Q&A with Jérôme D’Ambrosio - I’m just trying to stay relaxed

Almost a year may have passed since Jérôme d’Ambrosio was last in the hot seat at a Grand Prix weekend, but the Belgian Bullet is back behind the wheel and enjoying every second…

Jérôme, your first full session in the E20 today; how did it go?

Today went pretty well overall and it feels good to be back in the car. It’s not an easy task stepping in at the last minute; there’s a lot to take in but we completed a busy schedule and put in a lot of laps which is a good start. I’m still learning the car; it’s impossible to understand everything after just two sessions and I need to fine tune it to my style of driving, so there’s a bit of work to do there but so far so good.

How did you find the track?

I love Monza; it’s a great track where you can really feel the speed of a Formula 1 car. With a low downforce layout like this the car can be a bit nervous and it can be quite tricky to find the limit. It’s one of the hardest circuits to nail a good time, as it’s so fast and flowing that you really have to get a good rhythm and keep it right through the lap, but I like a challenge and I’m really enjoying being here.

What are your hopes for qualifying tomorrow?

It’s difficult to say where we are right now, but we made steady progress between the two sessions which is important for me and my aim for tomorrow is to take another step forwards and see where we go from there. there’s no point setting targets in terms of positions at this stage; I’m just trying to stay relaxed, keep focused and do a good job for the team so I’ll approach tomorrow in the same way I did today and we’ll see what the result is in qualifying.