Sebastien Buemi: Staying at Toro Rosso for Now
You will have to excuse Formula 1 fans for being a little confused about the status of Sebastien Buemi. On July 15, his Toro Rosso team put out a press release stating that both he and his teammate Jaime Alguersuari would be returning to the fold for the 2011 season. One day later Buemi had an announcement of his own: no deal had been signed and that he was still open to a transfer in the offseason to another team.
Things came to a strange conclusion a few days later when Buemi reversed his course and said that he would be returning to the Toro Rosso team after all. Much of the confusion likely came from the fact that Toro Rosso had the final say in the matter: Buemi’s contract with Red Bull Racing gave them the option to retain his services in 2011. Even if he wanted to go somewhere else, he couldn’t have without Red Bull’s permission.
Given the way things have been progressing for Buemi and the Toro Rosso team this season, it seems unlikely that they would want to give him the green light to depart. After a dreadful start to the 2010 season while dealing with reliability issues and other concerns surrounding the new Toro Rosso car (the first car built from scratch by the team), Buemi has turned his season around. Heading into the German Grand Prix, the Swiss driver had claimed points in two of the previous three races, finishing eighth in Montreal and ninth in Valenica before slumping to 12th at Silverstone.
Despite only being 14th in the Drivers’ Championship, Buemi has impressed many people with his driving this season, including a great run in Canada. He was expected to be the clear number two driver at Toro Rosso behind 18-year-old Alguersuri, and it certainly looked like that would be the pecking order after the early races of the season. But recent results have changed the outlook of the team and the 21-year-old Buemi is now being looked at as a hot property in the sport.
His recent success attracted the interested of a number of suitors. Most notable among those teams was Renault, who are said to be unhappy with the performance of Russian driver Vitali Petrov as the teammate for veteran Robert Kubica. Renault believes that Kubica can be a factor in the world championship chase next season but there are plenty of doubts about if Petrov is the teammate to help him get there.
This has led Renault to explore several other potential options for replacement drivers if Petrov does not return. Team principal Eric Boullier admitted in mid-July that Buemi was on the short list of drivers that he was eyeing to possibly replace Petrov, saying that he had earned a “special place” on the list because of his driving ability and personality. However, Buemi’s return to Toro Rosso removes him from the list of potential candidates to move to Renault in 2011 should the space become available.
It’s understandable why Buemi would consider leaving Toro Rosso for Renault. Toro Rosso is the “little sibling” behind Red Bull Racing in the family of Red Bull Motorsports teams. In many ways it has continued the tradition of the Minardi team it replaced — not only is it based in Italy but it is one of the more underfunded teams in the sport.
It’s also designed to be a feeder team for Red Bull Racing, which has become one of the premier teams in Formula 1. This could be good news for Buemi. Red Bull boss Helmut Marko recently said that Buemi’s performance at the Canadian Grand Prix highlighted his abilities and potential and hinted that he might be in line for a move up to the Red Bull team in 2012.
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