Jaime Alguersuari

February 6, 2011 | Article Posted By - afterabc admin, London

Jaime Alguersuari's current claim to fame is that he is the youngest ever F1 driver. Alguersuari replaced Sébastien Bourdais at Toro Rosso for the 2009 Hungarian GP to season end. His best result was 14th at the Brazilian GP, disappointingly he failed to finish in five of his eight races. However, the team retained him for the 2010 season, and he rewarded their loyalty by finishing in the points in three races to score five points. With just two retirements in a 19 race series and finishing just outside the points in many races, he demonstrated that he has considerable potential. Unsurprisingly he will be driving for Toro Rosso again in 2011. 



Nationality & DoB Spanish , 23-03-90
Team Toro Rosso
Car Number 19
Prior Teams N/A
Championships 0
Races 27
Wins 0
Podiums 0
Pole Positions 0
Fastest Laps 0
First Race 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix
First Win None
Last Win N/A


Jaime Alguersuari first raced in formula cars in 2005, wining in 2006 the Italian Formula Renault Winter Series, and in 2007 finishing second in the main Formula Renault championship.

In 2008, Alguersuari became the youngest winner, at 18 years, 203 days, of the British Formula Three Championship, winning the last three races of the season.

2009 was a momentous year for Alguersuari, he was competing in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, when half way through the season he took over the role of reserve driver for the Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 team. Incredibly less than two weeks later, Sebastien Bourdais left the team, and Alguersuari was confirmed as the new team driver for the rest of the season from the Hungarian GP.  (At the age of 19 years and 125 days, he became the youngest F1 driver, breaking the record previously held by Mike Thackwell. He became only the seventh teenager to start a Grand Prix). Alguersuari had a tough start in F1, struggling to make any impression on the results, his best a 14th in the Brazilian GP.

Alguersuari had done enough to be retained by Toro Rosso for the 2010 season, and he performed well, finishing in seventeen races and finishing in the points in three races; Malaysia, Spain and Abu Dhabi. He finished the season in 19th place in the championship.

Toro Rosso have not changed the driver line-up for the 2011 season, so Jaime will again be racing with Sebastien Buemi.

The aim for Toro Rosso will clearly be to hold off the challenge from any of the new teams and improve their performance against the other mid-ranking teams. The car will need to improve, but both drivers have proven themselves capable, but more will be expected in 2011.

Alguersuari's merits his drive in F1, and he certainly has the good looks of an F1 driver which will help with sponsors, but he must always remember the fans and team owners much prefer the ugliest of winners over the best looking loser.   
 
F1 record

Season Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2009 Toro Rosso 8 0 0 0 0 0 24th
2010 Toro Rosso 19 0 0 0 0 5 19th



F1 SURVEY

Sebastian Vettel looks unbeatable at the start of the season. However, Monaco is a track where Vettel has never won before. Can Vettel win again this weekend?

F1 BLOGGERS AND COLUMNISTS

John JonesI love to travel, and am looking forward to the 2010 F1