D'Ambrosio: Life on the F1 subs' bench
Jerome D'Ambrosio reckons the reserve role with Lotus will do his career more good than another year in a rear-of-the-pack race seat. The Belgian told AUTOSPORT why he believes his step back will pay off
Jerome D'Ambrosio is the latest driver to decide that a background role at a frontrunning team is a better career move than racing for a backmarker, so swapped his 2011 Virgin race seat for the number three slot at Lotus this year.
The Belgian is therefore spending 2012 waiting in the wings and trying to be as ready as possible should Kimi Raikkonen or Romain Grosjean - who have shown that the Lotus E20 has winning potential - be indisposed.
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Andrew van Leeuwen is Motorsport.com's Australian Editor and provides award-winning coverage of Supercars. He started his career working for Australasian Motorsport News in Melbourne, working his way into the top digital editor role before relocating to Mainz, Germany, in 2012. During his three-year stint in Europe he covered a number of series, including the DTM, while working for Autosport, before returning to Australia as part of Motorsport.com's global expansion in early 2015. Alongside his Motorsport.com commitments Andrew is one-third of the successful Below the Bonnet podcast. He lives in Perth with his wife Anne, kids Nico and Billie and chihuahua Coco.
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