Q & A with Sebastien Buemi

Q. After having a relatively disappointing season last year, how confident are you that a step up can be made in 2011?

Sebastien Buemi: I wouldn't say it was a disappointing season. I think it could have been better, the team worked hard. We knew it was not going to be easy, especially with the new rules and the team had to build its car on its own, so we know it wasn't going to be a positive season.

Now I think we are a lot more confident the car looks good I think they worked really hard. Obviously we need to wait until we actually test it on the circuit to see what we can expect for this year but it is definitely looking more promising and we will see once testing starts.

Q. You are going into your third season with Toro Rosso, do you see this as a make or break season for yourself that unless you move up into a team that's higher up the championship that you've basically lost in Formula 1?

SB: I would say it is an important season like all of them. It is always important and we will try to do our best. Obviously I'm going to give everything to be able to have very good results and be as much as possible in the points, and then what next season is doing we don't know.

We need to concentrate on this one, it's a long season - 20 - races but we will see what we can do. The team is doing a very good job at the moment, we already plan some evolution coming. It's a lot more under control considering what we could do this winter and also in comparison to last year when it was a little bit more difficult because we didn't have the wind-tunnel and all the people working well together. So now we're a lot more experienced, we have more time, the winter has been good and we need to wait and see what the car can do.

Q. What areas do you think the team needs to improve this season?

SB: Obviously I know all the circuits now so what is important is to get the curs, the rear ring, the tyres everything together as soon as possible and I think there is more experience to get quicker to the point where can start on the set- up of the car so I think in that respect I improved a lot, but there is still room to improve and I need to improve again. This is a place where there is some margin to get better, other than that racing is racing, you never know what can happen. You make a decision in tenths of a second, you have to see if it's a good one, sometimes I think last year I was quite unlucky but this year it's a new season. I'm looking forward to start testing and then racing.

Q. There is a number of guys around at the moment such as Daniel who could potentially could be looking to join this team next year, do you feel a bit under pressure from that point of view knowing there is drivers waiting?

SB: This is a philosophy of F1 in the end and I think its good that we have Daniel testing on Friday because everybody knows he was quick in the Red Bull, so in a way we will have a good benchmark and will be able to compare myself with him.

So I think it is really a good point and also on the Friday morning we don't run so much so I don't think this is going to be a big problem in terms of setting up the car because the first session is always quite dirty and the circuit is not quite up to speed but it will definitely be good to compare with everything.

Q. Two drivers have complained that they are going to be working too hard this year behind the wheel, with the KERS and the wing, are you in agreement with that?

SB: It is definitely not going to be easy but at the same time when KERS was introduced everybody said it was going to be difficult and also with the front wing it's a lot of work but then in the end it became quite natural and nobody had any problems.

It's maybe 20 activations per lap perhaps, if you look at the rear wing and KERS and brake balance, and mappings... But I think we will get used to it quite quickly.

By the first race we may not even have any problems anymore, I don't know. Maybe there is a limit where it starts to be difficult. It is definitely not easy, but it's the same for everybody and if you don't use those tools then you will not be able to be quick enough.