Vasseur leaves Austria for personal reasons, D'Ambrosio in charge

Today, Ferrari has Charles Leclerc set to start on the front row alongside McLaren's pole-sitter Lando Norris and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton fourth on the grid for the Austrian Grand Prix.

The great Italian team have yet to win a Grand Prix this season, and 57-year-old Frenchman Vasseur has come under increasing pressure with speculation about his future triggered by Italian media and outspoken Tifosi.

Belgian former racer D'Ambrosio joined Ferrari from Mercedes and has been deputy F1 team principal since last October. Ferrari confirmed, Vasseur left Styria "for personal reasons." The nature of this emergency was not further elaborated upon.

On May 13, 2024, Ferrari announced the signing of former Formula 1 driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio, who has taken on the position of deputy team principal and the leadership of Ferrari's driver academy.

D'Ambrosio has already demonstrated his managerial skills in Formula E, having been responsible for the Mercedes brand's talented drivers since 2023 as head of the junior program.

The 39-year-old competed in a total of 20 Grands Prix between 2011 and 2012, contesting 19 of them for the Marussia Virgin Racing team and one appearance for the Lotus team, replacing the suspended Romain Grosjean.

Even after his active racing career, which also included appearances in Formula E, D'Ambrosio remained loyal to motorsport. As team principal of the Formula E racing team Venturi Racing, he achieved second place overall in the team standings in the 2021/2022 season.

In 2023, d’Ambrosio joined Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, working closely with Toto Wolff and overseeing driver development. A year later, in July 2024, Ferrari confirmed his appointment as Deputy Team Principal and Head of the Ferrari Driver Academy, effective October 1.

His bio on the Ferrari website states that Jerome d’Ambrosio’s motorsport journey has taken him from karting success in Belgium to a senior leadership role at Ferrari, and now temporary team principal for Formula 1's greatest teams.

Born in Etterbeek, Belgium, on December 27, 1985, into a family with Italian roots, d’Ambrosio began karting in 1999 and quickly rose through the ranks. By 2002, he had claimed three national titles and won both the Junior Monaco Kart Cup and the Formula A World Cup.

His single-seater debut came in 2003, when he won the Belgian Formula Renault title. He went on to compete in several junior series, including Formula Renault 3.5, Euro 3000, Formula Masters and GP2. A runner-up finish in the 2009 GP2 Asia championship and a win in the GP2 Series earned him a Formula 1 test role with Virgin Racing.

He made his F1 debut with Marussia Virgin Racing before a short stint with Lotus. After moving to Formula E, he retired from racing in 2020 and transitioned into management with Venturi, later guiding the team to second in the teams' championship.