Jérôme d'Ambrosio
Jérôme d'Ambrosio (born 27 December 1985) is a Belgian retired racing driver. A former Formula E racer, he is now the team principal for Venturi Racing. He has previously driven 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 competed 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 (1.6 litre) 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 (whose best finishes were a pair of 15th places), 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 also did 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. After a good performance that race, his season was disastrous, scoring only 13 points. 2017–18. 2017-18 Season 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. Ultimately, the season was generally dismal, once again, with 27 points to his name. 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. However, he generally struggled throughout the rest of the season, consequently finishing 11th in the driver’s championship. 2019-2020. D’Ambrosio had two teammates throughout the season, namely Pascal Wehrlein and Alex Lynn. However, his season was  generally dismal. Despite some good qualifying performances, he struggled in the races. He eventually finished 16th in the driver’s standings, with just 19 points. This turned out to be his last season in Formula E, as he would become the deputy team principal of the Venturi Formula E Team. 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 LaFerrari, Porsche 918 and a McLaren P1. Racing record. Career summary. As d'Ambrosio was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. Complete Formula Renault  3.5 Series results. Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance. Complete Formula E results. Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance. Personal life. In June 2013, D'Ambrosio married Natalie Sifferman, but divorced two years later. In 2020, he married Austrian jewellery designer and model Eleonore von Habsburg at the Civil Registry of Monaco. On 20 October 2021, Eleonore gave birth to a son, Otto d'Ambrosio, named after her grandfather Otto von Habsburg.