Toto Wolff replacement revealed as he skips a race to undergo surgery
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The Mercedes team principal will skip the September 22-24 weekend, according to OE24, in order to fix a troublesome knee problem.Wolff requires surgery on his cruciate ligament after an injury sustained in a “training accident”, it is reported.Wolff backs Hamilton to become an F1 team principal: “He has the right skills…”How Ferrari Tried to Win at MonzaVideo of How Ferrari Tried to Win at MonzaJerome D’Ambrosio will act as Wolff’s replacement for the Suzuka event.Wolff will be present next weekend in Singapore, then skip Japan, and return for Qatar (probably on crutches) on October 6-8.He has been in the wars this summer, sustaining an arm injury in a cycling accident while on a family holiday during the F1 break.Who is Jerome D’Ambrosio?
D’Ambrosio, a Belgian former racing driver who featured in F1 from 2011-2012 with Marussia and Lotus, is now a key member behind-the-scenes at Mercedes.D’Ambrosio inherited some of the responsibilities left behind by James Vowles, who quit Mercedes to become Williams team principal.He had previously worked with Susie Wolff at the Venturi Formula E team.Wolff said about D’Ambrosio earlier this year: “Jerome is taking over some of James Vowles’ topics.Related Wolff backs Hamilton to become an F1 team principal: “He has the right skills…” Massa expects “help” from Ferrari in legal pursuit of 2008 title“He’s looking after the young driver programme in close co-operation with [driver development chief Gwen Lagrue], who has been doing it very successfully over the last few years.“We are looking at grassroots motorsports from the early stages of go-karts and this is where Gwen is very active. “He was the one working with James. Now, within the Brackley structure Jerome has taken that over.“He’s looking at things and there’s plenty of scope that James did beyond the strategy work. “I see Jerome growing in the organisation but, at this stage, that’s his area.“I have known Jerome a long time because, back in the day, when he was in the Renault driver development [programme], I thought about managing him. It’s 15 or 20 years ago.“We had a look again at him when he when he dropped out of the programme, so I’ve known him as a racing driver. But never from the human standpoint and never from the managerial side.“When Susie offered him the option to jump out of the cockpit into a management role, he took it with both hands and they were quite a good, competitive duo and Jerome led it into another year and finished second in the Formula E Championship.“I think he has the know-how of having been a racing driver at a very high level.”
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