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Sebastien Buemi crossed the finish line in
eighth place in Valencia at the end of the
European Grand Prix this afternoon although
the Swiss driver lost one place on the very
final corner after he was was caught napping
by the similarly Ferrari-powered Sauber of
Kamui Kobayashi who was on fresh tyres.
Meanwhile team mate Jaime Alguersuari had a
quiet run to fifteenth place. |
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Sebastien Buemi crossed the finish line in eighth place
in Valencia at the end of the European Grand Prix this
afternoon although the Swiss driver lost one place on
the very final corner after he was was caught napping by
the similarly Ferrari-powered Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi
who was on fresh tyres. Buemi had a strong race and
successfully fought off the close attentions of an
increasingly frustrated Fernando Alonso right to the
flag. Both the Toro Rosso and Ferrari pilots were
however passed in the dying minutes of the race by the
Japanese driver who had clung tenaciously onto third
place after remaining on track following an earlier
safety car incident.
Buemi's F1 world championship points remain provisional
this evening as he is one of nine drivers to be under
investigation by the stewards for driving too quickly
back to the pits during the Safety Car period. The other
pilots to be under investigation are McLaren's Jenson
Button, Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa as well as both
drivers from Williams, Renaults and Force India. Buemi's
Toro Rosso team mate Jaime Alguersuari had a quiet
afternoon complaining of braking and car problems and he
eventually crossed the line in fifteenth spot.
Sebastien Buemi (STR5-02)
Pos. 8th
“This was not a very good race
as I could have finished sixth, but I made two mistakes,
which have cost us four points. I am happy to be in the
points, but disappointed to have missed out on the
opportunity to do better. As for losing seventh place, I
knew Kobayashi was closing very quickly on new tyres,
and on the penultimate lap I was blocking my front tyres
a lot. But at the final corner, I did not think he could
brake that late and so I am unhappy that I made the
mistake and let him pass. The team did a good job of the
pit stop, at just the right moment during the Safety Car
period. But we are under investigation along with many
other cars about this point of the race. I found it very
hard to slow down, as required by the rules, because the
Safety Car arrived very late as we approached the start
finish line. Let’s wait and see what the stewards will
say.”
Jaime Alguersuari (STR5-03)
Pos. 15th
“To be honest, I am not really
disappointed, because at least the team got points again
with Sebastien, so congratulations to him. This weekend
I never had a hundred percent control of the car, never
having quite the right feeling with the brakes and that
was my main issue. The situation improved slightly
during the race, but I never felt the car was mine to do
as I wanted. I have to tell myself that better times
will come, just like I had earlier in the season. There
are still a lot of races to go and once I get back the
feeling for the car and its handling, I am sure I can
score points again.”
Franz Tost (Team Principal)
“We have often said we need
to improve our qualifying performance if we want to
score points on a regular basis and yesterday, Buemi did
exactly that to start from eleventh on the grid. Today
he got the benefit of that and picked up another eighth
place to follow on from the same finishing position in
Canada two weeks ago. For a long time, he ran in sixth
position which was also down to an excellent strategy
from the team, in terms of managing the pit stop during
the Safety Car period. However, Buemi is one of nine
drivers under investigation by the stewards regarding a
possible infringement during that Safety Car time, so we
need to wait and see. Unfortunately, at the very last
corner of the race, he lost seventh place to Kobayashi
who was running on a very new set of Soft tyres. But we
have scored points again, so well done to the team.”
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