F1: Report - No 2013 Race Return For Buemi

Formula 1

F1: Report - No 2013 Race Return For Buemi

Sebastien Buemi has reportedly been eliminated from the list of contenders for the vacant race seat at Force India...

SPEED Staff / GMM | Posted January 01, 2013 GMM Newswire

Sebastien Buemi last held a Formula One race seat in 2011. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Sebastien Buemi has kicked off his new year by learning he will not be making his return to the Formula One grid in 2013.

Switzerland's Blick newspaper reports that the 24-year-old has been told he is out of the running to secure the vacant Force India race seat.

Veteran correspondent Roger Benoit said Buemi, who lost his Toro Rosso drive at the end of 2011, will now work instead on having his deal as Red Bull's official reserve driver extended.

Benoit said Buemi, who had also been linked with a Ferrari test deal, wants that new Red Bull contract in place "as quickly as possible.

"Buemi will not comment at this time. First, he needs to safeguard his future," the journalist wrote.

Blick added that the Ferrari-linked Frenchman Jules Bianchi, and former team driver Adrian Sutil, are now the favorites to become Paul di Resta's new teammate at Force India.