Sébastien Bourdais has made it clear that he hopes he will still be a fixture on the Formula 1 grid in 2009 – so that he can show what he is really capable of doing once the sport returns to slick tyres.
The Frenchman has made no secret of his distaste for the current grooved rubber regulations, and following his bright start in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne back in March – running fourth in the race's closing stages, ahead of no less than world champions Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso and Heikki Kovalainen in the sister McLaren-Mercedes to that of race-winner Lewis Hamilton, until driveshaft failure agonisingly dropped him to seventh with just three laps left to run – he has struggled to make much of an impression.
Indeed, on only four occasions in nine races has the record-breaking Champ Car king – who secured four successive drivers' crowns across the Pond from 2004 to 2007 – escaped the dreaded Q1 drop in qualifying, with a highlight of 13th place on the starting grid in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last time out.
That compares to five times for young team-mate Sebastian Vettel, including a pair of top ten positions, though since the introduction of Scuderia Toro Rosso's new STR3 in Monaco in May, Bourdais has at least enjoyed improved reliability – if not much evidence of a marked upturn in form.
“It started really well,” he reflected, speaking exclusively to
Crash.net Radio during last weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed, “and then obviously we've had quite a few ups-and-downs.
“Now we're just trying to build some momentum back again. We finished the last few races, and now we'd just like to see a bit of luck going our way – hopefully we'll have that quite soon.
“For me there is a lot of unused potential. I think the only one who really makes great use of it right now is Mark [Webber] in our sister team – he's doing an exceptional job with it – and Sebastian seems to be quite happy too. As far as I'm concerned, I'm still struggling to find the balance, so we'll just have to keep on working.
“I'm definitely looking forward to [the return to slicks – on which Bourdais raced in Champ Cars]. I think the car will be a lot more balanced between high-speed and low-speed downforce and mechanical grip. I can't say enough how happy I'd be to drive back on slicks again!”
The man from Le Mans also gave his views on the future of his home grand prix – a race that has been threatened with expulsion from the F1 calendar on repeated occasions in recent years, but always seems to secure a last-minute reprieve.
