Buemi staying realistic for debut season

The 20-year-old Swiss will make his grand prix debut in Australia in March after being confirmed as one of the racing drivers of the Faenza-based squad.

Although the man he replaces, Sebastian Vettel, won a race last year with Toro Rosso, Buemi admits he is expecting a though first year.

"You have to be realistic," Buemi told the Toro Rosso website. "You have to have self-confidence and put yourself in the best possible situation. But you have to keep your feet on the ground and not get depressed if the results don't come immediately.

"It will be a tough season and everyone in the team will be working hard to make progress with the car in a discipline that represents the highest form of motor sport. In the lower formulae, if you did a good job, then the results would follow, but in F1, that is not automatically the case.

"Winning in F1 is very difficult and that is part of the game. But you cannot just settle for aiming for a twelfth place; that would be absurd. You have to set yourself a very high standard, but without exaggerating. I won't be world champion in my first year!"

The Swiss said he had no preferences over his teammate, with Toro Rosso yet to confirm who will partner him in 2009.

"For me, the important thing is to be in F1 and I don't mind who will be my teammate," Buemi said.

"Of course, I will want to beat him and to be as competitive as possible. Maybe if he has a lot of experience, I will be able to learn and progress more quickly from watching him."

Buemi admitted, however, that his first goal will be to beat whoever the team chose for the second seat.

"Before we see where everyone is in the Australian Grand Prix, it is hard to set targets, as there might be some early season surprises. The team will be aiming to do at least as well as in 2008, but that will be tough. For me personally, I would at least want to be quicker than my teammate."