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Thursday April 2, 2009

Swiss rookie Buemi fired up to push harder for more points

By ERIC SAMUEL

ROOKIE Sebastien Buemi wants to keep the momentum going in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The 20-year-old Swiss, who finished a creditable seventh for the Scuderia Toro Rosso in his F1 race debut at the Australian GP last week, will be aiming for a better result.

“Picking up two points in my debut was more than expected and I am going to push harder in Sepang,” said Buemi after a brief visit to the Audemars Piguet La Boutique at the Starhill Gallery in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

And he wasted no time to get going. He was at the Sepang circuit earlier for a mental and physical workout, jogging for 20 minutes on the track.

“I ran one lap and it helped me to get a closer and better picture of the curves and bends,” he said.

The Asia Officer of Audemars Piguet, Oliviero Bottinelli, said that they were delighted with the partnership with the promising Buemi in joining the exclusive ranks of F1 racing drivers.

“Switzerland has been eagerly waiting for an F1 driver for the past 14 years,” said Bottinelli, who was highly impressed with the young driver’s commitment to racing ever since he was crowned Swiss champion in the mini go-kart category at the age of nine.

Buemi moved up fast and went on to become European go-kart champion in 2002 and took to single-seater car racing the following year.

He drew the attention of Red Bull in the German Formula BMW series and the team signed him up on a five-year contract.

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