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Renault Eyes Sebastien Buemi for 2011

A few races back, Sebastien Buemi was not the most offered (in terms of F1 deals for 2011) drivers in the paddock, as he was constantly outscored by his younger and less experienced teammate Jaime Alguersuari. After a few improved performance however - point finishes in Canada and Valencia - it seems that at least two teams are aiming to sign the Swiss driver for the upcoming campaign.

Of course, the first one on the list is his current outfit Scuderia Toro Rosso, whose team boss Franz Tost told the media more than once that he would like to keep Buemi for another season at Faenza. Not only that, but the STR principal hinted that a switch to Red Bull Racing might be on the horizon from 2012 onwards, once Mark Webber's contract runs out (and, with the current situation at Milton Keynes, it's likely the Australian won't extend his stay at Red Bull).

His Montreal race was perfect; exactly the kind of performance we expect from him,” said Red Bull's and STR's racing advisor Helmut Merko, who supervises the lineups of both teams and is practically the motor racing hand of Red Bull's Austrian owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

If it continues, we might consider placing him in the Red Bull team in 2012,” added the former Grand Prix driver.

However, STR will probably have to fight hard for their driver – in case they really want him so much – as the recent drives he performed in F1 have apparently caught the attention of Renault's team principal Eric Boullier, who is also looking for a driver for the 2011 campaign.

Sebastien is on our list of potential drivers for 2011. He even has a special place on it (the list), because I know him well and like him very much on a personal level,” said Boullier when asked about Buemi.

Although extending Robert Kubica's stay at Renault until the end of 2012, the French team doesn't seem to plan a similar deal for its other current driver Vitaly Petrov. According to several reports, the Russian is on his way out of Renault, as the list of potential replacements include Force India's Adrian Sutil and current WRC driver Kimi Raikkonen.
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