Sebastian Bourdais
Discussion
So, he is driving for a mediocre IRL team (at least by funding standards) and manages to start last and win the St Petersburg Grand Prix. He has wins at many levels of racing--including that little race known as LeMans.
He raced for 2 years in F1. Did F1 make a mistake letting him go?
He raced for 2 years in F1. Did F1 make a mistake letting him go?
I don't think you can blame F1 for dropping an underperforming driver.
He nearly got a couple of decent results (lost out in the rain whilst on slicks on the final lap of Spa and qualified well in Monza (4th I think) but had to start from the pits while Vettel went onto win).
He was always behind rookie Vettel and mostly behind rookie Buemi.
Whether is was because of attitude, confidence, communication, setup or pure talent it wasn't working for him and as 30 year old in the Red Bull junior team maybe there wasn't much appetite from him or the team to give it time.
He nearly got a couple of decent results (lost out in the rain whilst on slicks on the final lap of Spa and qualified well in Monza (4th I think) but had to start from the pits while Vettel went onto win).
He was always behind rookie Vettel and mostly behind rookie Buemi.
Whether is was because of attitude, confidence, communication, setup or pure talent it wasn't working for him and as 30 year old in the Red Bull junior team maybe there wasn't much appetite from him or the team to give it time.
Only half of his 2nd season because he was fired before the Hungarian GP. Buemi 1 points scoring result, 7th in the half they were together. Bourdais 2 points scoring results 8th & 8th. Buemi out-qualified Bourdais in seven of nine races. Alguersuari who replaced Bourdais didn't score a point in his half of the season.
And 2 engine failures one when running 4th in his first race for Torro Rosso and the engine failure before the race started at Monza where he was 4th on the grid (Vettel won the race).
I have always thought there was more to it than it seemed.
And 2 engine failures one when running 4th in his first race for Torro Rosso and the engine failure before the race started at Monza where he was 4th on the grid (Vettel won the race).
I have always thought there was more to it than it seemed.
Edited by FourWheelDrift on Thursday 6th April 09:30
A decent driver who had the Red Bull Young Driver Axe deeply embedded in his back. I don't think there can be much doubt about his ability as a driver, but whether his face didn't fit, he had a bit of bad luck at the wrong time, or he lacked a bit of application, who knows? It just didn't quite fall right for him at the right time.
rubystone said:
Bourdais had an attitude problem. I think he rubbed Marko up the wrong way and that was it. Known for being arrogant but had the rough edges knocked off him in the US and was hugely successful.
Ahhhh.... the evil Marko. That figures. You say arrogant but I reckon very few in F1 would be more arrogant than Marko.
Reading Webber's bio confirms what we all suspected - Marko had it in for him too.
TRPK said:
Likes Fast Cars said:
He seems to have found his way in the US, good for him.
Found his way? Seems a bit of an understatement when you consider he won four straight champ car titles before he came to f1.
I may be wrong but I think of Jean Eric Vergne as more of a loss. He and Daniel Riccardo could barely be separated at Torro Rosso. To think that po faced personality vacuum Danil Kvyat got the job instead probably irritates me more than it should.
The Red Bull young driver program sure churns them out- I suppose that's a good thing, but it's a double edged sword as there are only 20 cars on the grid this season and Red Bull aren't the only group fostering new talent. There needs to be attrition and in F1 it isn't necessarily linked to driving talent.
The Red Bull young driver program sure churns them out- I suppose that's a good thing, but it's a double edged sword as there are only 20 cars on the grid this season and Red Bull aren't the only group fostering new talent. There needs to be attrition and in F1 it isn't necessarily linked to driving talent.
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