Wolff clarifies D’Ambrosio’s new purpose on Mercedes’ younger driver programme


Previous System one driver and System E staff principal Jerome D’Ambrosio has joined Mercedes as its driver advancement director.

Group principal Toto Wolff verified D’Ambrosio’s appointment just after he was noticed in the team’s garage early in the year.

Prior to staying Venturi’s staff principal in FE, d’Ambrosio used 6 seasons racing in the sequence and gained races with Dragon Racing and Mahindra. His F1 working experience incorporates just one year with Virgin Racing in 2011 and a just one-off visual appearance with Lotus in 2012 as a substitute for Romain Grosjean when serving as the team’s reserve driver.

Wolff exposed d’Ambrosio will presume some of the roles beforehand held by James Vowles, who still left his placement as approach director at the start off of this calendar year to develop into Williams’ staff principal.

D’Ambrosio started out his new occupation previous 7 days and will be liable for the team’s simulator driver roster and other driver-linked subject areas in addition to their junior staff, Mercedes verified to RaceFans.

“He’s hunting just after the younger driver programme in quite near cooperation with Gwen [Lagrue], who has been accomplishing it quite properly more than the previous several decades.

“With Gwen’s staff we are hunting at grassroots motorsports from the early phases of go-karts. This is exactly where Gwen is quite lively, he was the just one performing with James, and now in the Brackley composition it is Jerome who has taken that more than.

“He’s hunting at items and there is lots of lots of scope that James did past the approach get the job done. So I see Jerome increasing in the organisation, but at this phase, that is his region.”

D’Ambrosio beforehand labored with Wolff’s spouse Susie at Venturi. She was staff principal when d’Ambrosio was deputy, and when she stepped up to develop into main government officer it then freed up the staff principal purpose for d’Ambrosio to shift into.

Having said that the Mercedes staff principal’s record with d’Ambrosio goes back again additional than that. “I have recognized Jerome because a very long time, mainly because back again in the working day when he was in the Renault driver advancement [programme], I believed about handling him,” he mentioned.

“So it is fifteen or twenty decades back, and then we experienced a appear once again at him when he when he dropped out of the programme. So I have recognized him as a racing driver, but hardly ever from the human standpoint, and hardly ever from the managerial aspect.”

D’Ambrosio designed a prosperous changeover from driver to supervisor, mentioned Wolff. “When Susie provided him the choice to bounce out of the cockpit into a administration purpose, he took it with both of those fingers and they have been pretty a very good aggressive duo, and Jerome led it into a further calendar year and completed next in the FE championship.

“He has the knowhow of acquiring been a racing driver at a quite substantial degree. He was a go-karting environment winner. He’s been in F1 and on the other aspect, the techniques as a supervisor. Exactly where that will direct him is a query. Now it is at a quite early phase. He is just coming in in the driver advancement section and administrative features. And we shall see exactly where that goes.”

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