Jerome d'Ambrosio: From Formula One Racer to Ferrari Deputy Team Principal

Jerome d'Ambrosio is a Belgian former racing driver who competed in Formula One in 2011 and 2012 and later raced in Formula E. He won three Formula E races and moved into team management before joining Ferrari as Deputy Team Principal in 2024. His route ran from karting in Brussels through junior formulae to a title in International Formula Master.

Who is Jerome d'Ambrosio?

D'Ambrosio is a Belgian motorsport executive and former racing driver. He was born on 27 December 1985 in Etterbeek, Brussels, and he is now deputy team principal of Ferrari in Formula One, where he also heads the Ferrari Driver Academy. His driving career ended in 2020.

He began karting at 13 and won the senior World Cup three years later. Those early results led him to single-seater racing.

Three Formula E wins and a title in International Formula Master, followed by a move from the cockpit to the team pit wall.

How did karting and junior formulae prepare him?

The early karting years produced a string of national and international titles. He won the Mini class in 1999, the Junior class in 2000 and the Formula A class in 2002, and in 2000 he also won the Junior Monaco Kart Cup. Those results made him a three-time Belgian champion by 2002.

His first single-seater title came in 2003, when he took the Belgian Formula Renault crown with five victories in a Thierry Boutsen Racing car. A German series, Formula Konig, added a fourth-place finish that year.

What did his Formula Renault and Euroseries years involve?

In 2004 he joined the Renault F1 Driver Development Programme and moved to the French Formula Renault 2.0 series, where he finished fourth overall and was the highest-placed rookie. He also raced seven rounds of the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup that season.

In 2005 he moved to the Italian championship, where the Winter Series brought third and the main season fourth. Across both he recorded three wins and six podiums, and he also took two podiums in six Eurocup starts.

His 2006 campaign started in Formula Renault 3.5 with Tech 1 Racing, but he left the series after seven races. Next came Euroseries 3000 with Euronova Racing, where he ended the championship fifth after missing the opening half of the year. That year he also took part in one round of the FIA GT Championship in a Gillet Vertigo.

How did he win the 2007 International Formula Master title?

D'Ambrosio raced in the inaugural season of the International Formula Master series with Cram Competition. He recorded five wins, eleven podiums and seven fastest laps in sixteen races, and that record was enough to take the championship in its first year.

The title was followed the next year by his move into the GP2 Series with DAMS.

How did his GP2 seasons with DAMS go?

D'Ambrosio joined the GP2 Series in 2008 with DAMS, and he also raced in the newly created GP2 Asia Series for the same team. He finished eleventh in both championships in his first year and picked up two podiums in each series.

Staying with DAMS in 2009, he was runner-up in the 2008-09 GP2 Asia Series with four podiums. In the main GP2 Series he started well, recording three podiums in the first four races, and he finished ninth in the final standings.

2010 was a breakout year. He secured his first GP2 victory at Monaco and took his first series pole position at Spa-Francorchamps, although he retired from that race while leading. He added one further podium at Monza and finished twelfth in the standings.

What were his Formula One years like?

In January 2010 he was named reserve driver of the Renault F1 Team, rejoining the outfit's young driver programme. Later that year he made four practice appearances with Virgin Racing, at Singapore, Japan, Korea and Brazil, and placed 21st in his first FP1 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

On 21 December 2010 it was confirmed that he would race for Virgin in 2011, replacing Lucas di Grassi and partnering Timo Glock. In the Virgin garage he was affectionately known as Custard, a nickname that stuck once he began testing at Valencia.

The Virgin MVR-02 was largely uncompetitive. He finished sixteen of the season's nineteen races, but he retired from the Malaysian, Italian and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix because of electronics, gearbox and brake problems. At the Belgian Grand Prix he became the first Belgian driver there since Thierry Boutsen in 1993, and he finished 17th, beating Glock.

He ended the 2011 season 24th in the points table, with his strongest results two 14ths, in Australia and Canada. Although he had beaten his team-mate, Charles Pic took his seat for 2012.

What was his role at Lotus?

In January 2012 d'Ambrosio became the official reserve driver for Lotus F1, supporting Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. He also worked as a co-commentator for Sky Sports F1 during practice sessions and commentated for the Belgian French-speaking channel RTBF.

He made his Lotus race debut at the 2012 Italian Grand Prix, replacing Grosjean after the Frenchman received a one-race ban for a multi-car collision at the previous round in Belgium. He qualified 16th, but a ten-place grid penalty for Pastor Maldonado dropped him to 15th at the start. He finished 13th and on the lead lap, 76 seconds behind the winner, Lewis Hamilton.

He remained Lotus reserve driver for 2013 until the end of the season.

How did he move into GT racing and Formula E?

In 2014 he moved from single-seaters to GT racing, joining Bentley for the Continental GT3 in the Blancpain Endurance Series. Alongside Duncan Tappy and Antoine Leclerc, he secured a best result of sixth at the opening round at Monza.

That same year he joined Dragon Racing for the inaugural FIA Formula E Championship, partnering Oriol Servia and Loic Duval. He scored points on debut by finishing sixth at the 2014 Beijing ePrix.

His first Formula E victory came at the 2015 Berlin ePrix, where he was promoted to the win after Lucas di Grassi was disqualified for violating technical regulations. He followed that with back-to-back podiums at the London double-header and finished fourth in the drivers' championship with 113 points.

In 2014-15 no other driver on the grid finished every race, and he completed every racing lap while missing the top ten only twice. Dragon Racing finished second in the Teams' Championship that season.

What did his Dragon Racing seasons produce?

He stayed with Dragon for 2015-16 and was again partnered by Duval. The team used powertrains developed by Venturi Racing. Pole at the 2015 Punta del Este ePrix came first, and the race ended third. His second Formula E win arrived at the 2016 Mexico City ePrix, after Lucas di Grassi was excluded for a technical infringement.

The 2016-17 season brought a tougher package. Dragon built its own powertrains for the first time after a four-year technical partnership with the start-up Faraday Future. His best finish that year was seventh at the Hong Kong season opener, and he finished 18th in the drivers' championship.

The partnership with Faraday Future ended early because of the start-up's financial difficulties, and the 2017-18 car again proved uncompetitive. He scored his first points of that season with eighth at the 2018 Santiago ePrix, and he returned to the podium at the 2018 Zurich ePrix, finishing third, which was his best result of the year.

How did his time at Mahindra end?

In October 2018 he was confirmed as a Mahindra Racing driver for the 2018-19 Formula E season, having been with Dragon. He finished third in the first race at Diriyah and took his third series win at the 2019 Marrakesh ePrix.

He led the drivers' championship at the mid-point of that season, but the second half was far less productive, with points only falling in New York. He finished eleventh with 67 points, ahead of team-mate Pascal Wehrlein.

In 2019-20 the team's car struggled for efficiency in race conditions. He finished 16th in the drivers' championship with 19 points, and his best finish of the year came in Berlin after the COVID-19 pandemic had halted the series for five months. At the end of the season he announced his retirement from professional competition.

How did he move into team management?

He took a deputy team principal post at ROKiT Venturi Racing on 30 October 2020, and a restructure in November 2021 lifted him to team principal, while Susie Wolff became chief executive.

Under his leadership the team enjoyed its most successful campaign to date in 2021-22. The team also took five wins and ten podiums, and finished runner-up among teams with 295 points. In September 2022 he stepped away before the squad changed to Maserati MSG Racing.

What did his work with Mercedes and Ferrari involve?

In early 2023 he was working informally alongside Toto Wolff at Mercedes-AMG Petronas. Wolff then named him Driver Development Director during the Saudi round, a post covering young drivers in several categories. He stood in for Wolff in Japan until the Qatar Grand Prix after the team principal had knee surgery.

Ferrari confirmed in May 2024 that he would start on 1 October 2024 as Deputy Team Principal, also leading its young driver development operation, the Ferrari Driver Academy.

What is d'Ambrosio's legacy?

D'Ambrosio is remembered as a Belgian driver who won three Formula E races and later became a team leader in that series before joining Ferrari. His early titles in karting and International Formula Master show how far his career progressed from its beginnings.

His move from the cockpit to the pit wall gives his career an unusual shape. He has held roles in driver development and team leadership, and his work with young drivers at Mercedes and now at Ferrari reflects that path.

What were d'Ambrosio's main results?

Taken together, the table shows a career with clear peaks in karting, single-seaters and Formula E, followed by a move into management. Each row marks a season that changed the direction of his career.