DAMS has enjoyed success in both drivers and team championships in multiple formula series across the world,[3] and has helped launch the careers of several high profile drivers.[4]
History
The year after its foundation, DAMS joined the International Formula 3000 Championship. They stayed in F3000 until 2001. DAMS were one of many French teams that were part of the Elf young driver sponsorship program.
Aside from F3000, DAMS planned to join the F1 World Championship in 1996, with a car (the GD-01) developed by Reynard, but lack of funds prevented the team from advancing.[1]
In August 2019, founder Jean-Paul Driot died, aged 68.[5] His two sons, Olivier and Gregory Driot, took over as co-team principals, until former Formula 1 driver Charles Pic bought the team in February 2022.[2]
Formula 3000/GP2 Series/FIA Formula 2 Championship
In 13 years, 1989 to 2001, DAMS won 4 team titles, 3 drivers titles, 21 wins, 19 pole positions and 19 fastest laps, making DAMS one of the most successful Formula 3000 teams with Super Nova Racing and Arden International.
DAMS was associated with the Toyota Drivers Program (TDP) from 2006 to 2009, and ran their drivers in the GP2 Series. In 2006, it was Franck Perera and then Kazuki Nakajima in 2007, who finished 5th in the GP2 championship and raced in the last Formula One Grand Prix of the season with Williams. Following this he won a full-time race seat with the team for 2008 and was retained for the 2009 season. In 2008, TDP driver Kamui Kobayashi replaced Nakajima at DAMS GP2 and became the Toyota Racing test driver.[7] Kobayashi stayed on in 2009, and was partnered by Jérôme d'Ambrosio for these two years. Neither driver was able to put together a consistent run of form in the main GP2 Series championships, but Kobayashi did win the 2008–09 Asian championship with the team.
D'Ambrosio remained with the team for 2010, and was paired with Ho-Pin Tung, who replaced the Sauber-bound Kobayashi. As part of an agreement with the Renault Formula One team, both were nominated as Renault F1 test drivers, and the DAMS GP2 cars were liveried in an identical yellow-and-black scheme to the Renault R30 chassis.[8] D'Ambrosio won the sprint race at Monaco, but his form thereafter was disappointing[citation needed] and he was rested for one of the rounds in favour of Romain Grosjean, another driver with Renault F1 links. Grosjean later got the opportunity to move into the team full-time when Tung, yet to score a point after 12 races, sustained a broken vertebra in a racing accident. D'Ambrosio, Grosjean and Tung finished 12th, 14th and 28th respectively in the drivers' championship, whilst DAMS finished sixth position in the teams' championship. Grosjean remained with the team for 2011, with Norwegian rookie Pål Varhaug replacing D'Ambrosio, who graduated to F1 with the Virgin Racing team. DAMS retained its links with Renault, although these were somewhat diluted by the F1 team's new sponsorship deal with Lotus Cars, which also backed the rival ART team in GP2. Grosjean dominated the year, winning both the Asian and main series championships. DAMS also won the Asian teams' title, but Varhaug's failure to score points in the main series saw the team beaten to the championship by Addax.
For the 2012 season, Grosjean moved to the Lotus (formerly Renault) Formula One team, and Varhaug switched to the Auto GP World Series; they were replaced by series veteran Davide Valsecchi and reigning British F3 champion Felipe Nasr. Valsecchi began the season strongly, winning an unprecedented three races in a row in Bahrain, and later prevailed over closest rival Luiz Razia to win the championship, whilst Nasr finished on the podium four times to finish tenth in the championship, the second-highest rookie behind James Calado. Between them, Valsecchi and Nasr scored enough points to win DAMS's first GP2 Teams' Championship, six points ahead of ART, competing under the Lotus GP banner.
The team wrapped up both the 2014 Drivers' and Teams' Championships, with Jolyon Palmer winning the former. DAMS went into the 2015 season with Red Bull Junior Team driver Pierre Gasly and 2014 GP3 champion Alex Lynn as their driver lineup. The team struggled in the Bahrain feature race with Gasly being involved in a fourth lap collision with Arthur Pic, Raffaele Marciello and Norman Nato and Lynn falling down the order after driving into the back of Alexander Rossi and damaging his front wing. Both drivers finished outside the points in the following day's sprint race. The team had an improved weekend in Barcelona, with Lynn taking his first GP2 victory in the sprint race and Gasly joining him on the podium in third.
In 2018, the team fielded Nicholas Latifi and Alexander Albon in the FIA Formula 2 Championship.[9] The team secured third place in the constructors' championship and took 5 wins during the season (4 for Albon and 1 for Latifi). The team's 2018 lineup will race together for the first time in three years in the 2022 Formula One World Championship for the Williams team.
For the 2007–08 season, A1 Team France and South Africa collaborated closely to finalize the car like it was previously done with A1 Team Switzerland.[16]
The following season saw the team's final season with Renault in Formula E fail to see any of their drivers win a single race in the championship. Their highest finish was 2nd for Buemi in Marrakesh. The team could only finish fifth in the constructors' championship. At the end of the season, Nicolas Prost left the team.
For the 2018–19 season, the team switched to Nissan and originally hired Alexander Albon to partner Buemi, however on 26 November 2018 Albon was released from his contract with the team to instead drive in the 2019 Formula One season with the Toro Rosso team. Four days later, the team signed Oliver Rowland, who raced for the team in the 2017 FIA Formula 2 Championship. As is traditional with Nissan factory teams, their car numbers are 22 and 23, since the numbers 2 and 3 are pronounced "ni" and "san" in Japanese.
Under the Nissan banner, the team couldn't win any championship. Their first powertrain named Nissan IM01 proved to be controversial as e.dams were the only team to use a dual-motor setup, having scored six poles with this powertrain. This was eventually outlawed in technical regulations for the 2019–20 season.[18] Despite being forced by rules to significantly change their powertrain design, Nissan e.dams improved in the COVID-impaced 2019–20 season, ending up second in Teams' Championship instead of fourth.
After two disappointing seasons in a row with a 10th place in the 2020–21 season and a 9th position in the 2021–22 season, Nismo decided to part ways with DAMS and operate the team on their own.[19]
They then switched their effort to an FIA GT return. In 2003, they tried entering two Nissan 350Z, but once again funds prevented the French team from developing the Japanese car. In 2004, they teamed with Lamborghini and entered two Murciélago R-GT cars in the final rounds of the FIA GT Championship.
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