PROFILE

SEBASTIEN BUEMI

31.10.1988

Aigle (Suisse)

Monte Carlo (Monaco)

1.75m

65kg

Célibataire

Sébastien Buemi was born in Aigle, in the canton Vaud (Switzerland). Like any other boy of his age, he would love to play with cars and all kind of toys related to mechanics. Nothing was going to lead him to motorsport racing, except maybe that his grand-father Georges had been active in that sport for many years, in Switzerland and Europe, mostly in endurance racing, above all at the 24Hours of Le Mans in 1960. At the end of 1993, his parents were wondering what to leave under the Christmas tree. They did not realize that by offering him a go-kart, they would simply shape the way of his future life. The day after, Sébastien is eager to get into his new toy and go around the family garage, followed later on by some tests on circuits. After a few races in 1997, Sébastien completes his first season in karting in 1998, by winning his first Swiss title, followed by 3 new Swiss championship titles. In 2002, he also becomes European Junior Champion. He completes his go-kart career with another victory in the 2003 Italian Open Masters Championship. At the end of the year 2003, he is invited to participate in the BMW driver testing in Valencia and is among the 8 participants selected to compete for the European Championship in 2004, receiving a bourse from ADAC. For his first race in this category, he finishes in second position, just behind Sebastian Vettel. A strong performance that will not remain unnoticed. The following day, Dr Helmut Marko of Red Bull proposes Sebastien a 5-year contract with the Red Bull Junior Team. In 2005, Sebastien wins the BMW ADAC Championship, before being handed over a penalty by the German MotorSport Federation (DMSB) that makes him loose the title vs a german contender. Needless to say that this episode remains one of the bitterest of his career. One year later, Sebastien is offered a seat in Formula 3 with Team Mücke Motorsport. As far as F3 is concerned, the motto is very clear: One year to learn, the second one to win. At the request of Red Bull, he also replaces another driver in some Formula Renault races. For his first race at the Nurburgring, and after spinning under the rain, Sebastien has a fantastic come-back and wins the race. He finishes in 6th place overall in that championship, even though he participated in only a few races. And in 2007, after a tremendous battle throughout the year, Sebastien just misses the crown and finishes second in the F3 Championship. But the highlight of the year will certainly be remembered as his GP2 series incredible debut in Monte-Carlo. Having neither raced in a GP2 car, nor in the streets of Monaco, he classifies P2 in the first free testing, and qualifies P4 for the race, narrowly missing the Pole. For his first GP2 race, he finishes 7th. Sebastien is therefore asked to finish the GP2 championship, scoring some superb performances and 4 fastest laps. Besides the GP2 and F3 Championships, Sebastien is also called by the A1 Switzerland team to race on 5 occasions. All of that will lead to Sebastien first F1 test on 23rd July 2007 in Jerez with RBR. On 16th January 2008, Red Bull chooses Sebastien to become their official test and reserve driver for the F1 team Red Bull Renault Racing. Sebastien takes part in the GP2 Asia Series Championship with the Team Arden, finishing second overall; followed by the GP2 European Championship. Overall, Sebastien scores 3 wins and 10 podiums (3 times more than what Arden achieved the year before with their two drivers Bruno Lalli (nephew of the late Ayrton Senna) and Adrian Zaugg. But in the GP2 European Championship, the real performance can be seen as Sebastien scored 50 points out of a total of 54 for the team Arden, relegating his counterparts to second roles. Above all, a fantastic performance in Magny-Cours, starting the feature race in last position and taking the chequered flag. In addition, Sebastien was frequently asked by RBR to test new specifications, mostly at the Silverstone track, especially before the race week-ends. On 22nd December 2008, Sebastien signed a new contract with Red Bull, making him the first Swiss driver to race in Formula 1 since Marc Surer in 1975. In 2009, for his very first Formula One season, Sébastien was awarded by several experts the honorific title of being the « rookie of the year ». He succeeded in scoring points during his very first Grand Prix in Australia a rare accomplishment. Despite a car which had to wait until the Hungarian Grand Prix for its own so-called « double diffuser », Sébastien managed to score an additional point in China, then two more in Brazil and one in Abu Dhabi for the last 2009 round. Totalling an awesome tally of 6 points, he was 16th at the end of the season, thus being the very first Swiss driver to score points since Marc Surer, 24 years earlier. For 2010, he drives once again for the Toro Rosso team, with a Ferrari engine. With the hope to take advantage of his past experience to score even more points...