Sébastien Buemi

Sébastien Buemi Buemi at the 2016 Paris ePrix Nationality Swiss Born (1988-10-31) 31 October 1988 Aigle, Switzerland Related to Natacha Gachnang (cousin) FIA World Endurance Championship career Debut season 2012 Current team Toyota Racing Car no. 1 Starts 38 Championships 1 Wins 7 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 31 Championships 1 Wins 12 Poles 8 Fastest laps 7 Best finish 1st in 2015–16 Formula One World Championship career Active years 2009–2011 Teams Toro Rosso Entries 55 (55 starts) 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 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 teammate 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 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

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 teammate 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

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 teammate 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

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 teammate Anthony Davidson.^[2]

Formula E (2014–present)

Buemi raced in the inaugural Formula E season for e.dams alongside Frenchman Nicolas Prost. 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 did not 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 Putrajaya, 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 the first London race, 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

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. One more win followed later in the season around the streets of Berlin, setting up a nail bitting finale in London. With Buemi needing to finish ahead of rival Lucas Di Grassi to win the championship in the second race of the weekend, he was hit off by no other than Di Grassi himself at the first corner. Therefore, the title was to be headed to whoever could get the fastest lap bonus points in their second car. Despite the immense pressure, Buemi cruised to the fastest lap to become Formula E champion 2015-16.

2016-17

Season three started exceptionally well for Buemi as he won the first three rounds of the championship, becoming the first Formula E driver to achieve the feat of three consecutive wins. Buemi would go on to take three more wins at Monaco,^[11] Paris,^[12] and Berlin^[13] before the final 4 races in New York City and Montreal, both double headers. Buemi skipped the New York event due to his WEC commitments with Toyota and participated in the 6 Hours of Nürburgring instead, with Red Bull F1 test and reserve driver Pierre Gasly taking his place.^[14]

Personal life

As of 2009 Buemi was officially resident in Bahrain, living with his family and his girlfriend Jennifer.^[15] 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.^[16] Other countries in Europe had heats mentored by Vitantonio Liuzzi.^[17]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2004	Formula BMW ADAC	Lars Kaufmann Motorsport	20	0	2	2	10	188	3rd
2005	Formula BMW ADAC	ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.	20	7	7	12	16	282	2nd
	Formula BMW World Final		1	0	0	0	1	N/A	2nd
	Spanish Formula Three	Racing Engineering	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2006	Formula 3 Euro Series	ASL Mücke Motorsport	20	1	0	6	3	31	12th
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	1	N/A	3rd
	Formula Renault 2.0 NEC	Motopark Academy	8	2	1	1	6	172	7th
	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0		6	1	0	0	1	33	11th
	Macau Grand Prix	Carlin Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	4th
2006–07	A1 Grand Prix	A1 Team Switzerland	12	0	0	1	0	50	8th
2007	Formula 3 Euro Series	ASL Mücke Motorsport	20	3	2	4	13	95	2nd
	GP2 Series	ART Grand Prix	11	0	0	3	0	6	21st
	Macau Grand Prix	Räikkönen Robertson Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	11th
2008	GP2 Asia Series	Trust Team Arden	10	1	0	1	5	37	2nd
	GP2 Series		19	2	0	0	5	50	6th
	Formula One	Red Bull Racing	Test driver
2009	Formula One	Scuderia Toro Rosso	17	0	0	0	0	6	16th
2010	Formula One	Scuderia Toro Rosso	19	0	0	0	0	8	16th
2011	Formula One	Scuderia Toro Rosso	19	0	0	0	0	15	15th
2012	Formula One	Red Bull Racing	Test driver
	World Endurance Championship	Toyota Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2013	Formula One	Infiniti Red Bull Racing	Test driver
	World Endurance Championship	Toyota Racing	8	1	0	0	4	106.25	3rd
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	2nd
2014	Formula One	Infiniti Red Bull Racing	Test driver
	World Endurance Championship	Toyota Racing	8	4	2	0	7	166	1st
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	3rd
2014–15	Formula E	e.dams Renault	11	3	3	1	5	143	2nd
2015	Formula One	Infiniti Red Bull Racing	Test driver
	World Endurance Championship	Toyota Racing	8	0	0	0	1	79	5th
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	8th
2015–16	Formula E	Renault e.dams	10	3	3	5	6	155	1st
2016	World Endurance Championship	Toyota Gazoo Racing	9	0	0	0	1	60	8th
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
2016–17	Formula E	Renault e.dams	10	6	2	1	6	157	2nd
2017	World Endurance Championship	Toyota Gazoo Racing	4	2	0	0	2	78	2nd*
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	8th
	WeatherTech SportsCar Championship	Rebellion Racing	2	0	0	0	0	45	20th*
	24 Hours of Daytona		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	31st

^* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Points
2006	ASL Mücke Motorsport	Dallara F305/011	Mercedes	HOC 1 19	HOC 2 14	LAU 1 Ret	LAU 2 12	OSC 1 7	OSC 2 1	BRH 1 21	BRH 2 16	NOR 1 7	NOR 2 11	NÜR 1 4	NÜR 2 8	ZAN 1 Ret	ZAN 2 8	CAT 1 7	CAT 2 5	BUG 1 DSQ	BUG 2 11	HOC 1 2	HOC 2 3	12th	31
2007	ASL Mücke Motorsport	Dallara F305/011	Mercedes	HOC 1 1	HOC 2 3	BRH 1 7	BRH 2 2	NOR 1 2	NOR 2 2	MAG 1 3	MAG 2 19	MUG 1 3	MUG 2 5	ZAN 1 3	ZAN 2 2	NÜR 1 2	NÜR 2 3	CAT 1 Ret	CAT 2 6	NOG 1 4	NOG 2 1	HOC 1 5	HOC 2 1	2nd	95

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(key)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	DC	Points
2006–07	Switzerland	NED SPR 10	NED FEA 8	CZE SPR 8	CZE FEA 10	BEI SPR	BEI FEA	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	IDN SPR	IDN FEA	NZL SPR 5	NZL FEA 4	AUS SPR 4	AUS FEA 7	RSA SPR	RSA FEA	MEX SPR	MEX FEA	SHA SPR 4	SHA FEA 9	GBR SPR Ret	GBR SPR DSQ	8th	50

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	DC	Points
2007	ART Grand Prix	BHR FEA	BHR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA 7	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	NÜR FEA Ret	NÜR SPR 20	HUN FEA 15	HUN SPR 17	IST FEA Ret	IST SPR 13	MNZ FEA 7	MNZ SPR 14	SPA FEA 10	SPA SPR Ret	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	21st	6
2008	Trust Team Arden	CAT FEA 7	CAT SPR 2	IST FEA 6	IST SPR 3	MON FEA Ret	MON SPR 11	MAG FEA Ret	MAG SPR 1	SIL FEA 4	SIL SPR DNS	HOC FEA Ret	HOC SPR 8	HUN FEA 7	HUN SPR 1	VAL FEA 6	VAL SPR Ret	SPA FEA 5	SPA SPR 4	MNZ FEA 3	MNZ SPR 7		6th	50

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
2008	Trust Team Arden	DUB1 FEA DSQ	DUB1 SPR Ret	SEN FEA 1	SEN SPR 7	SEP FEA Ret	SEP SPR Ret	BHR FEA 2	BHR SPR 2	DUB2 FEA 2	DUB2 SPR 2	2nd	37

Complete Formula One results

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

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
2009	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR4	Ferrari 056 2.4 V8	AUS 7	MAL 16†	CHN 8	BHR 17	ESP Ret	MON Ret	TUR 15	GBR 18	GER 16	HUN 16	EUR Ret	BEL 12	ITA 13†	SIN Ret	JPN Ret	BRA 7	ABU 8			16th	6
2010	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR5	Ferrari 056 2.4 V8	BHR 16†	AUS Ret	MAL 11	CHN Ret	ESP Ret	MON 10	TUR 16	CAN 8	EUR 9	GBR 12	GER Ret	HUN 12	BEL 12	ITA 11	SIN 14	JPN 10	KOR Ret	BRA 13	ABU 15	16th	8
2011	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR6	Ferrari 056 2.4 V8	AUS 8	MAL 13	CHN 14	TUR 9	ESP 14	MON 10	CAN 10	EUR 13	GBR Ret	GER 15	HUN 8	BEL Ret	ITA 10	SIN 12	JPN Ret	KOR 9	IND Ret	ABU Ret	BRA 12	15th	15

^† Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

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
2017	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Anthony Davidson Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	358	8th	2nd

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Rank	Points
2012	Toyota Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	Toyota 3.4 L V8 (Hybrid)	SEB	SPA	LMS Ret	SIL	SÃO	BHR	FUJ	SHA		NC	0
2013	Toyota Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	Toyota 3.4 L V8 (Hybrid)	SIL 3	SPA 4	LMS 2	SÃO Ret	COA 2	FUJ 15	SHA Ret	BHR 1		3rd	106.25
2014	Toyota Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	Toyota 3.7 L V8 (Hybrid)	SIL 1	SPA 1	LMS 3	COA 3	FUJ 1	SHA 1	BHR 10	SÃO 2		1st	166
2015	Toyota Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	Toyota 3.7 L V8 (Hybrid)	SIL 3	SPA 8	LMS 8	NÜR 5	COA 4	FUJ 5	SHA 6	BHR 4		5th	79
2016	Toyota Gazoo Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	Toyota 2.4 L Turbo V6 (Hybrid)	SIL 16	SPA 27	LMS NC	NÜR 5	MEX Ret	COA 5	FUJ 4	SHA 3	BHR 4	8th	60
2017	Toyota Gazoo Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	Toyota 2.4 L Turbo V6 (Hybrid)	SIL 1	SPA 1	LMS 6	NÜR 4	MEX	COA	FUJ	SHA	BHR	2nd*	78*

^* Season still in progress.

IMSA SportsCar Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Rank	Points
2017	Rebellion Racing	P	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	DAY 8	SEB 9	LBH	COA	DET	WGL	MOS	ELK	LGA	PET	20th*	45*

^* Season still in progress

Complete Formula E results

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

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Points
2014–15	e.dams Renault	Spark-Renault SRT 01E	BEI Ret	PUT 3	PDE 1	BNA Ret	MIA 13	LBH 4	MON 1	BER 2	MOS 9	LON 1	LON 5		2nd	143
2015–16	Renault e.dams	Spark-Renault Z.E 15	BEI 1	PUT 12	PDE 1	BNA 2	MEX 2	LBH 16	PAR 3	BER 1	LON 5	LON Ret			1st	155
2016–17	Renault e.dams	Spark-Renault Z.E 16	HKG 1	MAR 1	BNA 1	MEX 14	MON 1	PAR 1	BER DSQ	BER 1	NYC	NYC	MTR DSQ	MTR 11	2nd	157

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sébastien Buemi.

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

Sporting positions
Preceded by Tom Kristensen Allan McNish Loïc Duval	FIA World Endurance Champion 2014 with: Anthony Davidson	Succeeded by Timo Bernhard Brendon Hartley Mark Webber
Preceded by Nelson Piquet Jr.	Formula E Champion 2015-16	Succeeded by Lucas di Grassi