JULY 30, 2004

Bourdais wants an F1 chance

It is no secret that France's Sebastien Bourdais did not go to America from choice after winning the 2002 FIA Formula 3000 Championship. The Frenchman was keen to get into F1 but no seats were available. Since then Bourdais has shown his class by becoming the dominant force in the Champ Car World Series his year. If he wins the title Bourdais wants to come back to Europe in 2005 and get into F1, where he believes he belongs. His manager David Sears, the boss of Super Nova Racing, for which Bourdais won the F3000 title, is now negotiating to try to get him a drive and says that he expects to see Bourdais test an F1 car this year. Bourdais has previously tested for Arrows and for Renault. If Bourdais does get a drive it is quite possible that Newman Haas Racing might like to re-sign its former CART champion Cristiano da Matta, who looks less and less likely to be retained next year by Toyota.

Bourrdais says that he is not interested in competing in the Indy Racing League.