sebastien buemi f1 news - Pain Paillasse®

It was with a sense of urgency that Sébastien Buemi came to the Yas Marina Circuit for the penultimate meeting of the Formula One Championship. He had 600 kilometres or so to show that he is worthy of driving at the pinnacle of the sport. During the season, Sébastien has demonstrated his ability to counter adverse fortune and to focus only on the next race, always remaining optimistic. But at this stage he had only two remaining Grand Prix to impress his Team boss Franz Tost, in a scenario where Toro Rosso could decide to retain one of their present drivers.

Considering that the nature of the Abu Dhabi circuit is not very suited to the Toro Rossos, the weekend started well for Buemi, making 12th and 15th time in free practice and 13th in qualification, always in front of his team mate Alguersuari.

The race was very promising when after a good start the Swiss entered the point zone (10th) after 3 laps only. A hard battle with di Resta’s Force India followed and, with good usage of the movable aerodynamic feature of the rear wing and the engine booster (KERS), Buemi eventually got clear of the Scot. With the retirement of Vettel and the effects of the first tyre change, he found himself 7th and realising outstanding lap time. It seemed that points would be highly feasible when the sun went down in the Middle East, but once again the points escaped him. The horrendous sight of an infirm Toro Rosso in the 19th lap indicated a retirement and a new very bitter pill for the unfortunate Vaudois to swallow.

For Sébastien, his mission must be to continue to forge ahead with his accomplishments in free practice and qualifying, to repeat them in Brazil and to finish the last Formula One Grand Prix of the season in front of his main opponent, Jaime Alguersuari. In the race with the Spaniard, Buemi has a disadvantage of 11 points and his final position in the championship will have considerable weight in future team decision.

But could the final classification figures be the only assessment for a potential job in the scuderia? In free practice, Buemi has shown that he was more often setting leading time and in race qualifications he has been dominating Alguersuari 13 to 5. But more to the point, during the last four races the Swiss was denied crucial points for reasons beyond his control. He lost a wheel following a pit stop in Japan, an unusual engine failure stopped his race in India and an hydraulic failure in the Abu Dhabi!

For the last race in Brazil, in order to retain his 15^th position in the driver championship, Sébastien Buemi will need to finish his race in front of Sergio Perez who is currently trailing the Swiss by one point. And the Pain Paillasse ambassador, as well as Alguersuari, could do Toro Rosso an enormous favour by winning points enabling them to beat Sauber in the Constructor Championship. The final 306 kilometres of the championship will be approached with anticipation and anxiety.