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Buemi made his debut in an F1 car with Red
Bull in September 2007 at Jerez during
official testing, and in January last year
he was confirmed as the team's official
reserve and test driver for 2008. |
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Scuderia Toro Rosso
has announced that Sébastien Buemi will drive for the team
in the 2009 Formula 1 season. The twenty year old from Aigle,
Switzerland competed in GP2 last year, when he was also the
reserve driver for Toro Rosso's sister team, Red Bull
Racing. For most of his racing career, he has been supported
by Red Bull as part of its Junior Driver programme.
Team Principal,
Franz Tost
commented: “We are delighted
to
welcome Sébastien, who was already
part of the Red Bull family, to our team. 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. 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 Dietrich Mateschitz’s intention
to use Scuderia Toro Rosso as a showcase for young drivers
the company has supported in the lower formulae.”
Buemi graduated
from karting to the single-seater Formula BMW series in
2004, finishing third in the championship that year and then
going one better a year later when he was also the runner-up
in the Formula BMW World Final. Two years in the F3
Euroseries followed, which netted 11th and 2nd places in the
final points standings respectively, before he joined Arden
International in GP2 last year for a full season, having
initially impressed during a solitary outing for the ART
team at Monaco the year before where he finished seventh
which then led to a further ten races later in the GP2
season, although these this latter programme failed to
produce any more memorable finishes. His GP2 year saw him
finish runner-up with one win and four second places to his
name. Buemi made his debut in an F1 car with Red Bull in
September 2007 at Jerez during official testing, and in
January last year he was confirmed as the team's official
reserve and test driver for 2008.
“I am naturally
very happy to be driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso this year,”
said
Buemi.
“Being a Formula 1 driver has always
been my
target, since I first started racing. This year, 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. I want to thank Red Bull for this opportunity and
for all the help they have given me in my career, dating
back to 2005.”
Sébastien’s first
track outing as an official Scuderia Toro Rosso driver will
be at the test session held at the Portimao Circuit in
Portugal later this month. An announcement about who will be
Buemi’s team-mate will be made at some point before the
season opening Australian Grand Prix.
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