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.