Why is Sebastian Buemi just a test driver?

[ftbmynameis]

hey guys!

im fairly new to f1 and ive been curious about this question for quite some time. He is currently test driving for red bull as well as torro rosso. he did also race a f1 race already. so i dont understand why no one wants him as a driver.

to be honest I don't even know the difference between a driver and a test driver in f1 in terms of skills needed but shouldnt a test driver also be able to drive in f1? It looks to me a little bit like he is too bad for RB/torro rosso but good enough as a test driver which seems to be weird to me.

maybe I missed something and he maybe just wants to be "just" a test driver. I don't wanna talk this down btw.. Id just like to see him in F1!

thanks for any answer!

ps: im quite new to formula 1 and also new to this forum but I have so many questions to ask what I dont understand.. is there maybe someone who can answer to me or should I make a new thread for every single question :o

[zako85]

Answer: It's a consolation prize prize for losing a Toro Rosso seat.

The Red Bull juggernaut decided that Buemi was good, but not good enough to have a Red Bull car seat. Recall that the purpose of Toro Rosso is primarily to search to the top talent for the Red Bull (the A team). The fact that an STR driver lost a seat does not mean that it's a bad driver. It just means that they (Helmut Marko) do not think that the driver is good enough to be racing in an RBR seat.

[ftbmynameis]

Thanks for your reply. That actually makes sense to me. It is just a little bit weird.. so what they do is they pick drives which they think are talented and put them in an STR seat. And after a season or two they judge if the talent is "good enough" to train in STR for an RBR seat?

What I don't get then is why Buemi is fine with this and not trying to get in another team. I am sure not all teams think like that! And for me personally it would be quite frustrating that I'm good enough for a test driver seat but not more.

edit: as far as I know Daniel Ricciardo will take the seat of Webber next season. Looking at his stats I don't see how this guy is good enough for a RBR seat!! If I recall correctly Vettel even WON a race with STR. Ricciardo is barely getting points at all. Of course I have almost no clue how to judge people driving in such low cars, but as far as I know STR is not that low at all compared to Marrusia, Caterham, ..

[truefan72]

its a shame really

I actually think Buemi is better than ricciardo
Everyone who has seen or been around buemi all rate him highly and say that he is super quick
His biggest problem was driving a dog of an STR car
Unfortunately life isn't fair

But I certainly think he would be winning races and right up there if he was in the RBR. Maybe even at Ferrari
The guy is certainly very quick and should have easily slotted into that 2nd RBR seat
sadly for him, RBR management have been very poor at managing their talent

And using the STR as a yardstick is a poor indicator. The one year when the car was good, in the 2nd half of 2008 Bourdais was just about a match for vettel, and a few circumstances altered,. would have gotten at least 2 podiums. At the end of 2008 STR were a solid car, then 2009 with the new cars came around and since then they have fallen back again.

[kfzmeister]

If I recall correctly Vettel even WON a race with STR.

Yeah, but more a gift than anything else, so don't put much stock into that one.

[steveaki13]

The Toro Rosso that weekend was amazing with them Qualifying 1 and 4 I think, but still its no mean effort in the rain to be able to win a race. Would loved to see how Bourdais would have done had he not lost a lap.

[steveaki13]

The Toro Rosso that weekend was amazing with them Qualifying 1 and 4 I think, but still its no mean effort in the rain to be able to win a race. Would loved to see how Bourdais would have done had he not lost a lap.

As for Buemi. I too thought he was one of the best drivers STR have produced, but as we know F1 isnt always fair and doesnt always see the best 22 drivers race.

[jens]

It is good that you are interested in F1 and have a lot of questions. Welcome to the forum. Looks like you can be a sensible contributor.

If you wonder, how to ask all those questions, perhaps you can create a thread called "Questions about F1" and you can ask anything. Perhaps all of us could ask questions there. Perhaps it would be good for the forum - instead of forcing our own thoughts we ask about things and try to get smarter.

About Buemi. Well, if I am thinking about your question, immediately a wider context comes to mind. You can just as well ask, why aren't Kovalainen, Kobayashi, Alguersuari, Glock, etc in F1 either. The answer is that there are less seats than good-solid drivers. These days you would have to bring sponsorship to several midfield outfits too if you want to get a drive. Buemi, according to my knowledge, doesn't have any sponsorship in addition to Red Bull. And I don't think Red Bull is prepared to sponsor him in any other team than their own two teams. I am sure Buemi would like to drive for some other team if possible, but he hasn't been chosen. Other drivers have had stronger talent-sponsorship package to offer.

You are right to ask though that what has Ricciardo done to get the Red Bull seat. As we know, in sports a lot is dependent on timing and luck. Just right now a Red Bull seat has become vacant and apart from Räikkönen there are no other contenders for the seat. So it could well mean Ricciardo gets the seat. A bit like Massa got the Ferrari seat for 2006, when people were also asking "what has he done?" But chips fell in his favour. But if you are unlucky and in unfortunate circumstances, you may face the fate of Alguersuari or Buemi indeed.

I think it can be claimed that Alguersuari showed at least as good if not stronger race performances in late 2011 than either Ricciardo or Vergne have done so far. But the way silly season and the driver market played out it meant there was no seat for him in F1 at all.

[AndyRAC]

To answer the question; he isn't just a test driver. He drives for Toyota in the FiA WEC.

[inimitablestoo]

He seems very popular in Italy, and a number of other countries this year. After the Grand Prix yesterday there were lots of fans chanting his name, although many only got as far as the first syllable ;)

[rjbetty]

Wow truefan it seems you think very highly of Buemi! :)

I don't know if I was really convinced by him. But it's hard to tell as I admit I'm not the die-hard fan of F1 I once was, and there isn't really much in-depth coverage of Toro Rosso. This has meant I find it quite hard to gauge their drivers. But thinking of all the drivers they have ever had since their inception in 2006, I would summarise them like this and roughly rate their qualifying and racing abilities IMO:

1.Sebastian Vettel: Qual-9 Race-9 Total-18

2.Daniel Ricciardo: Q-8 R-6 Total-14

3.Jaime Alguersuari: Q-6 R-8 Total-14

4.Jean-Eric Vergne: Q-6 R-8 Total-14

5.Sebastien Buemi: Q-7 R-6 Total-13

6.Vitantonio Liuzzi: Q-6 R-6 Total-12

7.Sebastien Bourdais: Q-7 R-5 Total-12

8.Scott Speed: Q-5 R-6 Total-11


These are rough estimations. What do you think?

All Toro Rosso drivers ranked by points scored (all converted to pre-2010 system for fair comparison):

1.Sebastian Vettel - 40pts
2.Sebastien Buemi - 9pts
3.Jean-Eric Vergne - 8pts
4.Jaime Alguersuari - 7pts
5.Sebastien Bourdais - 6pts
6.Daniel Ricciardo - 5pts
7.Vitantonio Liuzzi - 4pts
8.Scott Speed - 0pts

[zako85]

Buemi is a full time driver for Toyota's LMP1 program. That's probably not a bad job and the next best thing after F1. Last week, I was at the 6 hour WEC race in Austin at COTA, the first time Toyota LMP1 car raced in the United States. Buemi one of the drivers of the second place Toyota. It was quite a battle between the Toyota and the no2 Audi for the lead the whole race. Toyota lost, but next year it will be a more level competition because of new LMP1 engine regulations. That's probably more exciting than driving an STR car with the hope of scoring one point. In WEC, Buemi hopefully will have a fair shot at winning 24 hours of Le Mans, overall. Heidfeld was also in Austin driving in a much slower Rebellion LMP1 car (customer Lola chassis and Toyota engine). I beats me why he isn't in a faster car. Kobayashi was also there driving a Ferrari 458 GT2. It will be interesting to watch Webber in Porsche and Buemi in Toyota trying to unseat the Audi juggernaut next year.

[jens]

All Toro Rosso drivers ranked by points scored (all converted to pre-2010 system for fair comparison):

1.Sebastian Vettel - 40pts
2.Sebastien Buemi - 9pts
3.Jean-Eric Vergne - 8pts
4.Jaime Alguersuari - 7pts
5.Sebastien Bourdais - 6pts
6.Daniel Ricciardo - 5pts
7.Vitantonio Liuzzi - 4pts
8.Scott Speed - 0pts

Interesting. I have to say though that I remember Bourdais losing a chunk of points in 2008. Stalling on the grid at Monza, ludicrous post-race penalty in Japan, P4 in Australia. So without these he would still be second highest-scoring STR driver, indicating the strong level of their 2008 machinery. Though the 2011 and 2013 cars haven't been shabby either.

Buemi is second, perhaps indicating that he drove for longer than others (3 full seasons).

[dgrblue]

Here is why (NOT literally, just like the photo) he is not a racer. I could imagine the team saying, how come youbdid not go faster, after losing the front wheels under braking.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsp ... 624282.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8624282.stm)