A cloud of smoke billowing out of his Ferrari engine brought Jaime Alguersuari’s first F1 anniversary to a premature end, but it gave the Toro Rosso driver opportunity to reflect a year on from his teenage debut.

“The Hungarian Grand Prix marked the end of my first year in Formula One and the beginning of my second. My driving has changed from a technical point of view, and physically I’m now much better prepared for F1, but the biggest changes are on the mental side – in Formula One, you change as a person.

“When I was here last year I was just a kid, having fun. I’m still having fun, but I’m thinking in a different way. Back then I was wondering if I could bridge the gap to F1 – now, I know I can do it. I am one of the field. So in terms of self-confidence, I’m a very different person now.

“I’ve had a lot of good races, but also a lot of bad races. It’s been a bit of everything so far, but I think it has to be, at the beginning – you need time to understand what it’s all about. There’s lots to think about and a lot to learn, and when all of that comes together, that’s when you deliver.

“I seem to have my best races when there’s a scrap going on. Why that is so is a difficult question to answer, especially for me. I think it’s something I have inside me – it’s just one of my personal characteristics that comes out in the way I drive. I push a lot. Fighting Michael Schumacher in Australia was good – that battle gave me a lot of feedback and I was able to take the feeling into the following races. 

“Thinking back to my debut a year ago, I remember some of the comments and questions, and how the story of me being the youngest ever grand prix driver caused some headlines – but it wasn’t a big part of the weekend for me. Honestly, I had enough problems out on the track! I had to focus on that, not what was going on around me. Franz Tost and Giorgio Ascanelli, Toro Rosso’s team principal and technical director, helped me a lot. They gave me the confidence and the time to grow. The race itself went pretty well. Toro Rosso had a big upgrade, which made the car more competitive that weekend, and the Hungaroring isn’t a difficult track like Silverstone or Hockenheim – it’s more like a big go-kart track, so I had a better feel for it.

“The high and low points of my first year are the same – they’re both right now. It’s a simple concept – this is my lowest moment because I’ve reached a point where I’ve learned so many things, but, even with the knowledge, I’m not always able to put it into effect. Knowing you can’t deliver at every race is incredibly frustrating. What makes it a high point is that I also know I’m a much better driver than I was in the past. I know I’m stronger than I was last year – I know I’m stronger than I was last week. It’s not that I was stupid at the beginning of the year, or stupid last week, just that, inevitably, I improve with experience.

“You don’t stop learning, but I’ve now finished one part of my education. I think things will become a little bit easier for me now, as I know the tracks we are going to race on because I’ve been to them before – except Korea, and there I’m no worse off than anyone else. I’ll be on the attack more in the future.

Jaime Alguesuari on the Beach
It's a hard life for a Formula One driver: you travel the world visiting exotic locations like Monaco, Melbourne and Valencia but you never get the chance to go to the beach. So Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari jumped at the chance to test drive the Red Bull Racing show car on the beach at Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

This was another first for the team as no one had ever tried to drive an F1 car on a beach before. But breaking new ground is all in a day's work for the Faenza-based team: earlier this year Sébastien Buemi became the first man to drive a Formula One car on ice and now it's Jaime's turn. Now find out how they did it.