Alguersuari claims Bourdais has lost his seat!

Bound to happen sooner or later. He's probably better off, he'll do better in another series. Could well be another Allan McNish, be awesome, just never able to show it in F1.

What now for Bourdais?

Back to America or stay in Europe with Pug?

I'd like to see him race IRL, he can be successful there too and will see some of his old friends, like Tracy !

edit - or will he follow in the footsteps of other open-wheelers and venture into the world of big stock cars and big speed? Or even F1 again?

Personally id like to see him at Renault next year, at least still in F1. Ive grown to quite like the guy from thinking he was an utter c*ck in Champcar.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2009 12:46PM by chet.

From ITV's F1 Website

Toro Rosso has confirmed that Sebastien Bourdais’s has been dropped from the team with immediate effect, bringing an early end to the Frenchman's disappointing second Formula 1 season.

However, Bourdais’s expected replacement Jamie Alguersuari has yet to be officially named as Sebastien Buemi’s new team-mate from the Hungarian Grand Prix, with STR to delay the announcement until shortly before next week’s race.

In a statement on Thursday morning announcing Bourdais’ departure mid-way through the campaign, team boss Franz Tost admitted the former Champ Car king had not performed to expectations in his second season at the team after being regularly outpaced by rookie Buemi.

“In Sebastien’s second year with us, the partnership has not met our expectations and therefore we have decided to replace him as from the next round of the World Championship, the Hungarian Grand Prix,” Tost said.

The team added that his replacement would be confirmed shortly before next week’s Budapest round, with its Spanish 19-year-old reserve driver Alguersuari set to become the youngest driver in F1 history.

Bourdais’s departure brings to an end a largely disappointing 27-race F1 stint, in which he scored just six points.

After finally arriving in motorsport’s premier series for the start of the 2008 season after winning four consecutive Champ Car titles in America, the 30-year-old initially struggled to make his mark alongside Sebastian Vettel at STR despite scoring two points on his debut in Australia.

However, as Toro Rosso made giant strides towards the front of the field in the second half of the campaign Bourdais’s form began to improve and would likely have added significantly to his eventual four-point tally but for several unfortunate incidents when running strongly in races.

But after seeing off the challenge of Super Aguri refugee Takuma Sato during winter testing to hold onto his seat for 2009 alongside new Red Bull protégé Buemi, Bourdais struggled to match the 20-year-old’s pace in the opening nine races of the season.

Mounting speculation ahead of last weekend’s Nurburgring race suggested Bourdais had to perform strongly in Germany to save his drive, but he set the slowest time in qualifying and then retired from the race early on with a hydraulic problem.

Although reigning British F3 driver Alguersuari is expected to take over Bourdais’s seat from the Hungaroring, five-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb has been heavily linked to get a run-out in the seat next to Buemi towards the end of the season.

The Frenchman’s Citroen team made it clear in a statement last weekend that under no circumstances would it allow 35-year-old Loeb to be distracted from his quest to win a sixth WRC title, but did leave the door open for him to compete in an F1 race after the end of its season.

This raised the spectre that Loeb, a Red Bull-sponsored driver, could compete in the F1 season-finale in Abu Dhabi, which takes place a week after the final WRC round on November 2.

i would like to see them test a few drivers out - Alguersuari, Sato, Pantano, Senna, Loeb etc.

With the testing ban, they could use this as a good way to evaluate some drivers for next year.

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X (@ed24f1)

Good idea but a team has a limit to the amount of drivers they can run in a year. 4 I believe and with Buemi and Bourdais covering 2, there remains 2.

I would like to think STR would take up the option of running another driver aswell as Alguerwhatever but its not likley, chances are the guy will be in the race seat come Melbourne and so every race is key experience for him.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

nah nah nah nah
nah nah nah nah!
hey hey hey
boredais (sucks)


Goodbye and feel free to go home! Chet, he still is the same c*nt from Champ Car, you just didn't see it because he never made it to the podium to bitch about others .

I think that should be what they work towards - putting Jaime in the seat full time for 2010. Meantime, during the remainder of this season they can work on getting him up to speed gently with a variety of experience, which could include some races.

But I like the idea of trying a number of drivers in the seat, rules allowing. It would also help the new teams which start next year to make their choices of driver signings.

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Apparently Bourdais is considering legal action against Toro Rosso for breach of contract:

[en.f1-live.com]

Bourdais' statement reads:


'I am very disappointed and shocked by the decision taken by Scuderia Toro Rosso of not allowing me to drive for the Team until the end of the current season.

I consider that, in doing so, Scuderia Toro Rosso has breached its contractual duties towards me; also I believe that nothing in my behavior would legitimate a decision of the Team to terminate the contract.

I think that the Team's decision is in clear violation of Scuderia Toro Rosso's obligations under the agreement. I have instructed my lawyers to review the situation including the possibility of issuing legal proceedings.

I am even more frustrated by the Team's decision considering that the latter has been taken immediately before the Hungarian Grand Prix, where a new highly competitive racing package will be introduced by the Team in order to try and overcome its current difficulties.

I am convinced that if I was given the chance to race with such a new package I would have had the opportunity to achieve satisfactory results.

Finally, I would like to thank all my fans for their support. My motivation is intact and I will continue to be strongly committed to my Formula One project, for which I have renounced to my career in United States.'

He has renounced racing in the States and is committed to F1 it seems....



"There are some pikeys there at Turn 10 putting tarmac down - what do you think of that?" - Martin Brundle



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2009 12:32AM by Jagdpanzer.

yes... if not done what was agreed (contract) he has to consider legal actions to have rights respected, why not?

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I don't like that management of toro-rosso f1 team...if im not wrong

I dislike Tost too but Bourdais isn't doing himself a favor. STR may keep him the next round, sabotage him and say "oh you had the new package but look at your result".

See, Chet? Still a c*nt .

He's a **** because he's angry and disappointed to be fired?

'I am very disappointed and shocked by the decision taken by Scuderia Toro Rosso of not allowing me to drive for the Team until the end of the current season.

Shockerd? REALLY?

also I believe that nothing in my behavior would legitimate a decision of the Team to terminate the contract.

If I'm rubbish at my job, I'd get sacked.

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Yeah, plus if STR are in breach of the contract, of course he'll bend them over and shaft them. Why should he show them any loyalty?

All I'll say is: USF1.

Contract means absolutely nothing. He'll threaten to take Red Bull to court, they'll throw a couple of million at him and he'll stfu.

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He was careful in his words.

behavior

Whats the difference between performance/ability and behavior?

Well for a start, by saying behavior I believe he suggest he tried everything to improve his performance, its not like he would finish a race go home, come back the next weekend. It sounds to me like he's at least tried to improve. Buemi, though a rookie has not fared much better. Okay, the odd race but overal he has qualified a row ahead, 15th to 17th. We know much a drivers confidence can change with a newer car, and Seb seems to be a driver who atm has no confidence! We all know how a drivers performance is effected by the machinery, some more than others. For all we know once this update came it could have been a total turn-around for STR and Seb. He could have found that magical feeling. I dont disagree getting rid of him, but I do disagree at this stage, and I do with the driver they will replace him with. At least give him till Hungary and do a proper analysis on Jamie for Valencia in the 4 week gap.

also I believe that nothing in my behavior would legitimate a decision of the Team to terminate the contract.

If I'm rubbish at my job, I'd get sacked.

behavior is not performance. He was not much worse than Buemi. Whilst Buemi has had a good race or two, the rest have been less than great considering the car they have.

edit -
Contract means absolutely nothing. He'll threaten to take Red Bull to court, they'll throw a couple of million at him and he'll stfu.

Im sure thats all he wants anyway, just his pay. Wouldnt you? I certainly wouldnt want to get back in a car of a team managed by that Tost bloke!

Contracts do mean little in F1, as we've seen in the past but unless there were performance clauses STR should have remained loyal to it

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2009 02:21PM by chet.

why a signature on a contract "means nothing"? only for the "formula one world" you mean... in the world that i know is yes... signed? you give as much to achieve what was agreed in that document and the team has promised to do... a decent car race and not what you see on tororosso :p

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2009 02:27PM by phantaman.

behavior is not performance.

I agree, which actually makes Bourdais point even more pointless. So he acted nice. Big whoops. He sucked. If I suck at my job, I get sacked. Bourdais got sacked.

He was not much worse than Buemi. Whilst Buemi has had a good race or two, the rest have been less than great considering the car they have.

He was considerably worse than Buemi. Buemi was not bad, with some excellent drives scattered in. Bourdias has been consistently bad. At the Nurburgring 1st to 19th was separated by 1.2 seconds. Bourdais, who was dead last, was a further 1.1 seconds back. That quite frankly is abysmal.

Buemis a true rookie. Couple of years of GP2, then before that F3 and FBMW. Bourdais isn't a true rookie. He was a rookie in the same way that Montoya and Villeneuve were rookies. But he had even more experience. He had 5 years of high end single seaters. Bourdais was driving Champ Cars when Buemi was still in karting. Bourdais should be whiping the floor with Buemi (and should have done with Vettel too), but he isn't. That just isn't good enough.

I have no sympathy for him. He should have been binned after 2008, but he got another half a year to prove himself and if anything he got worse.

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He should have beaten Buemi, but Vettel? I dont think so, Vettel is one of the new mega-kids! Like Lewis. Ive never believed Bourdais to be as good as the likes of Vettel, Lewis and Alonso, but I think he is good, very good. Even in superior machninery in champcars you dont win 4 titles without being good. I think when Wilson, Power, and AJ came along it showed he wasnt as mega as it appeared, but the guy can certainly drive quick cars quick! He was pretty handy at le mans, one of the quicker Pug drivers I thought.

I think with F1 it comes to down to confidence. Last race he was awful, and it was a performance that was worthy for being replaced with, but he never looked confortable that weekend with all the rumours about him. Thats the other thing, it seemed the whole world knew it was his last race apart from him! Until a few days he thought he'd be in Hungary. Now that was wrong, it was clear STR had decided long before the race it was to be his last. At least show the guy some respect and tell him before you tell his replacement (so the replacement cant start blabbing it to the press!!) and tell him when you realize the whole paddock knows! It was like, 'seems everyone knows now, should we tell him??'. 'Nah we'll wait till a few days after the race'. Bourdais had no reason to believe the rumours, he thought he'd be racing in Hungary, the contract said so, and the team had not informed him.

I think when he realized Buemi was the new RedBull love his confidence was just shattered. Like Piquet I reckon give this guy some tlc and he'll shine as bright as a star and give some good finishes. Afterall, though slower than Vettel, it was not by much, and once the car had further updates it seem to drift away from him more.

Also, I think whats worse is that he is being replaced more so on the grounds of Jamie bring some cash. STR are going to put drivers lives at risk, the championship battle maybe at risk all for a few dollar!

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Bourdais won his CCWS titles after the established teams and drivers left. When you remove Penske, Ganassi, Green and de Ferran, Castroneve, Kanaan, Andretti and Franchitti things begin to get a tad easier. And that doesn't even include drivers who retired, like Vasser. They even started removing the ovals, which Bourdais admitted to struggling on. Whilst it wasn't done for Bourdais, almost everything in CCWS was to his advantage. That's before you take into account the blatant rules violation such as jump starts and punting that he got away on a consistent basis.

He was pretty handy at le mans, one of the quicker Pug drivers I thought.

He also threw it off the road several times (in 2008 he even binned it at T1), and at Sebring tried to blame losing the race on a puncture, when in reality he had 3 offs in the final stint and the combined time of them would have won him the race.

I don't rate him. I think he has had a flattering and easy ride in Champ Car. Now he actually has to prove himself, he is still being beaten by Rookies.

Thats the other thing, it seemed the whole world knew it was his last race apart from him! Until a few days he thought he'd be in Hungary

Then he is an idiot. It isn't possible for us to all know and he doesn't unless he walks everywhere with his head in a bucket of sand. He knew of the situation, he knew he had to perform, and he performed far worse than usual. Maybe that just goes to show how good he is under pressure - just like Le Mans, just like Sebring.

the contract said so

Does it? I don't have a copy, and I assume nobody but STR and Bourdais people do. So why are we assuming Bourdais is correct here? What if there is a performance clause, and STR can actually boot him. After his poor debut year I'd expect there to be some sort of clause written in given how many other drivers Red Bull have available.

At the end of the day Bourdais has not shown why he should be in F1. At no point has he looked even remotely as good as he should, and recently he has just been getting worse. You can't keep a driver on the hope he might improve. After a year and a half of mediocre performances it is time to give someone else a shot.

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