Sebastien Buemi is the only newcomer in the 2008 Formula 1 field, and the sole graduate from GP2 this season – even though he finished just sixth in the feeder championship.

But Buemi has the advantage of being a Red Bull protégé, having been supported by the energy drinks giant – and owner of two F1 teams – throughout his junior career.

Red Bull believes the 20-year-old Swiss driver is better than his GP2 statistics suggest and, having been testing for both Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso since 2007, he also has plenty of F1 mileage under his belt already.

He was the first driver to get the nod from STR after its winter shoot-out test alongside the more experienced Sebastien Bourdais and Takuma Sato, so the team is clearly confident of his potential.

Red Bull works hard to find its new F1 superstars, funding many young talents in junior racing.

Buemi will hope he can emulate his Toro Rosso predecessor Sebastian Vettel’s amazing early achievements.

But as the fate of former Red Bull juniors Christian Klien, Tonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed has shown, the Austrian company acts fast if its protégés don’t live up to expectations in F1.


The early years

Two years in German Formula BMW brought seven wins, nine poles and 26 podiums for Buemi – but no titles, as the championships went to Vettel and future Williams F1 tester Nico Hulkenberg.

A packed 2006 season followed as he stepped up to the Formula 3 Euro Series while also contesting a variety of Formula Renault races to broaden his experience and representing his nation in A1GP.

Buemi was a front-runner in all three categories, and a winner in FRenault and F3, setting himself up for a title challenge in the latter in 2007.

Things began well with a victory in the season-opener and a run of podiums that gave the Swiss driver the championship lead by early summer.

By that time his diary had become rather full again.

Invited to deputise for injured fellow Red Bull man Michael Ammermuller in the Monaco GP2 race, he qualified a stunning fourth on his circuit and series debut – and within a few weeks Ammermuller had been permanently dumped in favour of Buemi, who also got the German’s Red Bull F1 testing role into the bargain.

He didn’t let the car-hopping become too distracting, but still missed out on the Euro F3 title as rival Romain Grosjean raised his game and dominated the second half of the season.

Grosjean then moved into the ART GP2 car in place of Buemi, and proceeded to beat him to the GP2 Asia title as well.

Now with the Arden team, Buemi had a solid first full year in the main GP2 Series, coming from 21st on the grid to victory thanks to a wise tyre gamble at Magny-Cours and winning again in Hungary.

But much more important for his future were the consistently impressive F1 testing performances that convinced Red Bull to place him at Toro Rosso for 2009.