Q+A with Jérôme D'Ambrosio

At the Autosport International Show earlier this week, Jérôme d'Ambrosio gave his first official interview as a Marussia Virgin Racing Grand Prix driver. The young Belgian, who has been the team's Friday driver for the last 4 races of the 2010 season, was announced as race driver with the team for the upcoming season in December.

So Jérôme, it must be an amazing feeling for you, to now be a Grand Prix driver? "Yes, it's something very special. Last year the team gave me a chance to drive in the Friday sessions and this year they are giving me the opportunity to be a Formula One race driver - and it's an opportunity I intend to make the most of."

What about the technical aspects. Do you have to understand how everything on the car works to be able to do your job? "I have great interest in the technical aspects of Formula One, it's something I enjoy. Being behind the wheel gives you adrenalin but being back in the office with the guys gives me a thrill as well and I can't wait to get down to work on that aspect too."

And when you're on the track, you have to know what's going on all the time don't you? "Well you certainly have to have a feeling of what the car is doing on the track, but I'm not an engineer. There's a fine line between giving good input, which has to be clear and have a good direction, and getting too involved, so I'm not going to suddenly start working on the CFD side! It's important to find a way to work well together, and reach an understanding so the engineers can take my input and use it to make the car faster."

You're the first Belgian driver for 15 or 16 years, and that's been generating massive interest in your home country. Has that been easy to deal with? "Well I won't say it's been hard or something I'm complaining about! It's been something I've been dreaming of for the last 17 years and I couldn't be happier. It's fantastic for Belgium to have a Belgian driver competing in Formula One again."

What do you think it's going to be like at Spa? You won't be able to move when you race there later this year, will you? "Well, if that happens, then it's great for Formula One, great for everyone. F1 is the third biggest sporting event in the world, and the more people like the sport, the happier we are."

You'll be driving alongside Timo Glock, who has a reputation as being very fast. What can you learn from him? "I can learn a lot from Timo. He's been on the front row of the grid and on the podium. First of all he's a very open guy, which is very important for me, and we get on very well. So I just have to try to learn as much as I can from him and get down to some hard work."