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.

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 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.

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?

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!