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[7UpJordan]

What do you think of Sebastien Buemi?

Buemi is the only rookie in the field this year, and it was hardly a surprising choice given his Red Bull backing and Dietrich Mateschitz was very keen to give him a Toro Rosso seat. But did he deserve it? In my opinion, not really. He was never in the title fight during the 2008 GP2 Championship and only won his races thanks to reverse grids. Gerhard Berger wanted Bruno Senna to have the Toro Rosso seat, but Berger was out of Toro Rosso at the end of the year and his wish counted for nothing.

So far I'd say he's doing ok, but nothing special. He's outdriven Bourdais a lot - who was expected to "school him" - but in all fairness it isn't exactly a difficult thing to do when Bourdais has done nothing but moan and complain about the STR4 (almost as much as you hear Kubica moaning about his BMW!) and make excuses.

A lot of people seem to think he's a hot prospect already just because of his performance in China when it rained. To be honest I think his points finish was more to do with the STR4 chassis particularly as Red Bull walked to their 1-2 finish. Also Lewis Hamilton spinning many times helped him on his way.

Buemi will probably retain his seat at the end of the year thanks to his Red Bull connections whilst Bourdais will probably be ditched. I don't bear Buemi any grudges over him getting into F1 and not Senna, but I feel that Senna - despite his inexperience - has shown far more potential than Buemi has to justify an F1 seat. Hopefully with the new teams for next year Senna will get his chance to show Mr Mateschitz what he was missing out on.

[cap-dude]

I agree. I'm keeping my opinions reserved on Buemi.

The thing about Bourdais is, as his co-drivers highlighted during LeMans, that he is very sensitive to a cars set-up. So he has a fine line between days where he's up their with the best of them, and days where he looks a numpty. Unfortunately this year, the latter seems to occur too often.

Anyways, Buemi actually has been successful in his career. 2nd in Formula BMW, 2nd in F3, 2nd GP2 asia series. But come GP2 2008, he wasn't on the pace. But even if he didn't get into F1 in 2009, he'd get in at some point.

This year, it seems we hear the lines, "I would've made Q2, only I made a mistake" an awful lot from him. Personally I don't know what to make of him. Simply because we don't really have a reference point for him.

[7UpJordan]

This year, it seems we hear the lines, "I would've made Q2, only I made a mistake" an awful lot from him. Personally I don't know what to make of him. Simply because we don't really have a reference point for him.

And then there was his "Noooooooooo!!! I was 4 tenths up in the first sector!" radio transmission when he went off in the dying moments of Q1 in Malaysia.

[PeanutHead LFC]

I think he is a good driver and has beaten bourdais, who we know is a good driver from le mans, american racing series years ago, and other racing championships. If i was the Torro Rosso boss i would be pleased hes scored points this year, because they havent got the greatest car.

All i can say is that hes better than Piquet, oh wait, so is my little brother.

[Chris_0648]

Buemi's done well so far this season, but has had his fair share of rookie errors. Early in the year he completely outclassed Bourdais.

On the other hand, I thought Bourdais' performance in Monaco could be the best from an STR driver this season so far. He's not done enough to retain his drive for next season though IMO

[Jamie]

In the case of Formula One, I have done case studies on previous and the drivers of today. The average racing in lower formulae's stands at 5years average with 2 years prior to the season;
For example
Formula Renault X 2 Years
Formula 3 X 2 Years
GP2 1 year

This is the average, as took from for example Lewis Hamilton’s CV, which he won FR in 2nd year and F3 in second year! So Beumi hasn’t had the success, but he was 5th in his last season in GP2 and spent 2 years in normal GP2 and 1 year in GP2 Asia in which gives him the experience needed in a GP2 car which is only a little less powerful than the F1 car, in my own personal opinion, he would of won this years GP2 title and would have been in F1 next season? So to cut the time they banged him in this year, he spent 7 years in the lower Formulae’s that might give him extra experience? And from the looks of Juan Pablo Montoya or Tony Kanaan they spent countless years in the smaller championships and made a major leap, Tony Kanaan IRL WDC and JPM, just the same but with also the Indy 500 under his belt with the Monaco Gp too! But then if you want to argue on the case of less?

Jenson Button went from Formula Ford to F3, didn’t do well in F3 and jumped straight too F1? what the hell? And he is now the leader of the F1 2009 world championship, Kimi Raikkonen jumped from Formula Renault to F1? Which now days is the starter stone? So what the hell?

F1 drivers first years are always harder, you have a year to prep up, the next to dazzle, Lewis Hamilton did the same in both years, Piquet? I think he should be an 8 time GP2 WDC. Beumi I think he has a shot at making a good stand in F1, but on the stand of who should of got the seat? Taku should have got that seat hands down;

Reason Being;

· Sato is unusual among Japanese drivers in having relatively little motor racing experience in his native country. He initially competed in bicycle racing, where he won several national junior-championships. –Made a major leap-
· He dominated the championship –F3- and broke the record for the number of wins in the British F3 Championship - his total of 16 overall victories in the 2000/01 seasons is still unbeaten today. On top of that, he took first place in the Marlboro Masters of F3 at Zandvoort and the International race supporting the British Grand Prix.
· In Testing he topped the time sheets
· More successful lower formulas
· Awesome outing at BAR

All fair points in which I believe Taku should of got the race seat, lets hope Beumi does an awesome season and proves his worth, so far he has had an above average season with RBR/TR with scoring points on a regular basis.

[scotty]

He's doing alright, but put it this way, he has also surpassed most people's expectations (mine included) - i thought he'd be worse than the Piquets and Nakajimas after seeing him do nothing special in GP2!

· Awesome outing at BAR

Sato was utterly terrible at BAR... so many dumb mistakes, crashes and off track excursions!

[Jamie]

Oh yeah I fully agree, okay he's a bad past, but he could do something, but Torro Rosso are selling up this season, so we might lose them both

[Hexagram]

I was shocked when Buemi got a drive in F1 after his testing times being slower than Takuma's & Bourdais's, but he has impressed me.

Should Senna have got the drive instead? Probably, but Senna tested for Honda and it looked as though Honda were going to take him on. Which would have meant he would be in that awesome Brawn car, but no one saw Honda's sudden withdrawal from F1 coming. I believe he may have burned his bridges with Red Bull by testing with Honda, who knows.

His decision not to race in DTM this year was a tough one, hats off to him for that. Racing in DTM for one year is pointless, your just gonna do circles learning how to race a two seater in a year old car. So your gonna have a rough enough season.

Senna will be in F1 next year though, im sure of it.

[headless]

Buemi just needs to move over to gift a driver the title and he'll be in for next year.

[f1ea]

I think Buemi has done pretty well. Considering he came to the sport to a 'struggling' team, against a more experienced driver and really without much of a boom or expectations... so he has nothing but surprised for the good.

A few mistakes, but nothing in the league of Naka or Piquet...... and taking those mistakes out, he'd have even better results to show.

[McLaren Fan]

Looking through FORIX, comparing Bourdais and Buemi's performance has been strange. Generally, Buemi's race pace was better earlier in the season, but in the last few races Bourdais seems to have got the better of him. Also, Bourdais and Buemi have finished above one another more or less the same number of times, but this is disappointing from Buemi's perspective, as he's been the better qualifier of the two. So, neither of them have really done that well, and Buemi is certainly not beating his team mate per se; if Bourdais improves his qualifying - even slightly - he could put Buemi in the shade.

[Rivelution]

Looking through FORIX, comparing Bourdais and Buemi's performance has been strange. Generally, Buemi's race pace was better earlier in the season, but in the last few races Bourdais seems to have got the better of him. Also, Bourdais and Buemi have finished above one another more or less the same number of times, but this is disappointing from Buemi's perspective, as he's been the better qualifier of the two. So, neither of them have really done that well, and Buemi is certainly not beating his team mate per se; if Bourdais improves his qualifying - even slightly - he could put Buemi in the shade.

I agree, both of them havent been that impressive. I think if Bourdais keeps on performing like he did at Turkey, he'll be out of F1 before the seasons end.

[headless]

Looking through FORIX, comparing Bourdais and Buemi's performance has been strange. Generally, Buemi's race pace was better earlier in the season, but in the last few races Bourdais seems to have got the better of him. Also, Bourdais and Buemi have finished above one another more or less the same number of times, but this is disappointing from Buemi's perspective, as he's been the better qualifier of the two. So, neither of them have really done that well, and Buemi is certainly not beating his team mate per se; if Bourdais improves his qualifying - even slightly - he could put Buemi in the shade.

I agree, both of them havent been that impressive. I think if Bourdais keeps on performing like he did at Turkey, he'll be out of F1 before the seasons end.

Onto a better level?
Too good for F1

[Denthúl]

Buemi is doing alright, in my opinion. In recent years, peoples' expectations of rookie drivers have gone up in a way that's anything but fair. Everyone now expects new drivers to come in and set the world alight, like Hamilton and Vettel, but these are exceptional cases. Ten years ago, Buemi would be looked upon as pretty impressive for his current performances.

Additionally, the fact that the stats are showing him to be pretty much on Bourdais' level are impressive. Bourdais is by far a more experienced driver and has a year in Formula One that Buemi didn't have.