Sebastien Buemi has revealed surprise and disappointment with Toro Rosso’s reaction, after the Italian team performed a clean sweep of its driver lineup for 2012.
The Swiss and his teammate Jaime Alguersuari were given their marching orders just before Christmas, leaving the aforementioned Spaniard without a role this season.

Buemi has at least kept his F1 career alive with the Red Bull reserve role, but the 23-year-old has expressed disappointment with comments made recently by his former team boss Franz Tost.

“Of course I would prefer to race for myself,” he told the Blick newspaper, “but maybe this new role is the opportunity of my life.”

At the same time, he takes issue with Austrian Tost, who is appointed to head Red Bull’s rookie team Toro Rosso.

He said recently: “We are talking about a double world championship-winning team (Red Bull), which means that drivers who get elevated there must have the ability to win races and championships.

“And it was from that perspective that second thoughts set in when it came to Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari,” said Tost.

Buemi responded: “After we were put out, Alguersuari and I said not a single bad word about Toro Rosso, we were always loyal.

“So I am amazed that from the boss there comes suddenly such negative comments.”

Jean-Eric Vergne has predicted a good season ahead for Toro Rosso.
Along with Daniel Ricciardo, French rookie Vergne makes up the Red Bull junior team’s new driver lineup, following the ousting at the end of last season of Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi.

Perhaps because their prize could be Mark Webber’s seat at the senior team in 2013, Ricciardo and Vergne set almost identical laptimes last week at Jerez as the new STR7 was tested for the first time.

And according to 21-year-old Vergne, the Ferrari powered car showed promising form overall.

“We hope to be one of the strongest teams in the middle of the classification,” he is quoted by the Italian website Tuttosport.

At the same time, Vergne is not getting carried away ahead of eight pre-season test days in Barcelona, starting next week.

“Barcelona could be different as Jerez was rather cold and the surface is very abrasive. I don’t think there’s much difference between the teams.”

Vergne is quoted by France’s L’Equipe: “What Jerez showed us I think is that we have a good basis.”

Red Bull reserve Sebastien Buemi has added Le Mans to his 2012 calendar, it was confirmed officially on Friday.

It was expected the former Toro Rosso driver, who has been signed as Red Bull’s full time reserve for this season, would also join Toyota’s new Le Mans sports car project.

Also to drive the Japanese giant’s new hybrid will be former F1 driver Anthony Davidson, Toyota said.

“This is an exciting driver lineup for our additional car,” said team president Yoshiaki Kinoshita.

Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta are refusing to believe they will definitely front Force India’s race driver lineup in 2012.
It is now expected that the team’s long-time regular Adrian Sutil may have to seek alternate employment, with Friday driver Hulkenberg set to step up to the race seat alongside rookie Scot di Resta.

“There are quite a few rumours going on. At the moment, that is what they are,” admitted Hulkenberg in Delhi this week.

“A decision has not yet been taken,” said the 24-year-old, referring to his boss Vijay Mallya’s scheduled announcement in mid December. “I’m waiting for that day.

“Hopefully, the association (with Force India) will be a good one and I look to a good future with them.”

Even di Resta, Sutil’s current race teammate, is not feeling comfortable.

“It (the December announcement) does play on your mind, I won’t deny it,” he told the Guardian. “You have got to keep showing the results, maybe show them even a bit more.”

Adrian Sutil on Monday warned he might walk away from Force India before the team has decided its 2012 driver lineup.
Reports in recent days have suggested team boss Vijay Mallya has already settled on pairing Paul di Resta alongside Nico Hulkenberg next season.

That would leave the experienced German Sutil out in the cold, but the 28-year-old has been spotted recently at Williams’ Grove headquarters.

Mallya has said Force India’s 2012 drivers will not be announced until very late this year.

“I can’t wait until December,” Indian media reports quote Sutil as saying.

“I will speak to him soon and see what his ideas are. I don’t need to wait so long for a seat.

“I think I know what I can do, so I don’t feel insecure,” he added.

Jean-Eric Vergne is confident of securing his formula one debut with Toro Rosso in 2012.
The 21-year-old Frenchman made his debut as the junior Red Bull team’s new Friday driver in Korea.

Toro Rosso, currently fielding Sebastien Buemi alongside Jaime Alguersuari, is yet to decide its race driver lineup for next season.

“I see myself in one of the cars next year,” the L’Equipe sports daily quotes Vergne as saying. “Then it will be good whoever is next to me.

“I definitely hope to be in the car next year, not just the Friday driving. I still have to do the job properly now, be fast, and Red Bull will do what it takes for me to be in F1.”

As well as practicing in Abu Dhabi and Brazil, Vergne will also do the young driver tests with Toro Rosso in Abu Dhabi next month.

Franz Tost has confirmed reports that French youngster Jean-Eric Vergne is set to rev up his formula one career with Toro Rosso.

It emerged earlier this weekend that the 21-year-old is set to drive the STR6 on Friday mornings once the Renault World Series wraps up in October.

Alongside Daniel Ricciardo, Vergne is the new cream of Red Bull’s driver development programme, putting pressure on the current Toro Rosso lineup comprising Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi.

The second Red Bull team’s boss Tost confirmed Vergne’s forthcoming Friday programme to autohebdo.fr.

“It’s a chance for him to come on board to develop his experience of F1, to know our team, to work with the press, gain knowledge of the technical aspects — everything he needs to know about being a formula one driver,” said the Austrian.

Red Bull will not decide Toro Rosso’s 2012 driver lineup until after the current season.

“We will only decide who is driving with Toro Rosso next year after this season,” confirmed consultant Dr Helmut Marko to the Swiss newspaper Blick.

Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean on Saturday moved another step towards his return to formula one by sealing the GP2 title at Spa-Francorchamps.

“Now that we are champions, I will have a look at what is going on upstairs (F1), but at the moment, my main concern is to find a good contract for 2012 and nothing else,” he said.

Franz Tost has admitted team owner Red Bull will decide Toro Rosso’s 2012 driver lineup.
A mid-season driver change had been expected for the energy drink’s secondary team this year, but Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi duly upped their game and have kept their places for now.

Red Bull’s rising star Daniel Ricciardo therefore made his debut last weekend for the struggling Spanish team HRT, but a full-time place at Toro Rosso is regarded as likely for the 22-year-old Australian next season.

“He can’t drive for Toro Rosso (in 2011) because we have two race drivers who are doing a good job,” confirmed team boss Tost to redbull.com.

“What our driver pairing will be in 2012, I don’t know yet. This will be decided by Red Bull at the end of the season.”

Force India is among at least three teams set to travel to the Jerez test later this month without a 2011-spec car.

It was already believed that HRT and Virgin will not be ready with their new single seaters when the pre-season test period kicks off at Valencia on 1 February.

And Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer announced on Thursday: “The team will participate in all four pre-season tests and we will use the (2010) VJM03 for the first test in Valencia before the VJM04 makes its test debut in Jerez the following week.”

Most other teams will begin the four-test period prior to the season opener in March with their new cars.

“Starting a test later with the new car gives us a couple of weeks more wind tunnel time when we are at our most productive to get the parts released for the new car,” Szafnauer told Reuters.

A Force India spokeswoman this week refused to say when the team planned to announce its 2011 driver lineup, amid reports Nico Hulkenberg will drive on Fridays alongside racers Adrian Sutil and rookie Paul di Resta.

Narain Karthikeyan has emerged as a contender to race with the Force India team in 2011.

Before Karun Chandhok made his debut in 2010, 33-year-old Karthikeyan was India’s first grand prix driver, contesting the full 2005 season with Jordan.

The Silverstone based team has since been re-branded as Midland, Spyker and is now Force India, headed by the Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya.

Force India’s current driver lineup is reportedly not secure for 2011, with Adrian Sutil eyeing a move to a bigger team, Vitantonio Liuzzi struggling to keep up with his German teammate, and reserve driver Paul di Resta thought likely to move into a race cockpit.

And the latest rumours from Italy, including a report in Autosprint magazine, is that Karthikeyan is a possibility for 2011.

It is suggested his sponsors have up to $8 million in total to spend on the seat, including Mumbai-based Tata Motors who are thought keen to associate with next year’s inaugural Indian grand prix.

On his visit this week to the Delhi site of next year’s race, Bernie Ecclestone said he hoped there would be an Indian driver on the grid.

“If an Indian driver is in Vijay’s team or a good team it will be superb,” he said.

Despite earlier expressing some reservations, Jaime Alguersuari is now sure he will be at the wheel of a Toro Rosso in 2011.

When boss Franz Tost initially said the Faenza based team’s current drivers would both be retained next year, both Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi seemed unconvinced that owner Red Bull was also fully in agreement with the news.

Then in Japan less than two weeks ago, Austrian Tost repeated his announcement that Toro Rosso’s driver lineup is not changing for 2011.

“I have great respect for Sebastien Buemi,” Alguersuari, 20, is quoted as saying by the Spanish news agency EFE.

“And the official and final confirmation of our continuing contracts in 2011, confirmed in Japan both for Buemi and myself, will make us stronger,” added the Spaniard.

Alguersuari insists he has developed at a great rate since debuting in Hungary last year with no experience at the wheel of a F1 car.

He said he has gone “from being the biggest rookie in history to feeling at 20 years old almost like a veteran”.

“I feel very happy with Toro Rosso, which is like a big family, and I’m very proud of myself,” added Alguersuari.

He also said Toro Rosso’s 2010 car is the “only one” among the existing teams not yet using an F-duct in races; a development he expects will add “half a second” to the STR5′s pace when it is finally ready.

Williams’ decision about whether to retain Nico Hulkenberg for next season is not imminent.

While Rubens Barrichello is believed to have agreed terms for a second season with the British team, German rookie Hulkenberg’s future is less secure.

It is rumoured Williams is looking into replacing him for 2011 with Pastor Maldonado, Hulkenberg’s new successor as GP2 champion and substantially backed within Venezuela.

Barrichello admitted last month that the team was “analysing the Nico Hulkenberg situation” before scheduling an announcement about 2011.

Asked if Hulkenberg is still in favour at the Grove based team, chief executive Adam Parr answered: “Absolutely.”

But asked for details about the delayed confirmation of the team’s next lineup, he answered: “I cannot go into that,” adding that he doesn’t know when an announcement will be made.

Asked if the ‘cards are in the air’ regarding Williams’ driver lineup at present, he admitted: “I am afraid they are at the moment.”

Toro Rosso on Thursday announced it will keep the same driver lineup in 2011.

2010 is Swiss 21-year-old Sebastien Buemi’s second full season in formula one, while Spaniard Jaime Alguersuari made his debut with the Faenza based team last July.

“I believe our drivers will be well prepared for 2011, which is why they are both confirmed for next year,” team boss Franz Tost said.

“It is also logical, because one key role of Scuderia Toro Rosso is to bring on young drivers from the Red Bull young driver programme and at the ages of 21 and 20 respectively, both Seb and Jaime certainly still meet the right criteria,” he added.