Chassis change for D’Ambrosio

Jerome D’Ambrosio

Virgin Racing Team Principal John Booth has confirmed that Jerome D’Ambrosio will be forced to use spare chassis for the rest of the weekend after his practice crash in Montreal on Friday, with the Belgian driver running wide at the Turn 3/4 chicane before hitting the outside wall violently, causing significant damage to his MVR-02.

"It has been a particularly tough start to our weekend in Montreal and as a consequence the mechanics and engineers have a long evening ahead of them to get us back on track," Booth explained.

"Unfortunately Jerome’s crash is going to require a chassis change due to extensive damage to the nose fixings and this is a big job that will take us late into the night.

"The engineers meanwhile will be spending most of the evening analyzing slightly less data than we would normally have gathered during a Friday session due to the frequent red flags – one of which was caused by us of course. Nevertheless it is clear that we need to make the most of the data we have and try to improve the car overnight."

D'Ambrosio added: "The day was going pretty well today. I had a good feeling with the car and I really enjoy driving here. But then I made a mistake in turn 3, which pushed me wide on to the curb at Turn 4. I couldn't turn in and so I ended up hitting the wall.

"It's a shame to finish the day like this but I was happy how the car was behaving on the circuit so I'm sure we can bounce back tomorrow, I'm just very sorry for the team as the guys now have a lot of work to do tonight."