Sébastien Buemi
#16
Sébastien’s racing career started at the age of eight – three years after he received his first kart, as a Christmas present, in 1993. After something of a tough first year, he won the Swiss Minis at the age of nine and never really looked back. From 1998 to 2002, he won four Swiss karting titles: Mini, Mini90 and SuperMini.
At the end of 2003, Sébastien took part in the “BMW scholarship” which he won. The fund meant he could compete in the 2004 Formula BMW championship, finishing third behind a young Sebastian Vettel. Picked up by Red Bull, Buemi signed a five-year contract with the Austrian company, the start of a long and fruitful working relationship.
It was in July 2007 that Sébastien drove a Formula 1 car on a racetrack for the very first time, when he got behind the wheel of the Red Bull at the Jerez circuit in Spain.
During 2008, Sébastien attended all the Grands Prix as reserve driver for the Red Bull team. At the same time, in the months of May, July, September, November and December, he drove several tests with the Toro Rosso team, which helped him get used to the complex task of driving a Formula 1 car. Finally, it led to Red Bull giving him a race drive with Toro Rosso for 2009.
The first Grand Prix of Sébastien’s career went off like a dream. He finished his debut Grand Prix in Melbourne in the points in 7th.
Having raced three full seasons for Toro Rosso, Sébastien was subsequently taken on by Red Bull as the team’s third driver. His main role was to work on the development of the car in the team’s hyper-sophisticated simulator, while also being on hand at every race to stand in for one of the two drivers in a Grand Prix if the need arose.
In 2013, Sébastien took part in all rounds of the WEC (World Endurance Championship), in what would be the start of a productive new chapter in his career. He finished on the podium four times and won the final race in Bahrain.
The following season ended with four victories and seven podium finishes out of eight races, as Sébastien and his team-mate Anthony Davidson were crowned World Champions. To date, Seb owns a staggering four victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
For the first season of Formula E, Sébastien finished 2nd in the championship. Losing by just a solitary point to Nelson Piquet Jr, a year later it was the Swiss who was on the victorious side of a similarly tight fight as he edged out Lucas Di Grassi thanks to a fastest lap at the final race of the season.
The 2018 season saw Sébastien conclude the championship in second, and two seasons later he finished in 4th. A couple of difficult seasons followed, and the move was made to join Envision Racing for the GEN3 era.
In his debut season with the Green Machine, in Season 9, Seb helped the team clinch the Teams’ World Championship for the very first time – providing a timely podium at the season-ending London E-Prix.
Season 10 was less successful – Seb’s only podiums coming in Mexico and, with his kids supporting him, at London once more – but the legendary driver will return to the team for Season 11 more driven than ever.
Among the all-time leaders for race wins, pole positions and fastest laps, Buemi has plenty of landmarks to chase in the races ahead!
