D’Ambrosio: “Lotus was a good choice”

After a year spent at Virgin – renamed Marussia – Jérôme D’Ambrosio decided to take a step back to leap forward by becoming the third driver for Lotus. A decision that wasn’t simple but one he absolutely does not regret.

« It’s not an easy choice, it’s the one I had to make in January simply because it’s true that on one hand, you want to race, you want to compete, that’s why I’m a driver because I love it and I miss it. But in terms of career planning, I think it was clear that it was a good choice to be part of a top team because staying in F1 for 10 years involves being part of a big organization and today, Lotus, which is third in the constructors’ championship, is a big team. It’s really a world of difference from what I experienced last year, » declares JDA on the Belgian radio station Vivacité.

Another positive point about being part of a more upscale team is cohabiting with a world champion: Kimi Räikkönen. I get along well with both drivers, even with Kimi, whom I got to know this year. He’s a very nice guy, even though he has quite a reserved image. He lives up to his nickname (Iceman), but I get along very well with him.

If today the test driver’s position is often thankless, it has been understood from the beginning that D’Ambrosio would be an active third driver. Before getting the chance to drive the Lotus E20 during some Friday sessions, the Belgian driver will be on track during the Mugello tests next May.

« I will have a full day of testing. It’s a development day where we test several parts, several things for the engineers. It’s quite good for me because it will allow me to reconnect with a Formula 1 car. From the moment we test a part, I give my feedback, I say if it’s better or worse, why, and all that while being as fast as possible, » explains the 26-year-old Belgian.

And Jérôme D’Ambrosio couldn’t leave the studio without mentioning Michael Schumacher, whose return is not really unanimously supported by observers.

« He is a 7-time world champion, so he has his place in the paddock even if, at the moment, he is a little less fast, a little less effective than Nico Rosberg. But there is also the aspect that he can help develop the car with his experience, » observes the Lotus driver.

However, despite the insistence of the presenter and his columnists, it seems that the driver does not have the numbers of the hostesses one can see at the circuits, unless he is keeping them to himself…