Sébastien Buemi

Sébastien Buemi Buemi at the 2016 Paris ePrix Nationality Swiss Born (1988-10-31) 31 October 1988 Aigle, Switzerland FIA World Endurance Championship career Debut season 2012 Current team Toyota Racing Car no. 1 Starts 34 Championships 1 Wins 5 Poles 2 Fastest laps 0 Best finish 1st in 2014 Formula E career Debut season 2014–15 Current team Renault e.dams Car no. 9 Former teams 0 Starts 23 Championships 1 Wins 8 Poles 6 Fastest laps 6 Best finish 1st in 2015–16 Formula One World Championship career Active years 2009–2011 Teams Toro Rosso Entries 55 Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 29 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First entry 2009 Australian Grand Prix Last entry 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix 24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 2012– Teams Toyota Racing Best finish 2nd (2013) Class wins 0

Sébastien Olivier Buemi (born 31 October 1988)^[1] is a Swiss professional racing driver, who formerly competed for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One. Buemi is currently a reserve driver for Scuderia Toro Rosso's sister team, Red Bull Racing, as well as being a member of Toyota's FIA World Endurance Championship squad and e.dams Renault in the FIA Formula E Championship. Along with team-mate Anthony Davidson, Buemi became World Champion in the LMP1 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship, in 2014.^[2] He won the second ever Formula E championship, the season held across 2015-2016, by two points for setting the fastest lap time in the final race despite not finishing the event.

Career

Formula BMW

Born in Aigle, Vaud, Buemi graduated from karting and spent 2004 and 2005 in German Formula BMW, finishing third and second in the championship respectively. He was also runner up in the 2005 FBMW World Final.

Formula Three

Following a single race in Spanish Formula Three in 2005, Buemi moved up to the Formula Three Euroseries for 2006, finishing 12th in the championship, ceding 11th place to Charlie Kimball on countback. He remained in the series for 2007, and finished second in the championship, behind Romain Grosjean. He has also competed in the special Masters of Formula 3 and Macau Grand Prix races.

A1 Grand Prix

For the 2006–07 A1 Grand Prix season, Buemi shared driving duties for A1 Team Switzerland with Neel Jani and Marcel Fässler. The team finished eighth in the championship.

GP2 Series

Buemi driving for Arden International at the Silverstone round of the 2008 GP2 Series season

Buemi was drafted in at short notice to replace the injured Michael Ammermüller at ART Grand Prix for the Monaco round of the 2007 GP2 Series season. He performed creditably on his GP2 début, qualifying fourth and finishing seventh. He joined the Arden International team for the 2008 GP2 Asia Series, and finished as runner-up with a win and four second places. He continued with the team for the main 2008 season.^[3] He scored his first win in the French sprint race, starting 21st on the grid (after a technical problem in the feature race) on slick tyres on a drying track and benefitting as most rivals had to pit for slicks. He won one more race and ended the season sixth in the championship.

Formula One

On 18 September 2007 he drove the Red Bull RB3 at the F1 test session in Jerez. He was third quickest on the day, behind Timo Glock (BMW) and Vitantonio Liuzzi (Scuderia Toro Rosso) but ahead of names such as Rubens Barrichello (Honda) and Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault). On 16 January 2008 Red Bull Racing confirmed Buemi as their test and reserve driver for the 2008 season.^[4] At the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix, Buemi drove the medical car as usual driver Dr Jacques Tropenat had been suffering from an ear problem.^[5]

Scuderia Toro Rosso (2009–2011)

2009

Buemi during free practice at the 2009 Spanish Grand Prix.

Scuderia Toro Rosso confirmed its signing of Buemi as one of its race drivers on 9 January 2009.^[6] He was the first Swiss driver to take part in an F1 race since Jean-Denis Délétraz drove for Pacific at the 1995 European Grand Prix.

In his first race, the 2009 Australian Grand Prix, Buemi outqualified his team-mate Sébastien Bourdais and then scored a point in the race by finishing in eighth position. He was later promoted to seventh place as a result of Lewis Hamilton being disqualified. At the Chinese Grand Prix, he scored another point, this time in the wet, finishing eighth after starting tenth. After a mid season dip in the Toro Rosso's form, Buemi rounded off a good weekend to finish 7th in the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix. He followed this with a third top ten qualification in a row and another points finish at the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Buemi finished the year sixteenth with 6 points as the best rookie.

2010

Buemi driving the Toro Rosso STR5 during practice for the 2010 Spanish Grand Prix

On 9 November 2009, it was confirmed that Buemi would race for a second season with Toro Rosso.

During the first free practice session of the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix, a front suspension wishbone broke under braking on Buemi's Toro Rosso as he braked for Turn 14. The two front wheels flew off while Buemi was travelling at over 300 km/h (190 mph). One wheel went over the safety fence and landed in a spectator area, missing a camera man on its way. Buemi's car continued to travel forward, veering to the left and sliding along an Armco barrier, knocking off the front wing. Neither Buemi nor any spectators were injured as a result of the incident. Toro Rosso blamed a failure of a new front right upright for the incident.^[7] Buemi completed 2010 with eight points to teammate Alguersuari's five. He was sixteenth again in the drivers' championship.

2011

Buemi, along with his team mate from 2009 and 2010 – Jaime Alguersuari, continued to race for Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2011. On 14 December 2011 it was announced that both Buemi and Alguersuari had been dropped by the team, and would be replaced by Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Éric Vergne for the 2012 season.

Red Bull Racing (2012–2015)

2012

In January 2012 it was announced that Buemi would rejoin Red Bull Racing as a test and reserve driver for the 2012 season, as well as acting as Toro Rosso's reserve driver.^[8] Buemi continued as Red Bull's test and reserve driver for the 2013^[9] and 2014 seasons.

Sportscars

The Toyota TS040 Hybrid that Buemi drove at the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Buemi also signed a deal to contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Toyota Motorsport GmbH, driving a Toyota TS030 Hybrid with Anthony Davidson and Hiroaki Ishiura (who later withdrew and was replaced by Stéphane Sarrazin).^[10] After a strong performance, the car was running in third position in the early evening when Davidson collided with a GT Ferrari and crashed heavily.

In 2013, Buemi continued driving with Toyota for a full season and ended with third place in the drivers' championship. For the 2014 season, he drove Toyota's new car – the Toyota TS040 Hybrid. With four wins and seven podiums from the eight races, Buemi became World Endurance Drivers' Champion with team-mate Anthony Davidson.^[2]

Formula E (2014–present)

Buemi raced in the inaugural Formula E season for e.dams alongside Frenchman Nicolas Prost. He finished the season with second place in the drivers' championship and helped his team win the teams' championship. Despite losing the championship in the inaugural Formula E season, Buemi is currently the most successful driver in the series' history having claimed more wins, poles, fastest laps and points than any other driver in the series.

2014–15

Buemi's season didn't start off easily with a retirement in Beijing having started from last on the grid and being unable to set a qualifying time at the following round in Putrajya, he lined up 19th on the grid. Buemi drove a brilliant recovery race having started in 19th and finishing 3rd on the podium ahead of his teammate who started in 11th. At the third round of the season Buemi secured his first race victory in Punta del Este. Buemi started on pole at the following round in Buenos Aires for the first time in his career but crashed out of the race after leading. Buemi went on to win in Monaco and London, both from pole position. Buemi finished the season second in the championship having finished one point short of Nelson Piquet Jr.'s tally with 143 points.

2015–16

Buemi at the 2015 Punta del Este ePrix.

In season two, Buemi dominated the early stages of the championship. In the season opening round in Beijing Buemi secured pole, fastest lap and the race win. The story was looking much the same in the following round in Putrajya before Buemi's car experienced mechanical failure while leading the race. Having made a mistake in qualifying in Punta del Este, Buemi lined up fifth on the grid, but went on to claim his third fastest lap in three races and another race victory.

Personal life

As of 2009 Buemi was officially resident in Bahrain, living with his family and his girlfriend Jennifer.^[11] He has since moved to Monaco.^[1] His cousin, Natacha Gachnang, is also a racing driver. In February 2016, Buemi became a father with the birth of his son Jules Buemi.

In 2013, Buemi and Johnny Herbert mentored 6 contestants in a primetime ITV4 reality series, with the aim of taking players of the Gran Turismo videogames to the Dubai 24 Hour race as real drivers.^[12] Other countries in Europe had heats mentored by Vitantonio Liuzzi.^[13]

Racing record

Career summary

^* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key)

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(key)

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results

(key)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2012	Toyota Racing	Anthony Davidson Stéphane Sarrazin	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	LMP1	82	DNF	DNF
2013	Toyota Racing	Anthony Davidson Stéphane Sarrazin	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	LMP1	347	2nd	2nd
2014	Toyota Racing	Anthony Davidson Nicolas Lapierre	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	LMP1-H	374	3rd	3rd
2015	Toyota Racing	Anthony Davidson Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	LMP1	386	8th	8th
2016	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Anthony Davidson Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	384	NC	NC

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete Formula E results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sébastien Buemi.

• Official website
• Sébastien Buemi on Twitter
• Sébastien Buemi career summary at DriverDB.com

Scuderia Toro Rosso
Founder Dietrich Mateschitz Advisor to Red Bull GmbH Helmut Marko Team Principal Franz Tost Personnel John Booth James Key Former personnel Giorgio Ascanelli Gerhard Berger Alex Hitzinger Steve Nielsen 2016 race drivers 26. Daniil Kvyat 55. Carlos Sainz Jr. 2016 test and reserve drivers Pierre Gasly Niko Kari Sérgio Sette Câmara Luis Leeds Former drivers Jaime Alguersuari Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Buemi Vitantonio Liuzzi Daniel Ricciardo Scott Speed Jean-Éric Vergne Max Verstappen Sebastian Vettel Senior team Red Bull Racing Formula One cars STR1 STR2 STR2B STR3 STR4 STR5 STR6 STR7 STR8 STR9 STR10 STR11 Related Red Bull Junior Team Red Bull GmbH Renault Sport F1 Scuderia Ferrari

Renault e.Dams
Founders	Jean-Paul Driot Alain Prost
Race drivers	8.  Nicolas Prost 9.  Sébastien Buemi
FIA Formula E cars	SRT 01E