Jérôme d'Ambrosio

Jérôme d'Ambrosio
Driver Details
Nationality		Belgian
P.o.B.		Etterbeek, Belgium
D.o.B.		27 December 1985
Date of Death		Unknown
Début		2014 Beijing ePrix
Final Race		2020 Berlin E-Prix VI
Best		Unknown
First Win		2015 Berlin ePrix
Teams		Dragon Racing Mahindra Racing
Formula E Career
Entries		69 (68 Starts)
Wins		3
Poles		2
F.L.s		0
T.P.s		322
Podiums		0
FanBoosts		3
Duel Record
Duels		0
Quarters		Semis		Finals
W	L	W	L	W	L
0	0	0	0	0	0

Jérôme d'Ambrosio (born 27 December 1985 in Etterbeek, Belgium) is a Belgian racing driver who will compete in the 2019/20 FIA Formula E Championship for Mahindra Racing. d'Ambrosio, who had previously raced for Dragon Racing four four FE seasons before making the jump to Mahindra, became the seventh different winner of an ePrix when he took victory at the 2015 Berlin ePrix, and was one of six drivers to go into the season finale at the end of the 2014/15 season with a mathematical chance of winning the title.

d'Ambrosio would re-sign for Dragon Racing for the second FE season, and would inherit another victory at the 2016 Mexico City ePrix. That earned the Belgian another season with Dragon Racing for the third FE tour, although it was a season of strife as d'Ambrosio only claimed a handful of points finishes.

Despite the disappointment of season three, d'Ambrosio once again signed for Dragon Racing ahead of the 2017/18 season, getting a new teammate in the form of Neel Jani. Ultimately, d'Ambrosio would miss the heights of his previous FE campaigns, although he did score a podium spot in Zürich, before deciding to leave Dragon at the end of the campaign.

2018/19 saw d'Ambrosio move to the Mahindra squad to partner Pascal Wehrlein, with the Belgian racer claiming his third and final career victory at the 2019 Marrakech E-Prix. However, his hopes of taking the title faded during the second half of the season, with the Belgian racer ultimately slipping to eleventh come the end of the season.

Background

d'Ambrosio started his career in go-karts at the age of twelve, claiming three major titles during his time. He moved up to the Belgian Formula Renault Championship in 2003, before getting himself onto the Renault F1 Driver Development Programme for 2004. 2005 saw him move to the Italian version of Formula Renault, before his career took off, entering the Euroseries 3000, Formula Masters and the GP2 Series over the next three years.

d'Ambrosio obtained a drive with Virgin Racing in 2011 in Formula One, having tested for them the season before. A best finish of fourteenth came from his debut year, although he could not find a race seat for the following year. d'Ambrosio raced once in 2012, stepping in for the banned Romain Grosjean in Italy for Lotus F1, finishing his career best of thirteenth. d'Ambrosio opted to drive for the Bentley team in the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2014, before being announced as a driver for Dragon Racing in Formula E.

Formula E History

Dragon Racing announced that d'Ambrosio would join Mike Conway in two of their four Spark-Renault SRT-01Es for the 2014/15 season. Conway's departure before Beijing saw Oriol Servià join d'Ambrosio in the team, with the pair scoring at every round except the 2015 Buenos Aires ePrix. Servia was later became a director in the team, leaving d'Ambrosio alongside Loïc Duval for the 2015 Miami ePrix.

Although consistently a point scorer, d'Ambrosio did not show his true pace until the 2015 Berlin ePrix, where he initially finished second behind Lucas di Grassi. The Brazilian, however, was excluded from the result, leaving d'Ambrosio to claim his first win, and rocket into title contention. He then had a poor race in Moscow to all but end his realistic title hopes before the London double header, before exiting the title fight in the First London ePrix, despite finishing second. He repeated this feat during the Sunday race, battling with eventual race winner Sam Bird, and team mate Duval throughout, finishing the season in fourth place overall.

The Venturi Dragon

Resigned along with Duval, d'Ambrosio would have to use the Venturi VM200-FE-01 for the 2015/16 season, although it would be the Belgian who ended up fastest of the quartet at the 2015 Donington Test. Yet, at the season opener in Beijing, it would be his teammate Duval who emerged as the best Venturi runner, a result repeated in Putrajaya. Indeed, d'Ambrosio would only get to one up Duval at the 2015 Punta del Este ePrix by scoring a podium and a maiden pole position, before the Frenchman extended his advantage again at the following round.

Yet, the tide in the Dragon fight would turn when d'Ambrosio inherited victory at the 2016 Mexico City ePrix, the Belgian once again benefitting from a disqualification for di Grassi. It was his second pole of the season too, but the inconsistency returned at the following round, with d'Ambrosio only scoring eight points between Mexico and the season finale in London. Indeed, d'Ambrosio would have to fight his way onto the podium to ensure that he beat Duval in the inter-team honours at the season ending 2016 London ePrix II, although they would duel for the final podium spot throughout the race.

Penske Promises

Once again, Dragon Racing would retain d'Ambrosio and Duval for the 2016/17 season, although the two French speakers would be helping to develop a brand new car for the Championship. Penske had been persuaded by Dragon Racing to build them a car, and when d'Ambrosio and Duval recorded consistent top ten times at the 2016 Donington Test, it seemed as if the gamble to leave Venturi had paid off, although Duval had got the better of d'Ambrosio in their private battle.

The pre-season promise seemed to have paid off at the 2016 Hong Kong ePrix, with d'Ambrosio claiming his first points of the season at the opening race. After a non-score in Marrakech, d'Ambrosio claimed another handful of points in Buenos Aires. However, that would be it for d'Ambrosio until the series headed to North America, with the Belgian failing to score in any of the European based rounds.

Indeed, d'Ambrosio would have to wait until the second New York ePrix to add another point to his tally, tenth place and a single point the result from an afternoon of battles. A near miss in the first Montreal ePrix, followed, before d'Ambrosio claimed another two points at the season finale, the second Montreal ePrix.

Dragonic Demise

Dragon, despite a poor third season, opted to retain d'Ambrosio for the 2017/18 season, partnering him with Porsche protégé Neel Jani ahead of the German firm's plunge into Formula E from 2019/20. Unfortunately for d'Ambrosio the start of his fourth FE campaign would not go well, with the Belgian racer retiring at the opening race in Hong Kong with damage. Two low-key performances in the second Hong Kong and Marrakech E-Prix followed, before the Belgian claimed his first points of the season with eighth in Santiago.

Another non-score followed in Mexico City, before d'Ambrosio battled to a ninth place finish in Punta del Este. Another points finish in Rome a month later suggested that d'Ambrosio had finally returned to form, only for his pace to disappear in both Paris and Berlin. Indeed, d'Ambrosio's inconsistent form meant that many were questioning his future with Dragon, with the Belgian racer himself considering his options.

However, having revealed that he was likely to leave Dragon at the end of the season, d'Ambrosio would put in his best performance since season two in Zürich, claiming a surprise podium. Indeed, that podium result, which had seen d'Ambrosio run in the points for most of the race, seemed to kick the Belgian racer into gear, with the Belgian subsequently making it into the Super Pole shootout for the penultimate race in New York City. Unfortunately a poor start to the race would see d'Ambrosio slam into the back of teammate José María López into the first corner, putting both at the back of the field.

The Belgian racer's season would then come to a miserable conclusion in the second New York E-Prix, being taken out by an errant Luca Filippi as the Italian was spun into the Dragon by António Félix da Costa. He duly left the Dragon squad at the end of the season to seek employment elsewhere in the series.

Mahindra Machinations: 2018/19

Fortunately for d'Ambrosio a number of FE seats became available ahead of the 2018/19 season, with Mahindra Racing quickly signing the Belgian up to partner Pascal Wehrlein. The Belgian ace duly started the season in fine form, securing third in the season opening 2018 Ad Diriyah E-Prix, running in second until a late move by Jean-Éric Vergne pushed him back. He followed that up with another impressive run in Marrakech, inheriting victory as the two all conquering BMW-Andrettis knocked each other out in the closing stages.

Indeed, that win, which saw d'Ambrosio also resist several lunges from the two Envision Virgins on the final lap, would leave the Belgian racer atop the Championship, although he would only score a solitary point in Santiago. d'Ambrosio bounced back at the following race in Mexico City, however, taking part in a last minute scrap for the podium as teammate Wehrlein ran out of energy while leading. The Belgian racer ultimately finished in fourth after Wehrlein received a time penalty, and duly moved back to the top of the Championship. However, a poor weekend in Hong Kong would prevent d'Ambrosio building any momentum, the Belgian qualifying last in wet conditions before being wiped out alongside teammate Wehrlein in a circuit blocking accident on the opening lap.

Indeed, d'Ambrosio would not feature significantly in the title fight for the rest of the season, despite picking up points in both Sanya and Rome. Indeed, a four race pointless run saw d'Ambrosio arrive at the season ending double header in New York City completely out of the hunt, although he would pick-up two more points as chaos erupted around him. Come the end of the season d'Ambrosio had slipped to eleventh in the Championship with 67 points, just ahead of rookie teammate Wehrlein.

Full Formula E Record

Shown below are a series of tables outlining Jérôme d'Ambrosio's career in Formula E in statistical form.

Formula E Entries

The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for Jérôme d'Ambrosio during their FE career:

Jérôme d'Ambrosio's Overall Formula E Record
Year	Entrant	No.	Car	Pos.	Pts.
2014/15	Dragon Racing	7	Spark-Renault SRT_01E	3rd	113
2015/16	Dragon Racing	7	Venturi VM200-FE-01	5th	83
2016/17	Faraday Future Dragon Racing	7	Penske 701-EV	18th	13
2017/18	Dragon Racing	7	Penske EV-2	14th	27
2018/19	Mahindra Racing	64	Mahindra M5Electro	11th	67
2019/20	Mahindra Racing	64	Mahindra M6Electro	16th	19

Career Results

Below is a table showing Jérôme d'Ambrosio's full Formula E record.

FIA Formula E Championship Record
Year	Rounds														Pos.	Pts.
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
2014/15															3rd	113
	6th	5th	8th	15th	4th	6th	5th	1st	11th	2nd	2nd
2015/16															5th	83
	5th	14th	3rd	16th	1st	7th	11th	16th	CAN	9th	3rd
2016/17															18th	13
	7th	13th	8th	14th	Ret	Ret	14th	13th	Ret	10th	11th	9th
2017/18															14th	27
	Ret	15th	15th	8th	11th	9th	7th	12th	19th	3rd	13th	Ret
2018/19															11th	67
	3rd	1st	10th	4th	Ret	6th	8th	17th	11th	17th	13th	9th	11th
2019/20															16th	19
	9th	DNS	NC	10th	13th	5th	DSQ	7th	15th	16th	18th

Results Key
Symbol	Meaning		Symbol	Meaning
1st	Winner		Ret	Retired
2nd	Second		DSQ	Disqualified
3rd	Third		DNS	Did Not Start
7th	Points Finish		16th	Non-Points Finish
NC	Not Classified		CAN	Race Cancelled
INJ	Driver Injured		Italics	Fastest Lap
Bold	Pole Position		G	Group Fastest Lap

References

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