ITV Interview With Franz Tost And Giorgio Ascanelli

The ITV website recently carried an interview with Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost and technical director Giorgio Ascanelli. As one of the STR drivers, Sebastien Buemi was focal to the discussion. Here I give a run down on what was said relating to Buemi.

Obviously Sebastien Buemi was discussed in detail, with a question asking how they rated Buemi's performance. I'll quote the response by Franz Tost in full:

Buemi has done a really good job so far. You have to consider that, as the only rookie on the grid this year, he is the first real victim of the in-season testing ban.

He had therefore never driven at circuits like Silverstone or the Nurburgring in a Formula 1 car, which is completely different to tackling them in other types of car.

While he knows the tracks from Formula 3 or GP2, it is not at all the same, because F1 is much more complex and little details like how track conditions usually change from the third free practice session on Saturday morning to qualifying that same afternoon, are all part of the package that only comes with experience.

Up until this year, we would have done a minimum of three days testing at Silverstone, for example, prior to the British Grand Prix and at many other race venues.

But you can’t have everything and while we are saving money through not testing, the downside is that young drivers will suffer.

What we can say is that Buemi will be a much more complete driver for the 2010 season.

This is a promising sign for Sebastien Buemi, especially in the same week where Toro Rosso sacked Sebastien Bordais for alleged under-performance.

Most people would agree that on balance Buemi has outperformed Bourdais over the course of the season so far. However, his results haven't been great - mostly due to an under performing car rather than his skills - and Toro Rosso are getting a reputation for sacking people (Bourdais, Liuzzi, Speed).

Tost also admitted that they've greatly missed Sebastien Vettel, who moved on to STR's parent team Red Bull at the start of the year.

There's a worry that Buemi will be compared to Vettel's performance last year, which is unfair for a number of reasons: Vettel had experience as a tester in an F1 car going into last year, while Buemi has had very little testing time and no one can deny that the car this year is slower than it's rivals.

Tost's response shows that Toro Rosso know that Buemi has been a victim of the in-season testing ban and that he won't mature as quickly as other drivers have been able to in the past. It also implies that STR believe in Sebastien Buemi and will stick with him going into the 2010 season.

Later in the interview, when Giorgio Ascanelli was discussing the reasons why Toro Rosso have struggled, he brought up Buemi's inexperience as one of the reasons (in that it's harder for him to adapt to changes to the car).

When asked it that was a criticism of Buemi, Ascanelli said "absolutely not" and re-iterated that Buemi's only had limited time in an F1 car and that they couldn't expect any more of him, saying:

We cannot expect him to learn any faster: he is trying his best and doing a good job.

The interview also included discussion about why Toro Rosso have struggled this year and the upgrades that the STR4 will receive in the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix.

When asked why STR have struggled, Franz Tost indicated that for financial reasons they made a conscious decision to delay major updates to the car and bundle them into one major update package (the one coming in the next GP). As a result, Toro Rosso have fallen behind the other teams, who have all added major updates to their cars. For example, Tost points out that Toro Rosso are the only team on the grid not to have included a double deck diffuser.

This explains why the recent races have been so much of a struggle for Toro Rosso and Sebastien Buemi. Hopefully the coming updates will make the STR4 competitive again and give Buemi a chance to challenge for points.

Sebastien Buemi Interview On Formula1.com

Last week, following another performance where the Toro Rosso STR4 was obviously off the pace, Sebastien Buemi gave an interview on the official Formula 1 website.

It's a very interesting read. I cover some of the major points here, but I recommend reading the interview in full.

One thing that took me by surprise was the revelation that Sebastien Buemi's F1 career was over 100 days old. It really doesn't seem like that much time has gone past. The fact also took Buemi by surprise!

Buemi discussed the major upgrade that Toro Rosso will deliver for the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest, confirming that it will include the much talked about double deck diffuser. They'll also get a new nose, along with many other changes (he says "almost half the car will be new").

Buemi is confident that these upgrades will allow Toro Rosso to catch up with the teams they were beating at the beginning of the season, all of whom have had major upgrades and who are all now running double deck diffusers.

When Buemi was asked how being an F1 driver had changed his life, he gave a very grounded response:

Maybe from the outside it looks like a big change but in the end I'm doing what I've always done in my career - racing. It’s true the cars are faster, the motor homes are bigger and the media attention soars, but the job is still the same. And you don't really think about all those by-products, as racing is what got me here and that is what I do.

I've always had the impression that Sebastien is a very level headed young man.

Buemi also gave an interesting response when asked about whether being ahead of BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica and just two points behind McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen was some compensation for not scoring:

No - nothing compensates for not scoring, but it is interesting to see that if you don't have the car, you don't score points. We just have to work hard to be able to bring a good car to Budapest and from there on, it should run smoother.

Once again, this is a very grounded answer. Buemi focuses on what they need to do to improve rather than dwelling on the fact that he's in good company.

Finally, when asked about the rumours of a new teammate in Budapest, Buemi responds:

I'm not aware of any changes. I try to concentrate on myself. The rest is not important for me and in the end it is a team management decision.

A very good answer politically speaking. Of course Buemi does now have a new teammate, with Sebastien Bourdais being replaced by Jamie Alguersuari in recent days. At last Buemi is the only Sebastien on the team! But I'll leave talk about the replacement for another blog post.

Sebastien Buemi Out In Q1 At German Grand Prix

Sebastien Buemi has just been knocked out in the first Qualifying session at the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.

Buemi will start from position 17 in tomorrow's race (barring any unforeseen penalties to the other drivers).

The good news for Buemi is that once again he will start the race in front of his Toro Rosso teammate, Sebastien Bourdais, who qualified dead last in P20.

Not a good day for the STR team, but at least Buemi can take some comfort in the fact that he is maintaining the upper hand over his more experienced teammate.

Hopefully Sebastien Buemi will be able to finish tomorrow's race in front of Bourdais and push his way further up the field - it's likely to be a tough race however.

Disappointing Weekend For Buemi At Silverstone

It was another disappointing weekend for Sebastien Buemi at Silverstone. His performance was reasonable, but the STR4 just wasn't fast enough.

Toro Rosso have struggled to find pace in recent races and there was little change at the British Grand Prix. The STR4 may have been slightly faster thanks to some upgrades, but it didn't improve relative to the other teams, who also made upgrades.

Buemi also encountered difficulties during Qualifying, which meant he qualified last. First, he missed most of Final Practice with a hydraulic issue, then had a problem with his gearbox's quick-shift function during Qualifying itself.

Afterwards, Buemi said:

It's been a bad weekend so far, with a few small problems and if you don't get many clean laps without any trouble, then when you go into qualifying, you really pay the price.

It is disappointing that I couldn't use the quick-shift on the gearbox in qualifying, which cost me at least three tenths and that is a big difference here.

But that's racing and now we will have to see what we can do tomorrow. It will be a difficult race whatever happens.

Prophetic words.

Buemi had a difficult race, finishing dead last (of those who finished in a classified position).

He started on the back row of the grid, where he was in good company - he lined up next to McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, the reigning world champion who's fortunes have taken a turn for the worse this year.

Interestingly, the other Toro Rosso (Sebastien Bourdais) and the other McLaren (Heikki Kovalainen) ended up taking each other out, but that's another story.

During the race, Buemi's car had problems with maintaining speed on worn tyres, which seemed to be the main cause of the STR4's lack of speed. After the race, he said:

It was a very tough race and we struggled to be on the pace and now we must try and work out why, as we have been quicker than this earlier in the weekend.

On worn tyres especially, the car was very difficult to drive.

This problem, combined with his low position on the grid, meant that Buemi really struggled during the race.

Still, apart from the slow car, Buemi himself did reasonably well at Silverstone. He drove a solid race with few errors and the mere fact that he finished the race shouldn't be overlooked. It was his second race in a row where he made it to the finish line, after a run of three grand prixs where he didn't finish.

Looking forward, it seems Toro Rosso aren't expecting much improvement for the next race in Germany, with Buemi saying:

Nurburgring will be another difficult weekend, but we are due to get some updates for Hungary, which will allow us to be more competitive and perform much better.

Let's hope those updates when they come through in the following race in Hungary, give Sebastien Buemi a substantial boost in performance.

Catching Up On Sebastien Buemi Before Turkish Grand Prix

In the lead in to the Turkish Grand Prix, I want to have a quick look at some of the news about Sebastien Buemi over the last week or two.

Buemi Not Beating Himself Up

First, there was the Buemi not 'beating himself up' over rookie growing pains article, where Sebastien faced up to his setbacks over the last few races. As the article points out:

the young Swiss ace's tally from the last three races in Bahrain, Spain and Monaco has read 17th-DNF-DNF respectively

In particular, the last two races have been very tough for Buemi. First, his STR teammate Sebastien Bourdais ran into the back of him in Barcelona, then it was Buemi's turn, punting out Renault's Nelsinho Piquet at Monaco.

However, Buemi is remaining positive, as seen by his following comments:

I've had three difficult weekends in the last three races. In Bahrain I was unlucky to pick up a piece of Kubica's car that got wedged in my front wing, in Spain someone drove into me and in Monaco I made a mistake. At the moment when these things happen, I find them hard to deal with, but afterwards I don't let them bother me. I tell myself I'm in Formula 1 trying to do the best I can, so there is no point in beating yourself up over what's happened.

He then looks forward to doing better in Turkey. Let's hope he does! Bring it on!

Turkey Grand Prix - Practice

As reported by ITV, Beumi had a tough Istanbul baptism, failing to get the best out of his Toro Rosso car, and finishing last in the time for both Practice sessions.

Buemi made the following comments following Practice:

My first day in an F1 car at this track was a very difficult one.

On the plus side, we had no mechanical problems, so we did a high mileage.

That means at least we have a lot of data to analyse to work out why we are slow and hopefully find a better set-up for tomorrow.

At the moment, it’s difficult to say where we are, although obviously we are not where we want to be.

The main problem today was that we could not get the most out of the tyres.

Compared to the others, we are not too bad on a long run, but on new tyres, it wasn’t working one hundred percent.”

Okay, so something wrong with the setup and problems with the tyres. It's not promising to be a good weekend for Sebastien Buemi.

After his last three races, he really could do with a positive performance at Istanbul, but it's looking like he's not going to get it.

Turkish Grand Prix - Qualifying

Qualifying is not long finished at Istanbul and there's not much to report for Sebastien Buemi.

Buemi was knocked out in Q1 and will start in position 18 on the grid in tomorrow's race. Compared to most of his Qualifying performances this year, that's rather disappointing. Then again, it's only to be expected following his difficulties getting the best out of his car in Practice.

There was a silver lining to the cloud: Once again, Sebastien Buemi out-qualified his Toro Rosso teammate Sebastien Bourdais, who finished last in P20.

I guess under the circumstances, Buemi has to be aiming to a) finish the race and b) finish in front of his teammate.

If he can do that, it will be a successful weekend for him, even if his final position isn't that great. We'll have to wait and see if he can do that - bring on tomorrow!

Fallout From Sebastien Buemi Ramming Nelson Piquet

As per my previous post during the Monaco Grand Prix, Sebastien Buemi ran into the back of Nelson Piquet on Lap 11, resulting in the retirement of both drivers.

There was no doubt that the accident was caused by Buemi. After the race, Buemi apologised to Piquet for the incident, saying:

I was right up behind Piquet, in his slipstream and when I tried to pull out and make my move he went on the brakes and I could not get out from behind him, so I ended up pushing him all the way into the first corner.

I am sorry about this and I went and apologised to him.

Nelson Piquet however has been less than gracious in his response, saying that 'Young' Buemi cost him seventh place:

I'm very angry because Monaco's a long race and that's why these young drivers need to be careful with what they're doing.

I don't know what he was thinking there - we planned a long first stint and, if it wasn't for the crash, I could have ended up in seventh.

I understand that Piquet is under a lot of pressure, with rumours that he will lose his place in the Renault team. However, I don't think Piquet has helped himself with the response.

The reaction to Piquet's comments is mostly incredulous. Piquet seems to be throwing stones, when he obviously lives in a glasshouse. He's only a couple of years older than Buemi and he has made many 'young' driver errors himself over the last season and half.

By all means, he can criticize Buemi for costing him the chance to finish (although many cynical commentators have pointed out that he was no certainty to finish the race, given his own record of crashing out), but he hasn't earned the right to take the stance he has in criticizing young drivers. He's still one himself.

At least Sebastien Buemi's team boss Franz Tost reacted reasonably well. Although frustrated by the mistake, Tost said:

As usual at this track, you end up in the barriers if you don’t have the discipline to wait a little bit. But, in Buemi’s defence, he did a really good job in qualifying and I see today’s incident as another step in his learning process.

On a side note, I thought that I was 'live blogging' the accident, but it turns out that Channel 10 here in Australia was delaying the race by 30 minutes or so. As a result, it wasn't as 'live' as I thought. :(

In good news for Toro Rosso, Buemi's teammate, Sebastien Bourdais, finished 7th for the team. Had Buemi managed to stay out of trouble, he would likely have been in the same region as Bourdais, which shows the STR car is doing fairly well.

However, Buemi did make the error and will be disappointed with the crash in Monaco. He needs to puts this behind him and look forward to the next race now, but he will be very keen to finish the race in Istanbul.

Sebastien Buemi Out On Lap 10 At Monaco

I'm watching the Monaco Grand Prix as I type, and Sebastien Buemi has just gone out on Lap 10.

Details are a bit sketchy at this point, but it seems that Buemi went into the back of Nelson Piquet, forcing them both into the wall. Both driver have retired as a result of the clash. It appears that the incident was caused by Buemi.

It's a real pity for Buemi, who looked to be geared up for a positive weekend, qualifying 11th, almost making Q3 and out-qualifying his STR teammate yet again.

Yet's it's all for nothing. Welcome to Monaco, Sebastien.

Photos Of Sebastien Buemi At Chinese Grand Prix

Okay, so this is a little late, but I just came across some photos of Sebastien Buemi, hot on Lewis Hamilton's heels, at the 2009 Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix in Shanghai.

Both photos were taken by dsix:

(License) (License)

Of course Buemi had a great weekend in China, making it through to Q3 and finishing the race in P8. I won't go on about Buemi's performance in China anymore, he's had two further races since then, but I wanted to share these photos. Thanks dsix!

Sebastien Buemi - Bahrain And Spanish Grand Prixs

This is a little bit of a catch up post. I've been off for about a month and although I've been keeping up with Formula 1 and watched the races, I haven't been able to blog about them. :(

I'm back now (obviously) and rather than try to catch up on the Bahrain and Spanish Grand Prixs in great detail, I thought I'd just give a brief rundown on Sebastien Buemi's performance in those two races.

Bahrain Grand Prix

Sebastien Buemi was eliminated in Q1 at Bahrain, but he managed to out qualify his Toro Rosso teammate, Sebastien Bourdais, finishing in P16 as opposed to Bourdais' P20. However, Buemi felt that he should have performed better, blaming himself for not making it through to Q2:

It should have been much better and I ought to have comfortably got through to Q2, but I made a mistake in the third sector

In the race, Bourdais turned the battle of the teammates around, finishing in P13, while Buemi finished in P17. This was Buemi's worst result in his short career (to that point - we'll get to what happened in Spain soon).

Apparantly Buemi's car picked up some debri on Lap 1 which affected his race, with Franz Tost saying:

Unfortunately, a piece of debris from a BMW ended up wedged on his front wing, which meant he suffered with understeer

All in all, not a great weekend for Sebastien Buemi in Bahrain (but better than Spain!).

Spanish Grand Prix

Sebastien Buemi got off to a decent start in Barcelona, qualifying in P15, in front of his teammate Bourdais who qualified in P17. Buemi got out of Q1 and into Q2, while Bourdai didn't. However, Buemi said that STR were hoping for more than that. He went off the track and encountered some traffic, which meant he finished a couple of places lower than he could have.

In the race, Buemi only lasted until the second corner of the first lap, when his teammate Bourdais crashed into the back of him. Buemi had to break sharply to avoid the crash between Jarno Trulli's Toyota and Adrian Sutil's Force India car, which occurred immediately in front of him. Bourdais saw cars slowing down but said there was nothing he could do.

Buemi said the following of the accident:

Then, at the exit of the second corner, Trulli spun and I had to brake to avoid him. My team mate did not see I was slowing down and could not avoid me. His car went over mine, I saw his tyre go over my head and that was it.

Ultimately, it was a very disappointing weekend for Buemi (his first retirement), although it wasn't his fault. Of course, as both Buemi and Franz Tost admitted, if he'd qualified higher, he would have been more likely to avoid being caught up in the accident. Still you can't really blame Sebastien Buemi for what happened.

Great Weekend For Sebastien Buemi In China

I'm offline for a couple of weeks, so I haven't been able to post much (and this will continue for a while). However, I thought I better make a quick post about Sebastien Buemi's stellar performance in China at the Formula One Grand Prix in Shanghai.

Qualifying

First in qualifying, Buemi made it through to Q3, which is a huge success. In contrast, Buemi's Toro Rosso teammate, Sebastien Bourdais was knocked out in Q1. Buemi started the race in P10 while Bourdais started back in P15.

That doesn't sound like a huge difference, because Buemi finished last in Q3 and Bourdais was promoted due to Glock's penalty, but the fact that Buemi made it through to Q3 is extremely impressive. According to an interview on ITV's website, it was more than Buemi expected.

I don’t think I could have got any higher up the order.

On low fuel, the car was very good, but we didn’t have any new options left for Q3, so I had to do three flying laps on the prime.

So, considering that, we can be satisfied with this.

Buemi also praised his team:

The team worked really well, doing a fantastic job to improve the car a lot since the start of the season and today it worked very well.

They've obviously done a great job judging by the team's performance this weekend.

James Allen also gave Sebastien Buemi an honourable mention in his article on the star of qualifying, saying:

In Q1 Sebastien Buemi did a great job, beating his team mate by seven-tenths of a second. He then made it through to Q3, showing that his performance in Melbourne was no fluke.

He’s started very impressively for a rookie, because this is probably one of the toughest seasons ever to be a rookie in F1, with so little pre-season testing and no testing during the season.

Race Day

Moving on to the actual race, Sebastien Buemi converted his 10th on pole into a P8 finish in the race itself. Sebastien Bourdais finished in P11, so Buemi once again won the battle of the STR teammates.

Again referencing an ITV article on the race, they said

Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen enjoyed a long duel, trading places several times (in between a brief spin from Lewis), but the man making the most impressive progress was Sebastien Buemi.

The Toro Rosso rookie passed Raikkonen and Trulli with the confidence of a seasoned winner, snatching fifth place from the Toyota on lap 13.

And

Buemi deservedly took the final point after his most impressive F1 performance to date, but might have done better still but for unlucky timing with the second safety car period.

Beumi was upbeat, although he could have finished higher (maybe as high as 5th), except he lost some places due to the safety car:

Toro Rosso's rookie had qualified a brilliant 10th and charged into the top five early on, battling with the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton, but lost out to the one-stoppers when he had to make his first pit stop under the safety car after damaging his front wing on Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull.

More on the clash with Sebastian Vettel: One scare was when Buemi hit the race leader (and RedBull stablemate) Sebastian Vettel from behind during the heavy downpour. Luckily there was no damage to Vettel, the eventual winner of the race, but Buemi received a broken front wing. After the race Buemi said:

I didn't see him and I tried to swerve to the right, but it was not enough to avoid him. We changed the wing on my car and I'm glad I didn't spoil his race.

About the race in general, Sebastien Buemi said:

I am pleased that in three races, I have scored twice. Maybe I could have done a little bit better, but I'm happy all the same.

We were very competitive in the early stages and I got past Raikkonen and Hamilton, but after that I struggled a bit.

I think it was one of my hardest races ever.

Conclusion

It was a great weekend for Sebastien Buemi. It could have been even better had he been a little luckier, but really it was still a great result. Buemi continues to show great promise (more than most people had expected) and he's been overachieving so far. I'm sure that will continue.

Sebastien Buemi In A Spin In Sepang

Sunday's race in Sepang saw some of the worst conditions ever for a F1 Grand Prix, with a torrential downpour seeing the red flag waved and the race cut short.

At the time of the red flag, Sebastien Buemi was in 16th position, meaning that's the position he finished in. Apart from retirees Kovalainen and Kubica, he finished only in front of the two Force India cars.

Buemi had been in position 7 or 8 shortly before the red flag, but then spun off into the gravel and stalled the car, resulting in his drop to position 16. This follows a) his spin in Qualifying which saw him start the race at the back of the grid and b) a front wing change after the first lap of the race, due to being pushed wide at the exit of the last corner.

Buemi's Toro Rosso teammate, Sebasiten Bourdais managed to finish 10th and was disappointed that the race wasn't restarted, because he thought he had a chance of improving that - so Bourdais clearly won the battle of the STR teammates this time around.

The Bourdais article also carries some quotes from Buemi about the spin:

The extreme tyres were completely gone, like driving on slicks and I slowed down, but obviously not enough for the amount of water, so I spun, went into the gravel and stalled.

I am disappointed as the spin at the end was my mistake and it is on days like this that we should have picked up some points.

So all told, not a great weekend for Sebastien Buemi.

There is a lot of silver lining to the weekend: Buemi was faster than Bourdais in Practice; he drove well in the race up until the spin; he spun because of worn tyres in the extreme conditions rather than pure driver error; etc. Also, new drivers are going to make mistakes, you have to give Buemi some scope to learn and develop.

However, it's ultimately a disappointing weekend for Sebastien Buemi. I bet he will be desperate to get to the next race in Shanghai, in two weeks time, where he'll get the chance to come up with a better result.

Questions To Sebastien Buemi Answered

Over on the official Scuderia Toro Rosso website, they recently published the answers to some questions from their readers for Sebastien Buemi. It makes for very interesting reading. Here are some highlights, but get over to the STR site for the full story.

When asked about rituals and lucky charms, Buemi's answer was as follows:

I always get in and out of the car on the left-hand side I have a lucky charm that I wear around my neck, I used to the same as David Coulthard and have a pair of lucky underpants after I won in them one time. But for sure I stopped wearing them when I realized they made no difference!

Glad he ditched the underwear ritual. Not that I really needed to know about it!

There are several other questions which give some nice insight into Sebastien Buemi, including questions about living in Bahrain and following in the footsteps of Swiss F1 drivers. However, there is one question that really stands out because it is about the serious business of racing a car in Formula One:

What’s the hardest thing this weekend: getting to grips with a circuit you’ve never driven at or dealing with how an F1 works?

That's the question. The answer from Sebastien was as follows:

I found that in qualifying especially, everything happened very quickly, in terms of having to go out and do a good time, come back to the pits, think about how we can improve the car, explain what it is doing to my race engineer, fit new tyres and then go out and do it again. Getting to learn a new circuit is relatively easy and is less of a problem.

Wow, sounds like hard work. As I've said in a previous post, I'm sure it's relative. Someone like Fernando Alonso would be able to do all that and have plenty of time left over. Buemi will get to that point in his career too, but for now, it's all so new that it's probably a bit of a blur.

Anyway, I like this article about Sebastien Buemi and thought it would be worth sharing. Hope you liked it.

Back To Earth For Sebastien Buemi In Sepang

After a great start to his career as an F1 driver in Melbourne, where he became one of only 69 drivers to have scored points on debut, Sebastien Buemi came down to earth in Qualifying at Sepang.

Buemi ended up in the gravel on his final lap in Qualifying, meaning he finished in the 20th and last position and will start the race from the back of the grid. According to the ITV website, Buemi made the following comments about the incident:

On my penultimate set of tyres I was in a Q2 position and then on my final set I improved a lot in sectors one and two.

Unfortunately, in the final sector I caught the kerb and ended up in the gravel. It's a shame.

The Toro Rosso team backed Sebastien Buemi, with technical director Giorgio Ascanelli saying:

Today, Buemi made a mistake, but if a young driver doesn't make mistakes he doesn't learn, and Bourdais did a good job.

Buemi had outperformed his STR teammate, Sebastien Bourdais, in both of Friday's practice sessions, so all is not lost. He's continuing to prove that he's a very promising young F1 driver.

However, Bourdais took full advantage of Buemi's error in Qualifying, by making it through to Q2 and will start the race from 15th position.

Sebastien Buemi will need to make sure he keeps his focus during the race and puts in a solid performance. I'm backing him to do just that!

Decision To Give Sebastien Buemi STR Drive Vindicated

Yesterday, Autosport.com carried a story titled Toro Rosso vindicated by Buemi decision, in which Helmut Marko, the Red Bull Motorsport Advisor says he has been vindicated in his decision to give Sebastien Buemi a seat in the Toro Rosso car for the 2009 Formula One championship.

There have been question marks over the decision to give Buemi an F1 drive because his GP2 form was not as impressive as some of the other drivers who have made the step up. For example, Buemi didn't win the GP2 championship, like other drivers such as Lewis Hamilton, Sebastien Vettel, Nico Rosberg etc have. Many felt he was promoted to F1 prematurely.

You all know where I stand - after all, I created a blog about Sebastien Buemi, so I obviously rate him pretty highly - but even I have to acknowledge that there are some question marks.

Sebastien went some way to answering those questions and silencing any critics with his great performance in Melbourne, where he became one of only 69 drivers to have scored points on debut. I think he's shown enough to be given time to develop his potential.

Helmut Marko obviously agrees strongly. In the Autosport article, he reveals that he had to work hard to convince people within Red Bull that Buemi was ready for F1 and that he now feels vindicated in the decision:

I had to fight very hard to put him in the car. All the experts know that I made the right choice.

Sebastien Buemi also came out and had a shot at his detractors, saying:

The people who say this don't understand anything about racing. If you look at the car we had last year in GP2, and the comparison with my teammate, I was a lot better. Now being in F1, everyone knows what a Toro Rosso can do, and I could do the job.

Strong words from the pair. Whilst I agree with them and think that Buemi has the makings of a very good Formula 1 driver, it's not the time to get overexcited. He needs to keep his feet on the ground and make sure that he finishes the next race in Sepang.

The ITV form card for Sepang agrees with all of this:

Given his low-key junior record, there were doubts about whether Buemi was the right man to fill Vettel's shoes at Toro Rosso. His Melbourne performance answered a lot of those concerns, though. Buemi not only outqualified his more experienced team-mate Bourdais, but ran in the top five in the race, went wheel to wheel with Hamilton and Massa, and finished seventh. Now the challenge is to keep that great momentum going.

That sums it up nicely: doubts, great start, must keep it going.

Sebastien Buemi has to keep his head screwed on tightly. He'll need the assistance of the Toro Rosso team to do that, but I think that he's mature enough to handle the pressures of F1 without too much trouble. What do you think?

Sebastien Buemi Post Melbourne News Watch

Just a quick post today to mention a couple of articles which included Sebastien Buemi.

First Sporting reflections had a write up on the race, which included Buemi as one of the weekends standouts, saying:

Swiss driver Sebastien Buemi, a 20-year old in his debut F1 race, showed a nice combination of speed, consistency and maturity - at one stage seriously challenging the Ferrari of former world champion Kimi Raikkonen - which allowed him to bring his Toro Rosso home an impressive seventh while others conspired to remove themselves from contention.

Fine praise indeed, but well deserved (in my opinion). Maturity is an interesting word, because that's a feeling I've gotten from Buemi since he arrived on the F1 scene. He handles himself very well, whether off the track or on it.

The other article was by Motor Sport Magazine, which rated the F1 drivers' performance in Melbourne. Sebastien Buemi was given 8 out of 10 along with the following comment:

A great first race for the only rookie on the grid. Stayed out of trouble and importantly beat his team-mate. 8/10

Interesting, Buemi was equal 4th based on the ratings. He was behind only Lewis Hamilton (9.5), Jenson Button (9), Nico Rosberg (8.5) and was level with Fernando Alonso (who also had 8). Fine company indeed.

Well that's all, I just wanted to share what I'd been reading about Sebasiten Buemi.

Sebastien Buemi Ignored By The Chequered Flag

I'm a big fan of the BBC's The Chequered Flag Formula 1 podcast and I've really missed it over the winter.

After a great opening race in Melbourne, which was full of great racing, clashes and which had a fairytale ending, I listened to their post race podcast with excitement. It was a great podcast as usual, but I was disappointed that they didn't find time to even mention Sebastien Buemi's great performance on debut.

I understand that there were many big stories, which have to take precedence - things such as:

• The amazing Brawn GP one two finish
• The clash between Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica, which cost them both a place on the podium (and the excellent performance of both drivers before that)
• Lewis Hamiliton's fantastic third, in a car that no one thought could make it into the points
• Toyota's charge through the pack, after starting in pit lane.
• Jarno Trulli's penalty which cost him a place on the podium
• The effectiveness of KERS in overtaking and defending positions
• Ferrari's horrible weekend

I've probably missed some stories too. So I understand that Sebastien Buemi and Toro Rosso are not going to be a big story or mentioned at the top of the podcast.

However, I'm pretty sure that last year, the Chequered Flag post race podcast went through all the F1 drivers, at least briefly. This time round they totally ignored the STR drivers (and Force India's drivers as well for that matter).

That's disappointing in it's own right, but given that Sebastien Buemi scored in his first race (one of only 69 drivers to ever do this), soundly beat his more experienced teammate, and ran as high as 4th at one point, it's disappointing that they didn't mention Buemi for his achievement.

Here's hoping that The Chequered Flag covers all the drivers in future.

Sebastien Buemi 69th F1 Driver To Score On Debut

Further to my post on Sebastien Buemi's amazing first F1 race, I read a short post from F1Fanatic, which complimented Buemi on his performance in Melbourne. The article basically says that Sebastien Buemi did a great job and that no more could have been asked of him.

The part of the article that really stood out for me (and made me write about it here) was the revelation that Sebastien Buemi is the 69th Formula 1 driver to score points in his debut race.

I knew that Buemi was amongst a select group who had scored on debut, but I had no idea how many other F1 drivers were in that group. The article also lists some of the current drivers who are also in that select group:

He is the 69th driver to score a point on his debut, joining current drivers Sebastien Bourdais, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen, Nico Rosberg, Timo Glock and Mark Webber.

That’s interesting, but I’m not sure it really means anything. We have a couple of World Champions (Hamilton and Raikkonen), a rising star (Vettel), some very good drivers (Webber and Rosberg), but we also Glock and Bourdais, who despite being good solid drivers, haven’t exactly set the world alight.

So what does it all mean? Probably nothing, but it’s interesting nonetheless and a good achievement by Sebastien Buemi.

Sebastien Buemi Scores Points In First F1 Grand Prix

Sebastien Buemi scored points in his debut Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne today, finishing in 8th place, then getting promoted to 7th place when Jarno Trulli was penalised for overtaking Lewis Hamilton while the safety car was out.

In the words of the BBC commentators, Sebastien Buemi did a:

spectacularly good jobs for a rookie.

Sebastien Finishes 6th - False Alarm

I got a little excited when the TV shots seemed to show BUE in 6th place shortly after the finish. I thought that perhaps Sebastien had managed to overtake a couple of cars in the short run to the finish line, after the safety car left the circuit.

However, that was incorrect - I guess it must have showed that way because Sebastien overtook some drivers after the receiving the chequered flag.

The Battle With Buemi's STR Teammate

Sebastien won his battle with his Toro Rosso teammate Sebastien Bourdais, although it was a close thing. Bourdais managed to finish 8th (after Jarno Trulli's penalty), only one place and 0.2 seconds behind Buemi.

Having said that, Bourdais was helped by the yellow flag at the end of the race and was well behind Buemi for most of the race. The BBC commentators said that Buemi was:

making Bourdais look like a bit of a monkey.

That's a bit much, but it's true that he did much better than Bourdais for much of the race.

As for the poll we held, about which STR driver would finish first at Melbourne, we only had 4 votes, 3 of which were for Sebastien Buemi (the other one was for One driver won't finish).

Lack Of Air Time For Sebastien Buemi

Quite predictably, Sebastien received very little air time, with all the attention up the front of the race, on Brawn GP, and the other contenders.

Sebastien did pop up a couple of times, including when he was holding off Nico Rosberg's Williams (inspiring the comment above) and late in the race when Timo Glock's Toyota went around him rather easily (turns out Buemi's soft compound tyres were degrading very badly by then).

There have been several stories in press about Sebastien's excellent result, including Buemi never expected points on debut and Buemi makes his point.

Could Sebastien Buemi Be Promoted To 3rd Place?

Don't forget that several teams have appealed against the ruling by stewards that the diffusers of Brawn, Toyota and Williams are legal. If the appeal was upheld and the diffusers were declared illegal, there exists a possibility, however unlikely, that those three teams would be stripped of their points.

If that were to happen, Lewis Hamilton would be the winner, Fernando Alonso would finished second and Sebastien Buemi would be third!

Whilst that would be amazing for Sebastien, I think it would be highly unlikely that the sport's governing body would be that harsh with any punishment, even if the appeal was upheld. It would also be a terrible shame for the sport after the good news story of Brawn GP winning after coming so close to extinction. Races should be won on the road, not in the court room.

Still it's worth mentioning as a possible, if highly unlikely, scenario.

Final Thoughts

It was a great start to Sebastien Buemi's career as an F1 driver. He kept his head, drove well and made the most of his situation. Scoring points was beyond anyone's expectation. Good work Sebastien!

Sebastien Buemi Qualifies 16th In Melbourne

Sebastien Buemi qualified 16th for his first Formula 1 Grand Prix, in Melbourne Australia. Although for many F1 drivers, 16th would not be considered particularly good, it was actually a very promising result for Sebastien.

First, Sebastien came within a hair's breadth of making it through to Q2. He finished just 0.05 seconds behind Lewis Hamiliton. Had he managed to knock Lewis Hamilton out, it would have been a huge result for the rookie.

Second, and most importantly, Sebastien finished ahead of his STR teammate, Sebastien Bourdais, who qualified in the 20th and last position. Given that the car is not capable of challenging the leaders of the pack at the moment, Sebastien Buemi's main race is with his more experienced teammate. If you've missed it, there's a poll in the sidebar about which Toro Rosso driver will finish first in Melbourne.

Sebastien Buemi Boosted By Qualifying Form

According the ITV website, Sebastian Buemi was boosted by his qualifying form. The article carried several quotes from Sebastien:

I think we did quite a good job with what we had and missed out on Q2 by half a tenth

I am quite happy, as these days have been something of a test session for us and we improved the car quite a lot from yesterday morning through to now.

As Sebastien points out, STR are behind the other teams because of the limited testing they managed in the STR4 over the break. They are also waiting on some 'fresh development parts', so the fact that Sebastien almost made it into Q2 on his first attempt was positive news for the team.

Buemi also talks about what his first Qualifying session was like:

I have to say I found the pace at which qualifying happens rather quick!

You go out, you come back, you change tyres, you go out again.

You need to stay relaxed.

For a spectator, it's all pretty fast paced. A lot goes on in a short time. For an F1 driver, it would be unimaginably hectic.

I'm sure experienced drivers such as Fernando Alonso, are cool calm and collected, because they've don't it so often and they can focus their concentration with intensity on the areas which really need it, without being distracted.

For a new driver such as Sebastien Buemi, it must be a confusing experience with so many things going on and distractions.

To out-qualify his more experienced teammate and to almost go through to Q2 is a great result for Sebastien Buemi. I hope he has a good and clean race tomorrow and once again beats Bourdais - that would be another very good result for him.

Sebastien Buemi - Melbourne Grand Prix - Friday Practice

The big news coming out of the practice sessions on Friday 27th March at the Melbourne F1 Grand Prix was the surprising pace of the Williams team. Not many people were expecting that! For me however, as much as I'd like to see a grand old team like Williams become successful again, my main focus is on Sebastien Buemi.

Sebastien Buemi was the first driver to complete a lap in P1, meaning he was in position 1 for a very brief amount of time. I know that means less than nothing, but must have been a good feeling for him to see his time up there.

Unfortunately however, Sebastien finished P2 with the slowest time, a couple of seconds behind the Williams, and had this to say (from www.formula1.com):

My first F1 practice session and I had a lot of new things to learn and to deal with. It was not too bad, we tried various changes and improved the car lap by lap. The second session got off to quite a good start, but later we had some difficulty with finding the right set-up. Given our lack of testing with this car, today was like a test session which we used to learn more about the car. It’s my first time at this circuit and I still need to get used to it and I learned a lot, but there is still plenty to do to improve tomorrow.

In the battle with his STR teammate, Sebastien Bourdais, Buemi finished the day slightly behind. Bourdais finished in position 16, four places and about 0.6 seconds better than Sebastien Buemi. However, in P1, the roles were reversed, with Sebastien Buemi in position 15 and Bourdais in position 19, 0.7 seconds behind.

At the end of the day, it doesn't mean much - Qualifying tomorrow is much more important. It's shaping up to be a hard session for Sebastien Buemi and Toro Rosso, with it looking like they'll struggle to get into Q2.

NY Times F1 Blog Don't Fancy Sebastien Buemi

I've just been reading the New York Times Formula 1 Blog's look at the 2009 F1 driver lineup and they aren't too flattering toward Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Buemi.

Joe Saward from grandprix.com and Brad Spurgeon from IHT discuss him as follows:

SAWARD: I don’t understand why Buemi is there. He has won nothing significant in his career.

SPURGEON: Buemi, I think, is the first driver I can remember in the recent history of F1 to get a drive in the sport after never having won a racing car championship in his whole career. He won karting titles, but nothing in five or six years of cars! But he has Red Bull backing.

They go on to criticise Red Bull's record of choosing drivers and generally agree that Sebastien Buemi was only chosen because Red Bull have already invested so much in him.

I can't say that their views are flat out wrong, but I do think they are a little harsh.

Sure, Sebastien hasn't won a title in five or six years of cars, but he's been constantly improving, then stepping up to the next level, then improving, etc. He's not far off the pace. That's a far cry from winning championships, but I think he's got enough about him to be a successful F1 driver.

I'm not saying he'll be as good as Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel, but there's something about him that I think is promising.

Time will tell. What do you think?

Battle Of The STR Teammates

Today I read a preview of the 2009 Formula 1 World Championship, by Totoroche, which includes a look at STR’s chances for the upcoming season.

There’s nothing too startling in the preview - like most previews, it says that Toro Rosso will be hard pressed to emulate their success of 2008. That’s probably a no brainer. However I want to mention the preview because of the previews of the STR drivers.

Of Sebastien Buemi it says:

Buemi competed with some distinction in GP2 last year, and arrives in Formula 1 on the back of some impressive early testing form. To expect more than a point or three would, however, probably be unreasonable.

Once again, that’s nothing too startling. That matches with what most people are saying, but I found the part about “a point or three” being a reasonable expectation quite interesting. I guess that’s probably about right. If Sebastien Buemi scores more than a handful of points, then that would probably be a successful season.

That said, it’s shaping up as an unpredictable season and it could be possible that Sebastien will eclipse that if things fall his way – but that would be considered a great success.

More interesting is Totoroche’s analysis of Sebastien Bourdais (Sebastien Buemi’s STR teammate), which basically says that Bourdais is underrated, was unlucky last year and is deserving of a second chance in F1. I actually agree wholeheartedly with this. They go on to say about Bourdais:

Expect him to have the measure of the other Seb this time.

So Totoroche predicts that Sebastien Bourdais will beat Sebastien Buemi in the battle of the STR teammates in 2009. I actually think that Sebastien Buemi will prove to have what it takes to see off this challenge, although I think it will be a hard fought battle and I expect Bourdais to get off to a better start due to his experience.

What do you think? Leave a comment to let me know who you think will win the battle of the Sebs.

Melbourne Form Card For Sebastien Buemi

I'm a big fan of the ITV F1 site's Form Card that they regularly post before each F1 Grand Prix, giving a run down of each driver's current form and their expectations for the race.

ITV have just released their Form Card for Melbourne. Once again, it's a great read (especially the first one, because it means that the season opener is just about to start).

Of course, this year, I'm extremely interested in what they had to say about Sebastien Buemi, coming into his first F1 race. Here's what they said:

Sebastian Vettel's move to Red Bull has left a big void at Toro Rosso, and Buemi is the man chosen to fill it. He doesn't arrive with the same glowing reputation or (justified) hype as his predecessor, but Red Bull clearly has plenty of faith in him. Buemi has accumulated plenty of testing mileage, although relatively little of it has been in the 2009 car.

I guess there's nothing surprising in there. I think it sums it up pretty well - although I was wondering if they'd mention the fact that Sebastien is accustomed to racing on slicks, while the rest will have been used to racing on the grooved tyres. Perhaps, it won't be an issue for the majority of drivers.

Anyway, if you read this before the race, please answer the poll in the sidebar about whether Sebastien Buemi will beat his Toro Rosso team mate in the Melbourne Grand Prix.

Change Of Number For Sebastien Buemi

As I reported in an early post, Sebastien Buemi was originally scheduled to be driver number 11 in this year's Formula One Championship. However, this has now been changed to number 12, after Toro Rosso requested a swap with Sebastien Bourdais.

News of the story can be found over on the f1-site.com website, where they also report on a number of other changes (Massa and Raikkonen swap numbers and Brawn GP drop to the bottom of the list). Of the Buemi / Bourdais swap, they say:

Sebastien Bourdais’s senior status means he will now take number 11, with rookie team mate Sebastien Buemi numbered 12

I guess this makes sense. Sebastien Buemi is the rookie driver and it's fair enough for Bourdais to be given the first number as he raced with the team last year.

However, although I can see it makes sense, part of me thinks it's a little unfair, because STR had no doubts appointing Sebastien Buemi as a driver, while they did have doubts about Bourdais.

Don't get me wrong, because I actually like Sebastien Bourdais and I'm glad STR stuck with him. I also think it's fair enough that Sebastien Buemi has to pay his dues. But at the end of the day, Sebastien Buemi was STR's clear first choice driver.

What do you think?

Will Sebastien Buemi Beat Bourdais In Melbourne?

In the previous post, I included the following quote from Sebastien about his expectations in the lead up to the opening F1 race in Melbourne, his first race in Formula One:

I don't have any expectations. I want to finish the race. That's my focus. Saying that scoring points wouldn't be fantastic would be a lie, but it is not my main objective. I want to understand a lot about the car. And in the past Melbourne has always been a race with many accidents and casualties, so to finish the race is already a good point.

What he doesn't mention in that quote, but which he has mentioned in the past, is that one of his goals this season is to beat his Scuderia Toro Rosso team mate, Sebastien Bourdais.

Given that the Melbourne Grand Prix is upon us, I thought I'd run a poll on how Sebastien Buemi will perform. Instead of a poll asking would he finish, would he be in the points, on the podium etc, I thought I'd ask:

Will Sebastien Buemi beat Sebastien Bourdais in Melbourne?

This question is probably more realistic – most people agree that he's highly unlikely to finish on the podium. Of course, now he'll probably prove me wrong!

Having said that, it will be no easy feat for him. Sebastien Bourdais is a pretty good driver and most importantly, he's been to Melbourne and done it before. As talented as Sebastien Buemi is, he is going into his very first race and that's a huge readjustment for him.

Anyway we'll see how the poll goes. This site has very low traffic at the moment, so we may not have anyone respond! Here's hoping. If you come across this post (before the race!) please vote in the sidebar.

Also, let me know your thoughts: How do you think Sebastien Buemi will perform in his first F1 race?

Sebastien Buemi's First Race Approaches

Okay, time to ramp things up. The 2009 Formula 1 Season starts in 6 days time and Sebastien Buemi will be in the thick of it. So as the season’s start draws close, what has Sebastien been up to?

Sebastien Buemi’s Been A Busy Boy

According to the Scuderia Toro Rosso website, Buemi’s Been A Busy Boy doing a promotional event called Red Bull Crashed Ice in Lausanne, Switzerland, followed by a trip back to the STR base in Faenza:

I was there for a seat fitting, as at the moment, we only had one seat made to measure for me and we can’t head off to the other side of the world without a spare.

Then he took a trip to Bicester in the UK to learn the Albert Park Lake circuit in a simulator:

I’m here to learn the Melbourne circuit which is one of the ones on the calendar that I have never raced at before, so it should be an interesting session.

So, Sebastien Buemi has been a busy boy indeed – and now, he’s off to Melbourne!

It Will Be Special, Strange, It Will Be Everything

Sebastien Buemi has managed time to give an interview to Formula1.com, discussing his hopes for the coming season. Amongst the topics covered are:

• Recent testing of the STR4.
• The difference between the STR3 and STR4.
• The late arrival of the STR4.
• Sebastien's expectations for Melbourne.

On the last point, Sebastien says:

I don’t have any expectations. I want to finish the race. That’s my focus. Saying that scoring points wouldn’t be fantastic would be a lie, but it is not my main objective. I want to understand a lot about the car. And in the past Melbourne has always been a race with many accidents and casualties, so to finish the race is already a good point.

So Sebastien just wants to finish the race - a very sensible goal. It's going to be an unpredictable grand prix, where anything could happen, but Sebastien just wants to keep his head down and make sure he gets to the finish line. With that sort of attitude he may be able to ride his luck if things work out in his favour, but if he went in expecting more, he'd be more likely to miss any chances that come his way.

Sebastien's Spoof Diary

I recently stumbled across what appeared to be Sebastien Buemi's diary recording his experience at the F1 season opening race at Melbourne. However, as I read it, it quickly became apparent that it was only a spoof, with paragraphs such as:

No, I was wrong, they are on the same flight, but once again I don't see them on the plane. They all disappear through a curtain. I feel sorry for them, as I am lucky enough to sit near the back of the plane with the rest of my team. I get a middle seat, which is neat, as I can talk to two people either side of me. And it's handy for the toilets too.

I won't mention the site I found it on, as it presented the diary as real and missed the end of it! I later found the complete diary at F1-live.com along with an explanation that the spoof diary was released courtesy of Toro Rosso's imaginative press department (although I can't find the original if it's available on line).

On To The Race

Well, enough with the preliminaries already! Bring on the race! I can't wait for the Melbourne Grand Prix on Sunday - and I really hope that Sebastien Buemi gives a good performance in his first race!

Sebastien Buemi Personality Hints

In my last post, I covered some interesting facts about Sebastien Buemi, the newest F1 star, about to start his first Formula One season with Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Although that post helps us understand a little bit more about Sebastien Buemi's background, it doesn't really give any insight into his personality. Therefore, I'm going to look at an interview he gave earlier this year, which will give us a little more insight into Sebastien.

Don't expect to find out Sebastien's favourite food or the last movie he saw – I'm not talking about that sort of personality. I'm talking about his personality as a F1 driver. Is he aggressive? Is he confident? Is he arrogant or humble? You get the picture.

The personality of a Formula 1 driver is a very important part of whether they'll succeed or end up as someone who just makes up the numbers.

The interview was given on the ITV F1 site about Sebastien Buemi's expectations for his first season. Amongst the quotes given are the following:

“You have to have self-confidence and put yourself in the best possible situation.”

“But you have to keep your feet on the ground and not get depressed if the results don't come immediately.”

He concedes that it will be a tough season and talks about being “perfectly prepared”.

Sebastien comes across as a very grounded and levelheaded individual, although when he talks about his minimum expectations, he says:

“For me personally, I would at least want to be quicker than my team-mate.”

He's obviously very confident as well.

As we've seen many times in the past with F1 drivers (most recently with Lewis Hamilton), there's a fine line between confidence and arrogance. What some people perceive as arrogance is often just the complete confidence that's needed to perform at such a high level.

So Sebastien Buemi seems confident on one hand and level headed on the other hand, both admirable and necessary qualities in a Formula 1 driver. Has he got the balance right? Only time will tell.

Sebastien Buemi - Interesting Facts

Because Sebastien Buemi is relatively unknown, I figured I’d go looking for some information about Formula 1’s hottest new driver. On finding it, I thought I’d share it here in a quick post.

Here are some of the more interesting details about Sebastien Buemi:

• Sebastien was born on October 31, 1988, making him 20 years old as at the time of writing. That makes him the 11th youngest driver to start an F1 grand prix, assuming he starts the Melbourne Grand Prix as planned.


• Sebastien was born in Aigle, Switzerland, which has a population of 8,100 people, although he now lives in Bahrain.


• He is 177cm tall and weighs 62kg.


• Sebastien started with a very successful career in karting, winning 5 championships between 1998 and 2003.


• In 2004, Sebastien moved to Formula BMW (Germany), finishing 3rd. In 2005, he finished went one better, finishing 2nd.


• In 2006, Sebastien moved to the Formula Three Euroseries, where he finished 12th. The following year (2007), he finished second.


• In 2008, Sebastien drove for Arden International in GP2, winning 2 races and finishing 6th in the championship. He was also test and reserve driver for the Red Bull F1 team.


• Sebastien will drive car number 11 for Scuderia Toro Rosso in the upcoming F1 season. He replaces Sebastian Vettel who has moved to Red Bull and he partners Sebastien Bordais. That’s a lot of Sebastiens!

Well that’s the basics! I’ve left out the fact that he likes Swiss roll (which isn’t actually from Switzerland) and some other trivia, but at least that should give us all a little better understanding of his history (if not his personality).

I have a feeling that we’ll soon know a lot more about Sebastien Buemi, F1's newest star!

Sources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9bastien_Buemi
• http://www.itv-f1.com/Feature.aspx?Type=General&id=44897&PO=44897
• http://www.itv-f1.com/Feature.aspx?Type=Gravel_Trap&id=44901&PO=44901

Introduction To The Sebastien Buemi Blog

Welcome to the Sebastien Buemi blog!

First, lets clear one this up. This blog is not by Sebastien Buemi, it’s about Sebastien Buemi. I’m going to blog about his Formula 1 career, starting from his first season (ie 2009 - this season!).

Why Sebastien Buemi?

First and foremost I’m an F1 fan, but I have a soft spot for Toro Rosso and I also have a soft spot for exciting younger drivers breaking through into Formula One. Sebastien Buemi combines these.

He’s shown very promising form coming into his first season and has all the hallmarks of a future superstar.

Can he translate his potential into performance? Will he be able to follow in Sebastian Vettel’s footsteps (not that he has to)? Will Torro Rosso be able to compete at the same level as they did last year (which surprised everyone)?

There are so many questions and the season ahead is shaping up to be a fascinating one. I’m very excited by it, particularly the Sebastien Buemi angle, so I thought, why not document it all in a blog.

Besides, what does any know about Sebastien Buemi? Nobody wants to hear more about Lewis Hamilton - a great driver, but over exposed! People do want to know more about Sebastien Buemi. I think it’s much more interesting to explore a fresh face, rather than look at an established star.

I hope someone out there gets value from this blog – if you do, please leave a comment! Let’s all get behind Sebastien Buemi in his first season.