Sébastien Buemi

Sébastien Olivier Humbert Buemi (; born 31 October 1988) is a Swiss racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota and in Formula E for Envision. In formula racing, Buemi competed in Formula One for Toro Rosso from to , and won the 2015–16 Formula E Championship with Renault. In endurance racing, Buemi has won a joint-record four FIA World Endurance Championship titles—tied with Brendon Hartley—and is a four-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, all with Toyota.

Buemi has competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Toyota Racing since 2012. He became the 2014 World Endurance Champion in the LMP1 class. He won both the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans and, subsequently, the 2018–19 WEC Championship. He also won the 2019, 2020 and 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Buemi raced in Formula E with e.dams Renault and subsequently Nissan from 2014 to 2022. He won the championship in 2015–16, and is joint second for all-time wins–tied with António Félix da Costa behind only Mitch Evans. In 2022, he signed for Envision Racing.

Early career

Formula BMW Born in Aigle, Vaud, Buemi graduated from karting and spent 2004 and 2005 in German Formula BMW, finishing third and second in the championship respectively. He was also runner up in the 2005 FBMW World Final.

Formula Three

Following a single race in Spanish Formula Three in 2005, Buemi moved up to the Formula Three Euroseries for 2006, finishing 12th in the championship, ceding 11th place to Charlie Kimball on countback. He remained in the series for 2007, and finished second in the championship, behind Romain Grosjean. He has also competed in the special Masters of Formula 3 and Macau Grand Prix races.

A1 Grand Prix For the 2006–07 A1 Grand Prix season, Buemi shared driving duties for A1 Team Switzerland with Neel Jani and Marcel Fässler. The team finished eighth in the championship.

GP2 Series

Buemi was drafted in at short notice to replace the injured Michael Ammermüller at ART Grand Prix for the Monaco round of the 2007 GP2 Series season. He performed creditably on his GP2 début, qualifying fourth and finishing seventh. He joined the Arden International team for the 2008 GP2 Asia Series, and finished as runner-up with a win and four second places. He continued with the team for the main 2008 season. He scored his first win in the French sprint race, starting 21st on the grid (after a technical problem in the feature race) on slick tyres on a drying track and benefitting as most rivals had to pit for slicks. He won one more race and ended the season sixth in the championship.

Formula One

On 18 September 2007, Buemi drove the Red Bull RB3 at the F1 test session in Jerez. He was third quickest on the day, behind Timo Glock (BMW) and Vitantonio Liuzzi (Scuderia Toro Rosso) but ahead of names such as Rubens Barrichello (Honda) and Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault). On 16 January 2008, Red Bull Racing confirmed Buemi as their test and reserve driver for the 2008 season. At the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix, Buemi drove the medical car as usual driver Dr. Jacques Tropenat had been suffering from an ear problem. Buemi also drove the medical car at the Chinese Grand Prix and Brazilian Grand Prix.

Scuderia Toro Rosso (2009–2011) 2009

Scuderia Toro Rosso confirmed its signing of Buemi as one of its race drivers on 9 January 2009. He was the first Swiss driver to take part in an F1 race since Jean-Denis Délétraz drove for Pacific at the 1995 European Grand Prix.

In his first race, the 2009 Australian Grand Prix, Buemi outqualified his teammate Sébastien Bourdais and then scored a point in the race by finishing in eighth position. He was later promoted to seventh place as a result of Lewis Hamilton being disqualified. At the Chinese Grand Prix, he scored another point, this time in the wet, finishing eighth after starting tenth. After a mid season dip in the Toro Rosso's form, Buemi rounded off a good weekend to finish seventh in the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix. He followed this with a third top ten qualification in a row and another points finish at the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Buemi finished the year sixteenth with six points as the best rookie.

2010

On 9 November 2009, it was confirmed that Buemi would race for a second season with Toro Rosso.

During the first free practice session of the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix, a front suspension wishbone broke under braking on Buemi's Toro Rosso as he braked for Turn 14. The two front wheels flew off while Buemi was travelling at over . One wheel went over the safety fence and landed in a spectator area, missing a camera man on its way. Buemi's car continued to travel forward, veering to the left and sliding along an Armco barrier, knocking off the front wing. Neither Buemi nor any spectators were injured as a result of the incident. Toro Rosso blamed a failure of a new front right upright for the incident. Buemi completed 2010 with eight points to teammate Alguersuari's five. He was sixteenth again in the drivers' championship.

2011

Buemi, along with his teammate from 2009 and 2010 – Jaime Alguersuari, continued to race for Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2011. On 14 December 2011, it was announced that both Buemi and Alguersuari had been dropped by the team, and would be replaced by Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Éric Vergne for the season.

Red Bull Racing (2012–2022) 2012 In January 2012, it was announced that Buemi would rejoin Red Bull Racing as a test and reserve driver for the season, as well as acting as Toro Rosso's reserve driver. Buemi continued as Red Bull's test and reserve driver for the and seasons. Buemi was again announced as reserve driver for 2019 for Red Bull Racing. He participated in the 2020 Young Driver's Test with the Milton Keynes squad. As of 2023, Buemi was not featured on Red Bull's list of reserve drivers.

FIA World Endurance Championship

Buemi also signed a deal to contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Toyota Motorsport GmbH, driving a Toyota TS030 Hybrid with Anthony Davidson and Hiroaki Ishiura (who later withdrew and was replaced by Stéphane Sarrazin). After a strong performance, the car was running in third position in the early evening when Davidson collided with a GT Ferrari and crashed heavily.

In 2013, Buemi continued driving with Toyota for a full season and ended with third place in the drivers' championship. For the 2014 season, he drove Toyota's new car – the Toyota TS040 Hybrid. With four wins and seven podiums from the eight races, Buemi became World Endurance Drivers' Champion with teammate Anthony Davidson. Paris, and Berlin before the final four races in New York City and Montreal, both double headers.

However, Buemi skipped the New York event due to his WEC commitments with Toyota and participated in the 6 Hours of Nürburgring instead, with Red Bull F1 test and reserve driver Pierre Gasly taking his place. In addition, he was disqualified from two races for technical infringements. Ultimately, this loss of points led to Buemi missing out on the championship as rival Lucas di Grassi took the title at the final race.

2017–18 season

Buemi endured a tough start to the season, taking only one point from the opening double-header at Hong Kong, having been involved in some incidents, including with previous seasons' title rival Lucas di Grassi. Buemi hit back with pole position at Marrakesh. He led the race throughout until four laps from the finish, when he was passed by the Mahindra of Felix Rosenqvist. He achieved two podium finishes at the next two races, to leave him in fourth place in the standings. However, he crashed out of the following race in Punta del Este. His Renault e.dams, however, proved not to be as competitive as previous seasons, and while consistently scoring in the points, he did not achieve a race win or podium for the next four races. In the final ePrix of the season, a double-header at New York, Buemi qualified on pole in both rounds, with the final round being achieved in the first wet qualifying session in Formula E history. However, he would slip behind faster cars in the races to third and fourth respectively. This meant he finished the season in fourth place, his lowest position in the standings since Formula E began, with 125 points. Renault e.dams finished the season fifth in the standings, the first time they had not won the Teams' Championship, with Buemi scoring 125 out of the team's 133 points.

Nissan e.dams (2018–2022) It was announced that the DAMS would switch from Renault to Nissan from the 2018-19 season. Buemi was initially meant to partner Alexander Albon, who raced for the DAMS Formula 2 team, but he was released by DAMS to join Buemi's former team, Toro Rosso to race in F1 in 2019. Albon was replaced by Oliver Rowland, who had previously raced for DAMS in Formula 2 in 2017.

2018–19 season

Buemi started the season with third place on the grid, but slipped to sixth by the end of the race. At the next round in Marrakesh, Buemi again started third on the grid, but had to avoid the spinning Techeetah of Jean-Éric Vergne and fell down the order. However, by the end of the race, he recovered to eighth place. At the next race, in Santiago, he inherited pole position when Lucas di Grassi was disqualified for a technical infringement. However, he crashed out of lead towards the end of the race due to a brake failure. Buemi's misfortune continued, when at the next race, both he and his teammate Rowland ran out of energy a lap before the end of the race, running in fourth and third respectively, after Nissan had miscalculated the number of laps remaining. This was followed by a suspension failure causing him to retire from the following round. At the next round he crashed during his superpole run and therefore qualified sixth, but he was later disqualified for a technical infringement and had to start from the pit lane. By the last lap, he had made his way up to eighth place, but while attempting to overtake Robin Frijns, Buemi ploughed into the back of him, causing Frijns to take out di Grassi, moving Buemi up to sixth, while di Grassi retired on the spot, and Frijns limped back home in 14th. Buemi was given a ten-second time penalty for causing the collision and was classified eighth, the position he was in before the crash. He also had trouble in Rome and Paris. However, after taking pole for the Berlin ePrix, his results improved. He finished second, after di Grassi overtook him and won the race. In Bern, and in Race 2 in New York, he finished third. His first victory of the season came in Race 1 in New York, after taking pole position. He was under attack from Jaguar driver Alex Lynn. However, Lynn retired due to a loss of power. After that, Buemi held a comfortable margin to win the race over Lynn's teammate, Mitch Evans, who had an incredible comeback from 13th position on the grid. By the end of the season, Buemi had overtaken eleven drivers, including title contenders Evans and di Grassi, to climb from 13th to second in the championship.

2019–20 season Buemi and Oliver Rowland were retained by Nissan e.dams for the 2019–20 season. Buemi finished fourth in the championship standings.

2020–21 season

Nissan e.dams retained Buemi and Oliver Rowland for the 2020–21 season.

2021–22 season Buemi continued with Nissan e.dams with Maximilian Günther as his new teammate in 2022. The season once again failed to yield any podiums for Buemi, who scored a best result of fifth in New York City, which put him 15th in the standings.

Envision Racing (2023–2026) 2022–23 season

In October 2022, Buemi announced that he would switch to the Envision Racing team, replacing the outgoing Robin Frijns and partnering Nick Cassidy, under a two-year deal. Additionally, he ended an eight-year association with e.dams, which started in his first Formula E season. Having finished sixth during the season opener in Mexico City, Buemi scored his first pole position since the 2019 New York City ePrix weekend in Diriyah, having beaten rookie Jake Hughes in the final stage of qualifying. He took points from both races in the Kingdom, ending up fourth and sixth respectively. At the Hyderabad ePrix, Buemi navigated through a chaotic race to cross the line in third position, however he would be demoted to 15th due to an overpower infringement. More misery would pile on during the opening lap of the next race in Cape Town, as the Swiss driver was hit by a late-braking Pascal Wehrlein going into Turn 10. What followed would be a recovery drive with a damaged car, in which Buemi brought his Envision back up to fifth place.

2023–24 season

Buemi remained at Envision Racing for the 2023–24 season as part of his contract, having Robin Frijns as his new teammate as Nick Cassidy departed for Jaguar Racing.

2024–25 season

Buemi and Robin Frijns continued with Envision Racing for the 2024–25 season.

2025–26 season In August 2025, Buemi penned a multi-year deal with Envision Racing, extending his deal to drive for the team during the 2025–26 season.

Prior to the London ePrix, Buemi announced his retirement from Formula E at the end of the season, opting to fully focus on his FIA World Endurance Championship career with Toyota. However, he will remain at Envision as he takes up an advisory role.

Personal life As of 2009, Buemi resided in Bahrain with his family and his girlfriend Jennifer. He then resided in Monaco for some time, and has since returned to Switzerland. Buemi married Jennifer in 2015, and they have three sons together. His grandfather Georges Gachnang and his first cousin Natacha Gachnang are also racing drivers.

In 2013, Buemi and Johnny Herbert mentored six contestants in a primetime ITV4 reality series, with the aim of taking players of the Gran Turismo videogames to the Dubai 24 Hour race as real drivers. Other countries in Europe had heats mentored by Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Karting record

Karting career summary

Racing record

Racing career summary Season still in progress.

Complete Formula BMW ADAC results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2004 Lars Kaufmann Motorsport HOC11 HOC12 ADR1 ADR2 NÜR11 NÜR12 LAU1 LAU2 NOR1 NOR2 NÜR21 NÜR22 OSC1 OSC2 ZAN1 ZAN2 BRN1 BRN2 HOC21 HOC22 3rd 188 2005 Mücke Motorsport HOC11 HOC12 LAU1 LAU2 SPA1 SPA2 NÜR11 NÜR12 BRN1 BRN2 OSC1 OSC2 NOR1 NOR2 NÜR21 NÜR22 ZAN1 ZAN2 HOC21 HOC22 2nd 282

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 NEC results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos Points 2006 ASL Mücke Motorsport Dallara F305/011 Mercedes HOC1 HOC2 LAU1 LAU2 OSC1 OSC2 BRH1 BRH2 NOR1 NOR2 NÜR1 NÜR2 ZAN1 ZAN2 CAT1 CAT2 BUG1 BUG2 HOC1 HOC2 12th 31 2007 ASL Mücke Motorsport Dallara F305/011 Mercedes HOC1 HOC2 BRH1 BRH2 NOR1 NOR2 MAG1 MAG2 MUG1 MUG2 ZAN1 ZAN2 NÜR1 NÜR2 CAT1 CAT2 NOG1 NOG2 HOC1 HOC2 2nd 95

Complete A1 Grand Prix results (key) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points 2006–07 Switzerland NEDSPR NEDFEA CZESPR CZEFEA BEISPR BEIFEA MYSSPR MYSFEA IDNSPR IDNFEA NZLSPR NZLFEA AUSSPR AUSFEA RSASPR RSAFEA MEXSPR MEXFEA SHASPR SHAFEA GBRSPR GBRSPR 8th 50

Complete GP2 Series results (key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points 2007 ART Grand Prix BHRFEA BHRSPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MAGFEA MAGSPR SILFEA SILSPR NÜRFEA NÜRSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR MNZFEA MNZSPR SPAFEA SPASPR VALFEA VALSPR 21st 6 2008 Trust Team Arden CATFEA CATSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR MONFEA MONSPR MAGFEA MAGSPR SILFEA SILSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR VALFEA VALSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR 6th 50

Complete GP2 Asia Series results (key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results (key) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 WDC Points 2009 Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR4 Ferrari 056 2.4 V8 AUS MAL CHN BHR ESP MON TUR GBR GER HUN EUR BEL ITA SIN JPN BRA ABU 16th 6 Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR5 Ferrari 056 2.4 V8 BHR AUS MAL CHN ESP MON TUR CAN EUR GBR GER HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN KOR BRA ABU 16th 8 Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR6 Ferrari 056 2.4 V8 AUS MAL CHN TUR ESP MON CAN EUR GBR GER HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN KOR IND ABU BRA 15th 15 Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2012 Toyota Racing Anthony Davidson Stéphane Sarrazin Toyota TS030 Hybrid LMP1 82 DNF DNF 2013 Toyota Racing Anthony Davidson Stéphane Sarrazin Toyota TS030 Hybrid LMP1 347 2nd 2nd 2014 Toyota Racing Anthony Davidson Nicolas Lapierre Toyota TS040 Hybrid LMP1-H 374 3rd 3rd 2015 Toyota Racing Anthony Davidson Kazuki Nakajima Toyota TS040 Hybrid LMP1 386 8th 8th 2016 Toyota Gazoo Racing Anthony Davidson Kazuki Nakajima Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 384 NC NC 2017 Toyota Gazoo Racing Anthony Davidson Kazuki Nakajima Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 358 8th 2nd 2018 Toyota Gazoo Racing Fernando Alonso Kazuki Nakajima Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 388 1st 1st 2019 Toyota Gazoo Racing Fernando Alonso Kazuki Nakajima Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 385 1st 1st 2020 Toyota Gazoo Racing Brendon Hartley Kazuki Nakajima Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 387 1st 1st 2021 Toyota Gazoo Racing Brendon Hartley Kazuki Nakajima Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar 369 2nd 2nd 2022 Toyota Gazoo Racing Brendon Hartley Ryō Hirakawa Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar 380 1st 1st 2023 Toyota Gazoo Racing Brendon Hartley Ryō Hirakawa Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar 342 2nd 2nd 2024 Toyota Gazoo Racing Brendon Hartley Ryō Hirakawa Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar 311 5th 5th 2025 Toyota Gazoo Racing Brendon Hartley Ryō Hirakawa Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar 380 15th 15th 2026 Toyota Racing Brendon Hartley Ryō Hirakawa Toyota TR010 Hybrid Hypercar 381 3rd 3rd

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Season still in progress.

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rank Points 2017 Rebellion Racing P Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 DAY SEB LBH COA DET WGL MOS ELK LGA PET 26th 45

Complete Formula E results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) † Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.