Renault’s team boss Eric Bouiller has confirmed that Toro Rosso’s Sébastien Buemi has a ‘special place’ on their list of potential drivers for the 2011 season.
“Sébastien is on our list of potential drivers for 2011,” Boullier confirmed, speaking to Swiss daily newspaper Le Matin. “He even has a special place on it, because I know him well and like him very much on a personal level.”
Renault are in tough competition for the Swiss driver though, as Toro Rosso’s sister team Red Bull are looking at him as a serious future prospect.
“His Montreal race was perfect, exactly the kind of performance we expect from him,” revealed the energy drinks company’s motorsport advisor Dr. Helmut Marko, who no doubt can’t wait to get rid of Mark Webber. “If it continues, we might consider placing him in the Red Bull team in 2012,” Marko added.
With Robert Kubica signing a deal to stay at Renault until 2012, it seems that their other driver Vitaly Petrov really needs to shape up if he wants to stay at the Enstone-based team. Surprisingly Petrov has only finished inside the points once this season when he finished 7th at the Chinese Grand Prix. Bouiller said: “We now expect [Vitaly Petrov] to have some strong weekends and to have good pace and get in the points.”
Sébastien Buemi has had a reasonable season so far, having finished in the points thrice, including leading the Canadian Grand Prix at one stage in the race, something which had me as a Buemi fan rather excited!
He has the talent to score consistent points unlike Vitaly Petrov, and this could allow Renault to focus on Robert Kubica in the driver’s championship bid. I feel this combined partnership could work very well and stand Renault in good stead for a constructor’s title charge at the same time.
What are your thoughts on Buemi’s chances and Petrov’s seat? Leave a comment!
Can’t see Buemi driving for a team without a bull on the side of it, in the short term at least. Besides, I think it’d do his career more good to stay at Toro Rosso for the time being- he’d get found out fast if he went head to head against Kubica
It’s good for Buemi that another team is showing interest but he’s best of sticking with STR. If (and it is very slight) Vet or Web leave RBR he’s bound to get offered the drive unless a top driver becomes available. It’s the quickest car on the grid so he should have that as his long term goal.
I don’t know what to make of Buemi, probably consistent rather than stellar. He was very good against his more experienced teammate last year and that was with a bad car. However, Bourdais needed a good car under him and was clearly under massive pressure and Jaime’s a nobody like all the rookies who have suffered greatly from lack of testing. At first glance, going up against Kubica would be like taking a number 2 role esp if Renault are building the team around which would be pointless if he has any ambition. I would like it if he went there and was surprisingly, very quick. We haven’t seen that much of Buemi so maybe he does have some good potential.
I think it’s great, but his only problem is the unlikely chance Kimi decides to return and go with Renault. Kimi – Kubica would be a great lineup! but i’d love to see buemi go to renault so we can see his pace in a fast car, however, it may not be the best option, what if he’s slow and alguesuari even slower?
If Petrov wants to keep his seat then he needs to bring result to the team. Getting Buemi as Red Bull will definitely want him to be replaced by Webber when he will leave in 2011. One thing they can do is to allow Buemi to race for Renault for 2011 only & bring him back to the team in 2012.
Renault if they ditch Petrov and bring in Buemi won’t be bringing in a driver that would challenge Robert and would be a mistake and in my opinion if he was in this years car he wouldn’t be doing massively better than Vitaly,Buemi has yet to win me over,he has yet to really impress me,only really good drive from him was Brazil last year so I think either they tempt Kimi back or go with Sutil who has stepped on his game this year with consistent points finishes
I do want to debate one line with you Jack!
“He has the talent to score consistent points unlike Vitaly Petrov”
I wouldn’t say Petrov’s lacking in talent. Look at all the newbies/returnees, they’re all suffering. Petrov’s just a product of the lack of testing. Given the circumstances, he’s doing an alright job.
It seems to me that Red Bull in all their entities have an abundance of youth. As an Australian, we get occasional news of Australian drivers rammed down our throats, so F1 news has obviously become much more frequent since Webber began stepping onto the podium more frequently last year.
The reason I bring this up is because on top of Buemi being a strong future candidate, RBR also employ Daniel Ricciardo as a test driver, and some (less than trustworthy) sources suggest his rear end will be in an F1 seat for season ’11. Where, I don’t know, but could Buemi move to RBR, and Ricciardo to STR?
As for Petrov, I’m sure the guy has talent. You don’t get to F1 without it. But talent or not, he’s been unimpressive. Kubica might be a good driver, but at the end of the day his car is good enough to score consistent points. Petrov can’t seem to post anywhere near the same performance, and frankly that’s not good enough if Renault want to have a serious crack at the title.
If the car itself is deserving of consistent points, and one of the drivers isn’t offering that, that driver needs to find another job.
“sources suggest his rear end will be in an F1 seat for season ’11. Where, I don’t know, but could Buemi move to RBR, and Ricciardo to STR?”
I expect this to happen. Webber apaprently may retire at the end of 2011. I’m not sure if he will now he’s winning consistently but if it does I expect the rest to fall into place.
As for Petrov, he was impressive in changeable conditions in China. Turkey it went wrong through no fault of his own. He has made mistakes but I maintain that without testing he’s doing fairly well, about the same as Hulk or maybe a little bit less.
I think the Renault is the best car for a rookie to start out in but he’s got the worst possible teammate as Kubica constantly makes him look bad. Compare that to Kobayashi and Dlr (who has been out for ages and isn’t a spring chicken nor a Kubica) and Kamui is getting tonnes of praise. Hulk has been slated too yet has shown occassional glimpses of good speed. Jaime was a nobody last year and only now seems to be finding his feet yet his qualifying pace is way off at times. I genuinely think this testing ban is hurting what’s meant to be the future of F1. If only they allowed testing for young drivers in old cars and different tyres and banned testing for development.
Good news that both Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari will stay in the team for 2011 as I think when Webber will leave Red Bull at the end of 2011 then someone from here will be replaces by him.
It would be great if Buemi joined Renault for 2011! Two of my favorite drivers on the grid at the same team? Awsome! Petrov may not really “lack” performance (as his drive at hungary proved) but he is definetly not using up the full capabilities of the car.