Bourdais encouraged by STR3's potential

The car will finally made its racing debut on the streets of the principality after its introduction was delayed following a crash during testing ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

The original plan was to race it in Turkey.

Bourdais says the STR3 is a step forward from its predecessor, and he reckons the car that will race in Monaco is stronger than the one that was tested for the first time in Barcelona.

"The racing package is a bit of an evolution from what we had in Barcelona," Bourdais said during testing at Paul Ricard. "I was quite happy with the car, and I think the potential is quite high.

"This morning we were quite quick. Globally it seems to be a nice step forward for us. We were anticipating, obviously, but it seems to materialise, so that's good."

"The base of the car was quite strong from the beginning. As soon as I stepped into the car in Barcelona, despite not being in good shape, it was quite quick already so we were encouraged by that.

"And then we moved here with a very different configuration, with maximum downforce to prepare for Monaco. And the car seems to handle quite nicely. We are still learning about the car, which is the biggest thing for us and trying to validate all the systems and make sure we don't break anything.

"It's quote encouraging. We haven't had many problems and generally I'm quite happy."

The Frenchman admits he is looking forward to racing in Monaco, although he is aware that it will be very different in an F1 car.

Bourdais last raced at the principality in an F3000 car in 2002, when he won the event.

"Obviously Monaco for a Frenchman is very special," he said. "I've been quite fast there in F3000 and it's a track I really like, so I'm very much looking forward to it.

"I know in an F1 car the track is completely different, but I always like street courses and especially Monaco. I'm quite excited about the prospect of racing there."