Buemi leads and scores (STR race review)

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A mixed race for the Toro Rosso duo.

Buemi led for a lap and passed Michael Schumacher. But Alguersuari, who led his team mate at the start, clashed with Rubens Barrichello and finished out of the points.

Sebastien BuemiJaime Alguersuari
Qualifying position1516
Qualifying time comparison (Q2)1’16.928 (-0.101)1’17.029
Race position812
Average race lap1’22.296 (-0.119)1’22.415
Laps69/7069/70
Pit stops33

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Sebastien Buemi

Both Toro Rosso drivers were new to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Buemi edged Alguersuari in qualifying by a tenth of a second – the difference between 15th and 16th place.

Incredibly, there were three crashes on the first lap in Canada but none of them involved Buemi.

Having started on medium tyres Buemi stayed out until all the cars in front of him had pitted, taking the lead for a single lap – the first time for a Toro Rosso since Sebastien Bourdais at Fuji two years ago.

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton caught him but Buemi’s careful defence at L’Epingle kept Alonso at bay and allowed Hamilton to pass the Ferrari.

Buemi then pitted and resumed in eighth place – a significant net gain on his starting position. He took on super-soft tyres with 20 laps to go and showed considerable maturity in how he dealt with Michael Schumacher, passing the Mercedes at the Senna hairpin.

That put him back in eighth place for four points – a decent return for a fine drive.

Compare Sebastien Buemi’s form against his team mate in 2010

Jaime Alguersuari

Alguersuari got the better start and ran tenth in front of his team mate. But he pitted early to get rid of his super-soft tyres and clashed with Rubens Barrichello.

He made little mention of the (unseen) incident in his post-race comments, which is always rather telling. The stewards handed him a reprimand.

An unusual three-stop strategy left him 12th at the end of the race.

Compare Jaime Alguersuari’s form against his team mate in 2010

2010 Canadian Grand Prix

    Browse all 2010 Canadian Grand Prix articles

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    8 comments on “Buemi leads and scores (STR race review)”

    1. There is a mistake. Buemi scored 4 points for finishing 8th.

      1. Corrected. I’m still not used to this new points system!

    2. “Incredibly, there were three crashes on the first lap in Canada but none of them involved Buemi.”

      Have to admit, I lol’d at that one. Kudos to Buemi for giving STR a race to cheer about.

    3. Finally he got through the first lap unharmed here and with great result. Impressive drive from him, hope to see more.
      Looks like the STR team has a pretty good line up, there might be more to come from both of them in the next races/years.

      1. Yes, now lets hope they manage to get the car right next year – this year, I am not sure they are developing much more than HRT, but at least they have a solid base, and a good engine.

        Eh, interesting that they do not have the Sauber blow ups (nor the RBR ones), by the way. Maybe it is a matter of experience, having learned in previous seasons that the Ferrari needs a lot of cooling and encouragement while packaging it.

        1. Charles Carroll
          15th June 2010, 16:01

          Well said! I would like to see this team continue to improve, albeit slowly in their case. I think they’re more on track to catch Force India than Sauber and Williams.

    4. Good race for Buemi, but Alguersuari had already for the fifth time better first lap then him… I think the soft tyres limited Alguersuari in holding his position ahead of teammate… It wasn t a very clever decision from Toro Rosso to use that compound in early stages of the race… Still, Jaime paased the finish line just 8 seconds behind Sébastien… It looks like it was the right time for Buemi to score after words of Dr. Helmut Marko, who said Buemi must earn his drive in STR in next year…

    5. A great result for him, and it’s been a long time coming you have to say.

      He’s had a lot of bad luck. A couple of incidents that he had a role in, but mostly getting tangled up in others problems. So I’m very happy for him that he managed to have such a solid run – and even lead the Grand Prix at one stage, which I’m sure was a huge thrill.

      Pretty handy points for STR too. Up ahead of Williams now on equal points.

      Btw Keith, this site is phenomenally awesome. Love it!

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