Q & A with Sebastien Bourdais

The man in the paddock with the most experience of both street racing and night events is Sebastien Bourdais, so who better for autosport.com to get the low down from about the track, the venue and that endless talk about the rain.

Q. So, what do you make of the track Sebastien?

Sebastien Bourdais: "I walked the track for the first time yesterday and they did a really good job. I am quite impressed. It is obviously a huge undertaking when you have to build from scratch, but I think they did really well.

"The only thing I am a bit bewildered by is the chicane (at Turn 10) that they have put together. I can see why they have done it because there is no run off there, and it would be a fast and open corner if you did not do something. But even so!

"We had a similar problem in Champ Car when they were trying to prevent cars from short-cutting chicanes at Monterrey. The (kerb) bumps were half the size of what they are right now and we were smashing the tubs there left and right. Since you don't go and buy a Lola or whatever it is these days in F1, you cannot really afford to damage cars. I haven't seen Charlie (Whiting, F1 race director) yet, but I am a bit surprised. There are fixes for this though.

"The pit entry also seems to be a bit dodgy. You will be running quite a bit quicker than the guy who is going to pit and you are all going to get to the same point because the entry is just hard left.

"So these are my only two concerns, otherwise the rest of the track is really nicely done. It is a nice track."

Q. You have had a lot of experience of street circuits and night races in Champ Car, how does this compare?

SB: "It is daylight! The most unbelievable job they have done is with the lighting. It is quite impressive. You have all these structures built around the place, all overhead. It's impressive, I have never seen anything like it."

Q. The Valencia street circuit design was criticised for simply being a braking and acceleration challenge. Will this place be different?

SB: "I think there are a couple of corners where it will be good. There are not only second gear corners here, they are going to have a bit more open corners than Valencia.

"But it is a street course, so it is always going to be 90-degree corners and things like this for the most part. It is always very difficult to predict. Quite a few guys have been running around on simulators, but we don't have that."

Q. What about the wet weather aspect? Are you worried by that?

SB: "I know what this kind of weather is like when it rains because I have been living in Florida for a long time, so for sure if it downpours like it can, then it might be a bit interesting. But let's hope not!

"It is not even a challenge then, it is only adequate for a boat rather than anything else when it rains around these places."

Q. What about your own performances recently. You had a good weekend at Spa and a great time at Monza until the start of the race. Do you feel things are coming together?

SB: "There is no difference really. Spa was very different, obviously, because of the track. And then we arrived in Monza and in the dry we were not particularly fast. I was very uncomfortable in the car, just like I had been before.

"But in the wet, every time we put wet tyres on the car for me it is not easy, but much easier to feel the car and get some kind of performance out of it. And it was the same thing with the STR2B - it did not matter if I was happy in the dry. Every time I put wet tyres on a wet track it was competitive."

Q. So you want more rain here then?

SB: "Yes, I would not be against it, quite clearly. There are only hard braking zones with a lot of braking needed on the way in, so I don't expect it to be easy at all."

Q. Was the Monza disappointment easy for you to get over?

SB: "It is like that this year, every time something can go wrong it does. Even in race one, I was P4 with two laps to go in Melbourne and we lost the driveshaft.

"It has been like this the whole season, so it has been the worst year for me in terms of success. And I am not talking about winning races or anything - just to materialise what is achievable. It is quite frustrating, but what do you want to do?

"In racing you have good seasons and bad seasons and it doesn't really seem like this when it is a good one! But if I get the chance to stay a second year, it will be good. My first year in Champ Car was just as miserable, although it wasn't the same kind of density. We had so many failures the first year, I can't even put them on one hand."

Q. What have Toro Rosso said to you about a decision for next year?

SB: "I don't know. It seems like we are on the same page. We are talking about the end of September. We will see what happens after this.

"I haven't really talked about it with them since we last talked, but it doesn't really change anything as far as I am concerned. If I get something, and get a decision from them, then the waiting game is over. But for now we are just waiting for the end of September and then we will see what sort of time frame we are working to."