Formula 1

Penalised Buemi Continues Toro Rosso’s Points Run

1 Mins read

Sebastien Buemi lost out in Valencia, losing places in the final laps – then being one of the drivers handed a five second penalty after a post race stewards meeting, dropping him to ninth place behind Fernando Alonso, despite beating the Spaniard on track.

“This was not a very good race as I could have finished sixth,” said Buemi. “But I made two mistakes, which have cost us four points.”

From eleventh on the grid smart strategy and good driving saw the Swiss and his Toro Rosso in sixth after the race's safety car period – ahead of Adrian Sutil and Fernando Alonso.

Sutil got past as Buemi out-braked himself, the Force India galloping away though Alonso was unable, again and again, to make a pass on Buemi, despite having several opportunities in and around the Valencia circuits final corner.

The driver who was able to pass was Kamui Kobayashi, taking seventh place on the final corner of the final lap on fresher tyres.

“I knew Kobayashi was closing very quickly on new tyres, and on the penultimate lap I was blocking my front tyres a lot,” Buemi conceded. “But at the final corner, I did not think he could brake that late and so I am unhappy that I made the mistake and let him pass.”

For all Buemi's disappointment he still secured two points, while his teammate Jaime Alguersuari continued his Valencia struggles.

“To be honest,” he said. “I am not really disappointed, because at least the team got points again with Sebastien, so congratulations to him. This weekend I never had a hundred percent control of the car, never having quite the right feeling with the brakes and that was my main issue.”

“The situation improved slightly during the race, but I never felt the car was mine to do as I wanted. I have to tell myself that better times will come, just like I had earlier in the season. There are still a lot of races to go and once I get back the feeling for the car and its handling, I am sure I can score points again.”

Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

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James is our Diet-Coke fuelled writer and has been with TCF pretty much since day 1, he can be found frequenting twitter at @_JBroomhead
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