Formula One news

Buemi enjoying debut season

Sébastien Buemi started his Formula One career in Australia at the end of March with the added pressure of being the only rookie on the 2009 grid. Unphased, the Swiss driver went on to score points in Melbourne and is now lying thirteenth in the standings with three, having collected another single point in China.

"Without a doubt, the best two moments so far came at the opening race in Melbourne," 20-year-old Sébastien said. "The first was taking to the track for the very first time on Friday morning and then the second was seeing the chequered flag on Sunday, knowing I'd scored points on my debut. China was also great, scoring points again, after getting through to Q3 on Saturday. So far, I've really enjoyed the experience and I think the whole team is working well. It has given us confidence and a desire to work hard for the rest of the season.

"The hardest thing to get used to is the fact that everything happens very quickly over a Grand Prix weekend. If you make the slightest mistake, you pay for it and pay for it immediately and expensively; for example if you don't get into Q2 on Saturday, you have a much tougher time on Sunday." Television viewers were assured of this in Malaysia when Buemi's pit radio revealed his emotional reaction of "No!" after missing the first cut. "Everyone is very close in performance terms this season," he continued, "so it's hard to get everything right first time, but that's part of my F1 apprenticeship. I would say it's all going in the right direction for the moment.

"Going into the Spanish GP, we will have some updates on the car and, even though all the other teams will have something new, I still expect that we should be more competitive from now on. Being back in Europe doesn't change much for me, although it's true I have a better knowledge of some of the circuits coming up now, which should be a help - I'm feeling positive about it all."

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