Jerome d’Ambrosio joins Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean for 2012 season – Formula 1 news
Jerome d’Ambrosio has been announced as the reserve and test driver for Lotus F1 in the 2012 season.
D’Ambrosio did a fair job in 2011 for Marussia previously known as Virgin Racing. He was not able to score any points but it was evident from the way he drove throughout the season that he was not able to show the results because of a below par Virgin car.
2011 was his debut season and he has shown signs of future potential given a competitive car. At the end of the 2011 season though Marussia decided to replace him with Charles Pic. The decision put d’Ambrosio’s career in danger of a halt but Eric Boullier
decided that the Belgian is going to be a good strong choice as a third driver.
D’Ambrosio joins Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean it sets up Lotus F1 nicely for the 2012 season who have made quite a few changes at the end of 2011 to regain their lost reputation as one of F1’s leading teams.
“It's a great feeling to be joining Lotus F1 Team,” d'Ambrosio said. “It's an exciting next step in my career. I contested a complete season in F1 as a race driver for a smaller team where I learnt a lot about Formula 1. Now, I have the opportunity to work
with one of the top teams with great potential for my future development. With my recent race experience, I know I can make a valuable contribution.”
Boullier was excited at the inclusion of d’Ambrosio and said that the Belgian is a talented driver.
“To have a third driver who is highly motivated, fresh and talented and who contested the full 2011 season is highly beneficial for us,” Boullier said. “In Jerome we have someone we know well who integrates beneficially with the squad.”
It would be interesting to see how well Lotus does in the upcoming season as they have done well to make all the changes for a strong showing in 2012. The first glance of their latest edition car will be on display at the first pre-season test on February
7, 2012 at Jerez.
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