2011 end of term report – Jérôme d’Ambrosio

When he lined up on the Australian Grand Prix starting grid, Jérôme d’Ambrosio became the first Belgian driver in Formula One since 1994 – when Philippe Adams contested two races with Lotus.
The rookie replaced Lucas di Grassi as Timo Glock’s teammate at Virgin… and didn’t expect to be replaced, one year later, by Charles Pic.

Season Review:

The 25 year-old was one of this year’s rookies. In his first race in Australia he scored what would be one of his best results of the season: a 14th place inherited after the disqualification of both Saubers for a technical infringement. He equaled this result in Canada.
D’Ambrosio was impressed by his reliability as he finished 16 of the 19 races of the championship. He retired in Malaysia after brutally hitting a kerb. In Italy he suffered a gearbox failure. He had brake problems in Abu Dhabi.
Otherwise, the rookie displayed some good maturity but, like his teammate Timo Glock, had to make do with a car that only allowed him to fight with the HRT drivers. His best races were probably the ones he finished ahead of his teammate – China, Canada and Belgium. He also rated highly his performance in Brazil.

Conclusion :

Jérôme d’Ambrosio fared pretty well against his experienced teammate in races but was consistently out-qualified by Glock. Thanks to two 14th place finishes, he ended the season one place higher than the German in the standings… but it was not enough for him to secure his place on the grid.

He was informed in Brazil his services wouldn’t be retained by the Marussia Virgin Team. There are few places left but he doesn’t seem to be on top of the shopping list of the team principals, despite a solid rookie season at the wheel of a struggling car.

His manager Eric Boullier praised his qualities but also emphasized the need for d’Ambrosio to get some solid financial backing.

Highs :
—  Close to Timo Glock throughout the season

—  Only three retirements, no race incident

—  Classified higher than his teammate in the final standings

Lows:
—  Without a race seat for 2012

—  Comprehensively out-qualified by Glock

Nextgen-Auto.com marks:

Olivier Ferret : 12/20
D.Thys : 12/20
Sandrine Bouchard : 12/20
Jean-Michel Setbon : 13/20

Average mark on the forum Nextgen-Auto.com : 9/20
Global mark : 58/100

Until the end of the year, Nextgen-Auto.com will be reviewing the performance of each driver and team throughout the 2011 season.