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Toro Rosso pair not in a Red Bull battle - Vergne

Jean-Eric Vergne has scored four points so far this season - two more than his team-mate © Getty Images

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• Drivers:
• Daniel Ricciardo
• |
• Jean-Éric Vergne

• Teams:
• Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne does not see his 2012 season as a fight for a Red Bull seat between himself and his Toro Rosso team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

The Red Bull young drivers replaced Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi over the winter and Christian Horner confirmed that ideally Red Bull would look to a Toro Rosso driver if it wanted to replace one of its own. Despite that opportunity, Vergne said that he wasn't looking to impress Red Bull but just to do as well as possible in the championship with the sister team.

"Some people will tell you that we are in a fight for the Red Bull cockpit, but I don't see that right now," Vergne told the official Formula One website. "I am racing for Toro Rosso and I want to help make the car a points contender. I have no interest finishing in P15 ahead of him. I'd rather finish in P4 behind him if that meant I had a quicker car. Did I just say finish behind him? No, I don't think that I would like this! (Laughs) Only the part about fighting at the front is true. Forget about the rest…"

Asked if he was satisfied with his season so far, Vergne admitted he could have done better and said that he didn't regard himself as a rookie.

"Well, yes and no. Yes, because I think it's quite good, and no, because I think it could have been better. Of course I could use the excuse of being a rookie, but I don't want to because I've made some mistakes that should not have happened to a driver, no matter what your status. I actually don't believe so much in that rookie status thing. I am a fully-fledged driver."

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