|
As is almost always the case these days, Jaime's introduction to motorsport was Karting, and by the age of 14 he was Spanish Champion, having finished 4th in the Italian Open Masters and won the Champions International Cup (twice) along the way.
In 2005, having successfully defended his Spanish Champion crown and finishing third in both the Italian Open Masters ICA and the Qualifying Championship in Europe- not to mention finishing runner-up in the FIA World Cup Asia Pacific - Jaime made his single-seater debut in the Formula Junior 1.6 by Renault Italy series with Tomcat Racing, finishing third overall. To cap an ideal year, the youngster joined the prestigious Red Bull Junior Team.
In 2006 Jaime made the move up to Formula Renault 2.0, taking the Winter Series with 4 wins. He also found time to contest the Formula Renault Eurocup and Formula Renault 2.0 Italy, where he was 'rookie of the year'.
He continued in Formula Renault 2.0 in 2007, now having switched to Joan Villadelprat's Epsillon Euskadii team, finishing fifth in the Eurocup and runner-up in the Italian series.
In 2008, Jaime moved up to F3, contesting the British series with Carlin Motorsport and Spanish series with GTA Motor Competicion. While he finished fifth in the Spanish series, having won 3 races, he stormed to overall victory in the prestigious British series with 5 Wins, 6 pole positions, 12 podiums and 5 fastest laps.
Already having made a name for himself, Jaime attracted further attention when he deputised for the injured Mark Webber in the 2008 Race of Champions at Wembley, though he was beaten in the first round of the Drivers' Cup by Carl Edwards.
In 2009, Jaime contested the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with Carlin however, while he was a regular point scorer he was largely outshone by his British teammate Oliver Turvey. That said, by mid-season there was talk of the 19-year-old making the switch to F1 as Toro Rosso became more and more disillusioned with Sebastien Bourdais.
On 16 July, Toro Rosso announced that it had parted company with Bourdais and within 24-hours Jaime had tested for the Faenza outfit. On Monday 20 July, having scored his first podium result of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series the day before at Le Mans, Jaime was confirmed as Toro Rosso's second driver, his debut at the Hungaroring just a few days later making him the youngest driver in the history of F1.
By the time Jaime came on board it was clear that Toro Rosso was finally getting to grips with the STR4. However, the testing rules meant the Hungary was a baptism of fire for the young Spaniard.
A technical problem meant he was only able to qualify twentieth however, next day a steady performance saw him bring his car home safely in fifteenth, one place ahead of his Swiss teammate.
By the time the 'circus' got to Japan the STR4 finally finding some fast sweeping tracks it suited, Jaime was regularly making it to Q2. Sadly, the Spaniard was unable to make it into the record books as the youngest point scorer, a number of accidents and technical problems meaning that he only completed 322 racing laps (78.3%).
On January 22, Toro Rosso confirmed that Jaime would be retained for 2010, team boss Franz Tost saying: "Considering that he made his debut only halfway through 2009 with no prior testing, he did a good job, making steady progress throughout the second half of the year, with a mature approach considering he is still only nineteen years old."
Although nothing special, the STR5 did the job, allowing Jaime and his teammate to further hone their skills, even though they never seriously troubled their midfield rivals. There were a number of upgrades over the course of the year, a new front wing package in Turkey, a new diffuser in Belgium and a blown diffuser in time for Monza. However, once Williams and Sauber had come to grips with their own problems the Faenza team was essentially left for dust, ending the season ninth in the Constructors' Championship, the last of the point scoring teams.
On the whole, Jaime continued to make good progress in 2010, out-qualifying his teammate eight times and giving a number of excellent performances, not least his refusal to submit to Michael Schumacher in Australia. Such was the young Spaniard's pace and maturity, at times it was clear that he was seriously affecting the confidence of his teammate.
In the season opener, in Bahrain, Jaime scored his best F1 finish to date, crossing the line in thirteenth, two weeks later he claimed eleventh in Melbourne. On that basis it was to be expected that he would finish ninth in Malaysia - the third race of the season - which he duly did. Team boss Franz Tost subsequently described Jaime's performance in Sepang as "fantastic", however, the youngster was probably more delighted with the tenth place he scored in his home race in Barcelona.
While Rubens Barrichello might not agree - the two clashed a couple of times over the course of the season - in the eyes of many, Jaime was rookie of the year in 2010 or at least the most improved driver. It's also worth noting that the young Spaniard only failed to finish twice, both times due to problems with his car. Indeed, Jaime was the fourth most consistent driver, finishing 1045 laps of the 1129 he could have (92.6%).
Retained for 2011, like teammate Buemi, Jaime had the shadow of Daniel Ricciardo hanging over his shoulder at the beginning on the campaign, though the pressure eased somewhat once the Australian was packed off to Hispania mid-season.
Finishing the first two races outside the points, Jaime made it through to Q3 in China, subsequently starting seventh on the grid. Sadly however, a loose wheel just nine laps into the race meant he wasn't able to open his points account. Indeed, following sixteenth place finishes in Turkey and Spain, and a crash in Monaco, it wasn't until Canada that he finally added to his tally, the Spaniard bringing his car home in eighth.
Purely coincidentally, Ricciardo's departure in early July marked a good run of form for Jaime. In Belgium he qualified sixth, a career best, however an early clash with Bruno Senna - making his 2011 F1 debut - saw him eliminated just moments into the race.
There was joy in Italy however, when he brought the STR6 home in seventh, and again in Korea when he repeated the feat, courtesy of a brilliant last lap attack on Nico Hulkenberg.
Finishing the season fourteenth, with eleven points more than his teammate, one has to wonder what might have been achieved if Jaime had managed a better start to his season. While we appreciate his youth, and therefore his lack of experience, there was too little consistency, too many mistakes. As for his comment that inside an F1 car he "feels like a god", well, we'll leave that one alone.
While we wondered whether Toro Rosso would retain both its drivers, we were as surprised as everyone else - including Jaime and Sebastien - when both were dropped in favour of Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne. However, as we have pointed out so many times before, Toro Rosso has history.
In Jaime's case the basic talent is there, it merely has to be honed a little. Sadly, in the intense world of F1, especially at the sharp end, there is no time for such niceties.
Statistics - at the end of 2011 Season
Drivers' Titles: 0
Seasons in F1: 3
Grand Prix: 46
Wins: 0
Poles: 0
Fastest Laps: 0
Best result in 2011: 7th (2 times)
Best qualifying 2011: 6th (Belgium)
Worst qualifying 2011: 20th (Monaco)
2011: Out-qualified Sebastien Buemi 6 times
2011: Out-qualified by Sebastien Buemi 13 times
2011: Completed 1014 out of 1133 laps (89.5%)
2011: Finished 16 times from 19 starts (84%)
|
