special.

 

[RickD]

So, 13th and the last person on the same lasp as the leaders, how do you think Jerome done?

Personally, I think he raced well considering he didn't have KERS and hasn't driven the car other than in the simulator..

 

[Jen]

He was in front of 11 others, so he did well given the circumstances.

 

[sushifiesta]

Jen He was only ahead of Caterhams, HRTs, Marussias and those that didn't finish. He failed to finish ahead of any competitive cars. The KERS issue made it even more difficult for him, but this isn't a result that will get him another race in F1, in my opinion.

 

[Jen]

Always look for the positive sushifiesta - what you say may well be an accurate assessment in some quarters, but he kept driving without KERS and didn't bin it either. As far as I am concerned, he was 11 places in front of the back end of the field and that was a good result for his first outing in an F1 car for a while.

 

[Jos the Boss]

He kept out of trouble and nearly scored points, handled his tyres quite well too

 

[sushifiesta]

I wouldn't count being 28s behind 10th place despite the retirement of five drivers as nearly scoring points.

Maybe I'm being a harsh, grumpy man but F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and as such is pretty cut throat. His achievement was finishing the race, on the Maldonado scale maybe this is a great triumph, but for this race to act as a platform to further his career he had to do something special. He hasn't, and all the teams (apart from maybe HRT and Marussia) have other drivers waiting in the wings that would get a seat ahead of him should they lose a driver, nice guy or not.

 

[Jen]

If we are looking at the 'pinnacle' of motorsport, there are at least another 10 permanent drivers who shouldn't be there either - Jerome was a deputy, he didn't exactly shine but, equally, he didn't disgrace himself either

 

[RasputinLives]

I'm with Jen on the fact he didn't disgrace himself and was solid without being spectaculer. Maybe he didn't set the world alight and put himself massively in the shop window but if your drivers have been destroying their cars and not getting the results they should all year and you're looking for a solid number 2(no jokes please) then you could do worse I'm guessing.

 

[Brogan]

Fairly anonymous unfortunately, but that's to be expected with a lack of on circuit testing.

It will be the same for any new driver or stand in until the mid-season testing policy changes.

Then again, it could just be proof that he's not very good.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I'd like to see how he'd get on if he had another run out. Given the Kers issue I guess it's very hard to judge. The best I can say was that he stayed out of trouble and got the car home which is something the guy he was standing in for fails to do on too many occasions. It wasn't enough for a return to full time driving unless he's got funds for a slot at the back of the grid teams.

 

[Brogan]

That's a fair point on the KERS failure.
Although it only accounts for a relatively small boost per lap, that can make the difference between being able to overtake or not.

 

[RasputinLives]

Especially at Monza. I don't think we'll see him in any other role than a reserve driver next year but I think he has probably shown he didn't deserve to be kicked out of the Marussia after one year.

 

[RasputinLives]

Jerome reckons at this stage it might be difficult for him to land an F1 drive in 2013.

In other shocking news scientists have concluded there may be a link between the days being light and the sun.