Apr.14 (GMM) Sebastien Buemi thinks he is ahead of the game as he fights for his seat at Toro Rosso.

Team owner Red Bull's driver manager Helmut Marko repeatedly made the same warning before team principal Franz Tost recently said Daniel Ricciardo will make his debut this year if Buemi or his teammate Jaime Alguersuari fail to impress.

"The most important thing is to beat my teammate," Swiss Buemi wrote in his regular column for Le Matin newspaper.

The 22-year-old outqualified Spaniard Alguersuari in Melbourne.

"At Sepang I qualified ahead of Jaime and I finished the race ahead of him. So that's not bad," he insisted.

He was however critical of the stewards' decision to impose a ten-second stop-go penalty during the Malaysian grand prix.

"Yes, I drove too fast in the pits because of a problem with the limiter," he admitted, "but the officials were very severe -- it's been years since we've seen 10-seconds penalties.

"Without that, I think I could have scored one or two points. Hopefully I'll get them on Sunday," added Buemi.

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