« Buemi: Toro Rosso made the right choice » according to Helmut Marko

We remember the long decision by the Toro Rosso team regarding its drivers. The team tested four drivers during winter testing and had to choose notably between the Frenchman Bourdais, the Swiss Buemi, and the Japanese Sato. The final decision came very late; but Marko Helmut, the advisor of the Red Bull Motorsport subsidiary, says he does not regret this choice. The Australian specifically mentions Sébastien Buemi.

It was Helmut Marko who fought with the Red Bull leadership to bring the young Swiss driver, still in GP2, into the team. The risk was significant given his age, but Marko was praised for his choice by the management. Buemi indeed secured a very impressive 7th place in his first F1 Grand Prix in Australia, enough to give great hope: « I must say he wasn’t bad at all! » Marko commented to the British magazine Autosport. « He [Buemi] made great efforts to keep Rosberg in his mirrors. I am really happy about it because he is a young driver from our program and full of promise. »

« I had to fight very hard to put him in this tub but now, all the experts know that I made the right choice. »

Sébastien Buemi was confirmed one month before Sébastien Bourdais; the Frenchman still threatened by Takuma Sato, for financial reasons.

Sébastien Buemi, for his part, did not doubt his abilities for a second. He even considers himself better than Vettel: « Many wondered if I was capable of taking the same path as Sebastian Vettel, those people don’t understand anything about motor racing. »

« If you look at when we were in GP2, I was in front of him most of the time. Now that I’m in F1, we know the capabilities of Toro Rosso and now, we also know my skills to have good races. »