Jerome D’Ambrosio positive after being plagued by KERS failure

Jerome D’Ambrosio has ended his return to Formula 1 on a positive note, after suffering a majority of the Italian Grand Prix with a KERs failure on his Renault-powered Lotus E20. The Belgian driver, standing in for the banned Romain Grosjean, was able to finish 13th after a tough race long battle in the midfield.

The 26-year-old Belgian driver, who had not raced in the sport since the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix, started the race around the historic Autodromo Nazionale di Monza from 15th on the grid. After several laps into the race, D’Ambrosio was informed that his car had suffered a KERs failure, thus leaving him at a large disadvantage over the majority of the opposition. However, D’Ambrosio was able to battle his way through the 53-lap race to eventually finish only three places away from a point scoring position.

“It was a pretty long and difficult race for me today.” Explained Jerome D’Ambrosio, “After losing my KERs on lap 6 it was always going to be tough as that’s worth about half a second per lap around here. Once I lost that extra boost it was impossible to keep up and I dropped back. My main aim was to finish the race and I’ve achieved that so it’s not so bad overall. It was great to be back in the car and especially with such a fantastic team; I’ve learnt a lot this weekend.”

Jerome D’Ambrosio will now return to his reserve driver duties for the Lotus outfit, as Romain Grosjean prepares to return next time out for the Singapore Grand Prix after serving his one-race ban. The Frenchman will be eager to prove he has learned his lesson, after causing the first lap incident at the Belgian Grand Prix, amongst others. With the FIA proving a point by banning Grosjean at Spa-Francorchamps, it’s unquestionable that dangerous driving will not be tolerated in Formula 1.

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