Buemi confirmed for Toro Rosso

Eurosport - Fri, 09 Jan 18:10:00 2009

Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi will race for Toro Rosso in Formula One this season.

FORMULA 1 - Sebastien Buemi - 0

Buemi, 20, competed in the GP2 support series last year and was also reserve driver for Toro Rosso's sister team Red Bull Racing.

Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso said in a statement that they would name Buemi's team-mate "at some point" before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 29.

The team had two other 'Sebs' in their racing line-up last year, with Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais partnering 21-year-old Sebastian Vettel before the race-winning German moved on to the main Red Bull team.

Bourdais remains hopeful of staying on for a second season, but Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso have also been testing Japan's Takuma Sato.

Buemi will be the first Swiss driver to compete in F1 since Jean-Denis Deletraz raced without success for the Pacific Ford team in 1995.

"Our engineers have been impressed with his speed in the car and his ability to learn and progress during the testing he has carried out for us last year," said team principal Franz Tost.

"That, along with some impressive performances in GP2 was enough to convince us to give him the drive.

"His appointment also fulfils the aims of the Red Bull Junior Driver programme and meets (owner) Dietrich Mateschitz's intention to use Scuderia Toro Rosso as a showcase for young drivers the company has supported in the lower formulae."

Buemi's confirmation had been flagged up by Mateschitz last month and the driver said he was delighted to be confirmed in the role.

"I will do all I can to bring home the best possible results and to show Red Bull that the confidence it has shown in me is justified," he added.

Buemi's first track outing as an official Toro Rosso driver will be in testing at the Portimao circuit in Portugal later this month.

Reuters

Comment 19 - 38 of 38

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. My unborn fetus has just signed with McLaren using a new in utero technique that involves shoving Ron's head up the wife's special place.

    From abtscot, on Sun 11 Jan 10:46PM

  2. aormk1809,
    Talking about wings,,,
    Have you seen the size of the wings on ted hankey's wife,
    the biggest pair of bingo wings i have ever seen,shouldnt that be investigated.

    From , on Sun 11 Jan 9:28PM

  3. The Swiss shouldnt be allowed anywhere near a racing car,
    as they are anti-everything,except snow...
    Couldnt they have put a bit more make-up on that ugly mug?

    From , on Sun 11 Jan 9:25PM

  4. Well said Golf.

    From BigBill, on Sun 11 Jan 3:41PM

  5. # 34
    the answer is : you !

    From Golf in the Kingdom, on Sun 11 Jan 2:40PM

  6. Holy moly in a few years new f1 drivers will still be wearing their school shorts when they're not driving an f1 car.Anyone remember drivers that looked like adults Jones,Mansell,Hill etc.

    From wizzo, on Sun 11 Jan 2:00PM

  7. Who is uglier? Buemi or Kubica/

    From Asdfaf A, on Sun 11 Jan 12:11PM

  8. Sebastian Vettel
    Sebastien Bourdais
    Sebastien Buemi
    the next will be Sebastien Loeb?

    From Golf in the Kingdom, on Sun 11 Jan 11:34AM

  9. on another note regarding the size of wings on f1 cars this year are they going to revalue the advertising costs of sponsoring these parts of the cars?

    From piers, on Sun 11 Jan 11:30AM

  10. MGA why would any one do that on here?
    unless he wins a championship for mclaren or beats ferrari or has bigger eyebrows than buemi or alonso etc etc etc

    From piers, on Sun 11 Jan 11:25AM

  11. Just a word on drivers being nurtured through there young careers keep an eye out for this guy Roberto Merhi 17years old Spanish and has signed with Mercedes for a 6 years contract. he seems to be a great prospect for the future.
    So maybe in a year or two may see his name being slagged of on this site:-)))

    From MGA, on Sun 11 Jan 10:29AM

  12. Well, our Nige, aren't you just the perfect gentleman.

    From m.e.jenner, on Sun 11 Jan 9:31AM

  13. Whats worse multiple cut and paste of posts or yahoo invalid comments. Yahoo guys should get there act together.

    From JAYANTILAL, on Sun 11 Jan 12:34AM

  14. GP2. Buemi could not even manage a top five position.

    From JAYANTILAL, on Sun 11 Jan 12:28AM

  15. From a young age (Like LH and others) Sebastien Buemi has been supported throughout his sporting career on a young drivers program run by one of the F1 teams etc. They has been wet nursed in the lower formulae were they have honed there skill toughed up. In contrast Senna having to stop racing in 94 (for obvious reasons) has been in the lower formulae less then four years without consistent support. ( except family & friends) Still he has shown great improvement to point were last year but for a stray dog he could have beaten Pantano for the GP2 Drivers championship (Buemi could not even manage. I believe Senna is a rough diamond (you should see him drive in the wet). He is not Ayrton but he deserve a chance show us what he can do. If he has a fraction of his uncle’s speed to could be

    From JAYANTILAL, on Sun 11 Jan 12:26AM

  16. M E Jenner- his looks have absolutely nothing to with his racing ability, but he's still funny to look at! So quit being miss manners and STFU...

    From ournige, on Sun 11 Jan 12:19AM

  17. JESUS!!! I THOUGHT COULTHARD WAS AN UGLY BA"**RD ALL THAT MONEY YOUD THINK HE COULD OF SORTED IT OUT!!!!!!!!

    From robertternent, on Sat 10 Jan 11:43PM

  18. Buemi is a much better driver than Senna

    From owen gayer, on Sat 10 Jan 8:12PM

  19. What has Buemi done.The seat should have gone to Button. Button and Senna would have been ideal. “Mateschitz's intention to use Scuderia Toro Rosso as a showcase for young drivers the company has supported in the lower formulae." Here lays the problem. His best driver in his program is the worst choice for a F1 driver. Never mind he has money to burn. Shame Senna will not be allowed to show us what he can do.

    From JAYANTILAL, on Sat 10 Jan 7:03PM

  20. I love the way Ferrari fans and McLaren haters seem to forget the amount of cheating Ferrari and in particular the great Schumacher have done over the years. Lets all just start afresh with these new funny looking cars and see who comes out on top Or bring back movable aero, proper manual trans and gumball super slicks not to mention v12's

    From Paul, on Sat 10 Jan 2:57PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account