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Jerome got his motor sport career off to the best possible start when he won the Junior Monaco Kart Cup in 2000 aged 14. Two years later, the Belgian youngster won the World Cup Formula A title.
For 2003, Jerome, now aged 17, made the switch to single-seaters winning the Belgian Formula Renault Championship with Thierry Boutsen Racing at the first attempt.
Next he moved to the French Formula Renault 2000 series with Graff Racing, and while there were no wins he did finish fourth overall and leading rookie.
Never one to remain in one series for too long, Jerome headed to Italy in 2005 contesting the Formula Renault 2.0 series and its winter version, both with Euronova. Finishing fourth in one and third in the other, Jerome also found time to contest six rounds of the Eurocup and one race in the Italian Formula 3000 Light Championship.
The next step was Euroseries F3000 in 2006, again with Euronova, the Belgian finishing fifth overall even though there were no wins. Along the way, he also contested several Formula Renault 3.5 races and a round of the FIA GT Championship (GT2 Class).
For 2007, Jerome contested the inaugural International Formula Master series with Cram Competition, taking the title courtesy of five wins and seven further trips to the podium.
In 2008, Jerome made the move up to GP2 contesting both the main series and the (2007/2008) Asia version. Driving for the French DAMS outfit, the Belgian finished eleventh in both series. His teammate in both series was Kamui Kobayashi.
Over the winter of 2008 he once again contested the GP2 Asia series, this time finishing runner-up. However, the winner was his DAMS teammate, a certain Mr Kobayashi.
In the main series Jerome and his teammate both struggled, and at season end the Belgian could only manage eleventh in the overall standings, his best result coming in Monaco where he finished second.
On 31 January 2010, Jerome was named as reserve driver for the Renault F1 team, along with Ho-Pin Tung and Jan Charouz. In GP2, he remained with DAMS, which had become the Renault Junior Team, partnering Tung.
The F1 testing rules meant that, like most test drivers, he saw little time in the car, while in GP2, other than a win in Monaco it was a difficult season. Indeed, the Belgian youngster was even replaced in a couple of races by Romain Grosjean.
In September 2010 it was announced that Jerome would replace Lucas di Grassi in the Virgin for a number of Friday morning practice sessions in the closing stages of the F1 season. Three months later, following a promising performance in the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi, he was confirmed as Timo Glock's teammate for 2011.
All things considered - his lack of experience, the inferior equipment at his disposal and the experience of his teammate - Jerome put in a pretty good performance in 2011. Indeed, Pitpass was highly impressed by the youngster.
Yes, he was out-qualified by his teammate 14 times however, he completed more races, didn't get involved in any incidents and, on a number of occasions, finished ahead of Glock - that's when the German's MVR-02 completed the full race distance. Indeed, though neither failed to score a single point, Jerome finished ahead of Glock in the final driver standings, indeed, he finished ahead of Karthikeyan, Ricciardo and Chandhok also.
Jerome got his F1 career off to a strong start when he finished fourteenth in his maiden race. That said, while sixteen cars finished the race, two, the Saubers, were subsequently disqualified.
In Spain, despite the fact that teammate Glock had all the upgrades, Jerome totally out-performed the German, while in Canada he finished fourteenth once again, the team's two best results of the season. Indeed, had Tonio Liuzzi not finished thirteenth in Montreal, Jerome's results might have been enough for his team to secure eleventh in the constructors' standings.
Over the course of the season, the Belgian gave some impressive performances, and with Glock as his yardstick had surely done enough to secure a second season.
However, this is the harsh world of Formula One indeed it is the harsh world at the wrong end of the pitlane. Speaking ahead of the season finale in Brazil - where he out-qualified Glock and brought his car home in nineteenth - he admitted that to keep his drive for 2012 he would need "around ten million dollars".
Just hours after the race, with the brutal lack of sentimentality that is so much a part of F1 (sport?) these days, the team announced that (GP2 racer) Charles Pic had been signed to partner Glock in 2012. Like Jerome twelve months earlier, the decision followed the Frenchman's performance in the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi... clearly nothing to do with money.
Managed by Lotus boss Eric Boullier, Jerome was appointed test and reserve driver for the Enstone outfit in early January 2012. Though he didn't expect to see any serious F1 action - what test driver does these days? - he did get to complete 40 laps in the car on the first days of the Mugello test in May.
Then, following Grosjean's silliness in Belgium, Jerome was put in the E20 for the Italian Grand Prix weekend.
Despite his lack of time in the car the Belgian didn't too badly, qualifying sixteenth and bringing the car home thirteenth next day. OK, there were no pints but at least he got through the weekend unscathed - as did his fellow drivers.
On 28 January 2013, Jerome was named as Lotus Reserve Driver once again.
Statistics - at the end of 2012 Season
Drivers' Titles: 0
Seasons in F1: 2
Grand Prix: 20
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Fastest Laps: 0
Best result in 2012: 13th (Italy)
Best qualifying 2012: 16th (Italy)
Worst qualifying 2012: 16th (Italy)
2012: Out-qualified Kimi Raikkonen 0 times
2012: Out-qualified by Kimi Raikkonen 1 times
2012: Completed 53 out of 53 laps (100%)
2012: Finished 1 time from 1 start (100%)
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