Q&A with Jaime Alguersuari

The formula 1 season so far...

I think pretty good, I’m quite happy with the season so far, many things have passed already and many tracks have been learned and I have a lot of things in my head now. I think it was a great half of a season for my experience and hopefully we can improve the performance for the rest of the season as well. So hopefully we can be right at the top at the end of the season.

About going faster than Buemi...

It’s very important, because obviously you want to go faster than your team mate. But it’s not my main target at the moment, it can not be my main target. I need to learn first of all, I need to learn how to go fast, I need to learn he tracks, every track I go, it’s new for me. And obviously, Formula 1 is not like other categories, Formula 1, it is a lot of things involving inside and you need to learn all of these things to go fast.

On racing against Michael Schumacher...

It’s difficult to say because now that I’m in Formula 1, to driver against Michael, it’s a pleasure, to be honest, because you can learn so many things and who can teach you better than a seven-time World Champion? And obviously, when you race against him, you can learn a lot of things: How to deal the tires, how to attack, how to defend your position, how to be on a race track in the end. And this is what you want. From my point of view, it’s good that Michael is racing.

On racing against Fernando Alonso...

Fernando and me have a completely different learning process. He was in Formula 1 before me, he was in Formula 1 a long time before he was World Champion, he does it much more than me, so it’s different, it’s a completely different comparison. It’s difficult to put me in the same position, I’m younger than him, but what is very clear, is that he is a very good driver and a very talented driver. And as I say, in Spain, he is the reference. For me, he is the reference. One day, I would like to be the best Spanish driver in the world, hopefully that can be very soon.

On his relationship with the Red Bull Racing team...

When I started in the Junior Team, Sebastian Vettel was in Formula 3 in the Junior Team. So, this is something very cool for us, because we know each other since we were kids, ok, I am still a kid, but since we were younger! And this is something really nice because, he can show you the way how to become a World Champion and this is something very nice if you follow his career.

On Mark Webber’s crash in Valencia...

Obviously, to backflip a Formula 1 car is not very nice. But, when you see that you don’t like that because you don’t want anybody to get hurt and you don’t like any other driver or rival to get injured, for sure this is the first thing you think. But, definitely we don’t assume it. We drive with the risk and that’s why we are drivers. And we like the competition, because we accept these risks.

On his objectives on the remaining season...

I expect a lot from the second half of the season, because last year I joined the championship in Budapest. It was my first year in Formula 1 and now, from Budapest onwards, It’ s going to be my first actual year, coming from half of the season done already and obviously with all the tracks from Budapest onwards, it’s going to be very interesting. I expect a lot from the team as well, I expect some performance coming from Budapest onwards, and to be consistent in the points. That’s the main target as it was at the beginning of the championship.