Scuderia Toro Rosso
has confirmed that as had been widely expected from this
weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Jaime Alguersuari will drive
for the Italian team, alongside Sebastien Buemi. The 19 year
old Spaniard will replaces the experienced Sebastien
Bourdais in the Ferrari-powered STR4 single-seater after the
French four times ChampCar title winner was sacked late last
week. He will thus become the youngest ever driver to take
part in a Grand Prix weekend when he gets in the car later
this week, breaking Mike Thackwell's long-time record.
Born in Barcelona,
Spain on March 23, 1990, Alguersuari has competed in one
hundred and eighteen races that have netted seventeen wins,
thirty six podiums, seventeen pole positions and eight
fastest laps. This year he has been contesting the World
Series by Renault (with one podium so far) with Carlin
Motorsport having stepped up the ladder after winning the
British F3 Championship last year with the team (and in
doing so becoming the youngest-ever title winner) after
collecting six pole positions, twelve podiums and five wins.
Before that Alguersuari had raced in the Spanish F3
Championship (2007/2008) after graduating from the Italian
Formula Renault series (2006/2007) while he won the popular
Formula Renault Winter Series in 2006. Like so many other
drivers, including fellow countryman Fernando Alonso, his
career had started in karting and he became the youngest
Spanish kart champion in 2004 as well as dominating the
Champions International Cup, finishing fourth in the Italian
Open Masters and seventh in the European championship. He
won a second consecutive Spanish championship in 2005 and
began racing in Italian Formula Renault where two wins
secured him a place in the coveted Red Bull Junior
Programme.
"I would like to
thank Red Bull for giving me this great opportunity to race
in Formula 1," commented Jaime Alguersuari in a statement
issued by Toro Rosso today. "Ever since I started racing
this has been my dream and thanks to the Red Bull Junior
Programme I will now realise my ambition of lining up on a
Grand Prix grid. I am aware that I’m facing a very tough
challenge, because coming into Formula 1 is never easy,
coming into Formula 1 in the middle of a season is even
harder and doing so without any testing is really difficult.
But already I feel that I am getting great support from the
team, who have quite a reputation for looking after rookie
drivers."
"Red Bull’s stated
aim for Scuderia Toro Rosso is that, when possible, it
should be used to provide a seat for products of its Young
Driver Programme," said Team Principal Franz Tost. "We
therefore chose Alguersuari as the most mature driver
currently in the programme. I am well aware that over the
next few months the team and Jaime will face a major
challenge, especially because of the testing ban. But Red
Bull is always ready for a new challenge. I do not expect
anything from him for at least his first three races, during
which he has to get used to the car, the team and to the
Formula 1 environment."
