Zoom Buemi on the right track

Sebastien Buemi could make his Formula One race debut with Toro Rosso within the last four races of the 2008 season, a member of his management team has said.

Bahrain-based Humbert Buemi, the uncle of the 19-year-old Swiss driver who also lives in Bahrain, told the country's local newspaper Gulf Daily News that Buemi might benefit from a reshuffle among Red Bull's two F1 teams.

Although denied by the Scottish veteran, it has been rumoured for some time that David Coulthard could be asked to retire before the end of the season, thus allowing Sebastian Vettel to take up his 2009 seat early.

This would create a vacancy at the junior team Toro Rosso, who this week is giving Buemi and Takuma Sato an evaluation test at the Jerez circuit.

"The possibility of Sebastien being in F1 this year is very real, but it depends on a lot of factors that are out of our control," said Humbert Buemi, who is the brother of Buemi's father Antoine.

It is believed that Dietrich Mateschitz, who is an owner of both the Red Bull and Toro Rosso teams, told Coulthard at Monza last weekend that he is not expecting the reshuffle to happen.

Humbert acknowledges this but insists that it is still a "possibility."

Buemi raced in the feeder series GP2 this year, and is also a F1 test driver for Red Bull Racing.

His uncle, who said Toro Rosso is likely to announce its 2009 driver lineup in the second half of October, added: "I am convinced that Sebastien can do well in Jerez, and hopefully race in F1 soon."

© CAPSIS International
Source: GMM