DAMS

DAMS was established in 1988 by Jean-Paul Driot and René Arnoux, and is headquartered near Le Mans, only 2 km from the Bugatti Circuit. In 1989, the team entered the International Formula 3000 Championship, remaining in the series until 2001.

DAMS quickly found success in Formula 3000, winning the championship in 1990 with Érik Comas. Further titles followed with Olivier Panis in 1992 and Jean-Christophe Boullion in 1994. The team was often associated with the Elf young driver sponsorship program during this period. In 1996, DAMS planned to enter the F1 World Championship with a Reynard-developed car (the GD-01), but a lack of funds prevented the effort from progressing.

From 2005, DAMS competed in the GP2 Series, achieving race wins with José María López and Nicolas Lapierre. Between 2006 and 2009, the team was associated with the Toyota Drivers Program (TDP), running drivers such as Franck Perera and Kazuki Nakajima. Nakajima finished 5th in the 2007 GP2 Championship and raced in the final Formula One Grand Prix of the season with Williams, subsequently securing a full-time seat with the team for 2008 and 2009. Kamui Kobayashi replaced Nakajima at DAMS in 2008, becoming a Toyota Racing test driver and winning the 2008-09 Asian championship with the team.

In 2010, DAMS partnered with Renault Formula One, with Jérôme d'Ambrosio and Ho-Pin Tung driving cars liveried in the same yellow-and-black scheme as the Renault R30 chassis. D'Ambrosio won the sprint race at Monaco, but was later replaced for a round by Romain Grosjean, who eventually secured a full-time drive after Tung sustained a broken vertebra in a racing accident. Grosjean continued with DAMS in 2011, dominating the year and winning both the Asian and main series championships.

The 2012 season saw Davide Valsecchi and Felipe Nasr join DAMS, with Valsecchi winning the championship after a battle with Luiz Razia. This success also secured DAMS’s first GP2 Teams’ Championship, finishing six points ahead of ART. In 2018, Nicholas Latifi and Alexander Albon drove for the team in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, securing third place in the constructors' championship and taking 5 wins during the season.

In the 2015 GP2 Series season, the team struggled during the Bahrain feature race, with Pierre Gasly involved in a collision with Arthur Pic, Raffaele Marciello and Norman Nato, and Alex Lynn damaging his front wing. The team showed improvement at Barcelona, with Lynn taking his first GP2 victory in the sprint race and Gasly joining him on the podium.

Jean-Paul Driot, the founder of DAMS, died in August 2019 at the age of 68. Following his death, his sons, Olivier and Gregory Driot, took over as co-team principals. In February 2022, former Formula 1 driver Charles Pic bought the team.

DAMS diversified into sports car racing starting in 1997, entering the FIA GT Championship in partnership with Panoz. Splitting up in the following year, DAMS ran a Lola B98/10 with a red engine in the SportsRacing World Cup, winning four races. The team also entered the American Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, preparing Cadillac prototypes in 2000 and 2001. From 2005, DAMS also participated in the A1 Grand Prix, servicing teams including A1 Team France, A1 Team Switzerland, and A1 Team Mexico. A1 Team France, under DAMS’ management, won 13 of 22 races in the 2005–06 season. In 2014, DAMS entered Formula E under the name e.dams, in collaboration with Alain Prost, with Sébastien Buemi winning the championship in 2015–16 and securing their third consecutive constructors' title in the 2016-17 season, with Buemi losing the drivers' title to Lucas di Grassi at the final round in Montreal.