How Well Do You Know Your Teammate? DAMS / Tung / D'Ambrosio

What did you know about each other before you became teammate?
Ho-Pin: Too much unfortunately! I’ve known him for quite a while
Jerome: First time we met was end of 2003.
Ho-Pin: True, in Formula 3000. We were both a bit younger. Now we are not much wiser, just a bit older.
(Laughs). We have been training together also for a while.
Jerome: Our paths have crossed a few times before this season...

What are his greatest strengths?
Jerome: Well... uh...
Ho-Pin: Jerome is very good at juggling
Jerome: Ho-Pin is very good in IT. If you have a problem with your computer, your GPS or anything like that, you can call Ho-Pin!
Ho-Pin: Asian blood I guess.
(Laughs)
Jerome: Ho-Pin is an honest guy. He is a very good teammate.

Any weaknesses?
Ho-Pin: He gets distracted by the girls!
(Laughs)
Jerome: Look who is talking?! More seriously, I don’t really know what your weaknesses are. Ask me again in Monza!
Ho-Pin: I know one of your weaknesses: ice cream! And when you feel bad about hqving one, you say “Or maybe I should get a sorbet. It’s healthier than ice cream no?”
(Both laugh)

Who gets to the circuit last?
Jerome: We always more or less get to the track at the same time. I think I was later than you today, but yesterday, it was you.
Ho-Pin: Depends on which hotel we stay.

Who is the wildest one on track and off the track?
Jerome: On the circuit...?
Ho-Pin: Maybe you.
Jerome: Sometimes... I don’t know. Off track... We cannot spill all our secrets.
Ho-Pin: No, but we can talk about the time when you decided to prove that you could eat spicy food. We were with Andi Zuber in Austria two years ago. We went to a Chinese restaurant and everybody was bragging that they could eat spicy food and Jerome at the end wanted to give the final shot to everybody.
Jerome: I did. And I sort of regretted it: I was sweating like crazy. It was horrible. But I did beat them all!

Who is the most successful with the ladies?
Jerome: Ho-Pin definitely.
Ho-Pin: Why?
Jerome: You know how to chat up a girl. He is naturally really, really nice. He is that guy who will sit at a table full of strangers and just start chatting and then get up for a drink and offer one to everybody. The girls appreciate that sometimes when the boys are nice to them!
Ho-Pin: You have a lot of stories as well
Jerome: Yes, but shut up!
(Both laugh)
Ho-Pin: It’s hard to judge who is the most successful
Jerome: We should go out one night and see who gets the most girls
Ho-Pin: We don’t really appeal to the same people
Jerome: Which is actually good. They will either like me or you!
Ho-Pin: Will this competition happen in China or Europe?
(Both laugh)
Jerome: No Matter, you are three years older than me, so you are more experienced. There, you win!
Ho-Pin: But you have more practice!
(Both laugh)

Are you superstitious?
Jerome: What is the point of walking under the ladder if you can walk around it?
Ho-Pin: I always get in the car from the same side. But that’s for comfort, not superstition.
Jerome: Me too. Always from the left side
Ho-Pin: Me, from the right
Jerome: Oh, big mistake!
Ho-Pin: Anyway, it is important to say that I change my underwear everyday, and new socks everyday...
Jerome: Normally it’s not legal to wear normal underwear when you race apart from Nomex. That’s all I’m going to say...
Ho-Pin: You race commando?!
Jerome: I’m wearing only legal Nomex things. I’m not saying that I’m racing commando!
Ho-Pin: Too late!

Who will have the best road car in 10 years time?
Ho-Pin: So far, I’ve never had one.
Jerome: I think we will both have the best of what Renault will make in ten years
Ho-Pin: What he said!
(Both Laugh)

Who will have the most beautiful wife?
Jerome: It depends
Ho-Pin: It depends if you win a lot of money
Jerome: What?!
Ho-Pin: You said I was the most successful with the ladies, so you need money to be more appealing than me!

How would you describe your teammate?
Jerome: Don’t you say “rabbit” because that was Kamui’s answer last year!
Ho-Pin: Why?
Jerome: I don’t know! It’s Kamui!
(Both laugh)
Ho-Pin: Well it means “lucky” in Chinese mythology
Jerome: Really?
Ho-Pin: No, of course not!

Who has the best fashion-sense?
Ho-Pin: Taste is different. You have the most expensive clothes!
Jerome: Look at the shoes I’m wearing right now and look at yours. Yours are much nicer.
Ho-Pin: Somebody gave them to me
Jerome: It’s the same! I came here today with a tee-shirt and you came with a shirt

Who is the shyest?
Jerome: It depends with who. In a racing environment...
Ho-Pin: Jerome is very chatty, but in some occasions, not so much
Jerome: I’m not shy.
Ho-Pin: No. But sometimes, you need some push.

Who is your favourite sportsman or sportswoman?
Jerome: Lance Armstrong and Usain Bolt
Ho-Pin: Any sports athlete really. Everybody excels in what they are doing and deserves our respect as long as they give their 100%. But I will say Yao Ming, the basketball player.

Who tells the most jokes?
Ho-Pin: Jerome
Jerome: No! Yes, ok... Ho-Pin is more of a story-teller. I cannot do that. I never get the ending right you know! Short jokes I can handle, long jokes, I get lost...
Ho-Pin: Because you get distracted easily...

Jerome, if you were going to invite Ho-Pin for dinner, what would you cook? Same question for Ho-Pin...
Jerome: Not rice although he loves it. I want him to discover something new. I will make some good French fries cooked in a special Belgium way and I will cook a Fricadelle and after that, in the next qualifying, he will lose a second!
Ho-Pin: I will make you a very spicy meal! More seriously, I’m not a good cook.
Jerome: Me neither, I’ll have my mom cook for me! Actually, I saw her once have take out and serve it as if she had cooked it herself. She is going to kill me for saying that!
Ho-Pin: ah... Then, I will take you to my parents’ restaurant. Chinese food is good. It’s not all about strange things that we put in our food.

Who has the most contacts in their phone?
Jerome: Let’s check!
Ho-Pin: I think it is you. I’ve just cleaned my SIM card.
Jerome: Let’s check our BBM – I’ve got 87
Ho-Pin: I have 25
Jerome: I win!

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