Bourdais critical of Renault

The Frenchman told the Sports daily L'Equipe on Monday that his new contract with the Newman Haas team in the U.S. series had a clause allowing him to test F1 at any time should a chance come along.

Bourdais, who tested for Arrows in 2002 and was offered a drive before that team folded, said it would be hard to keep his hopes alive after 2007: "I'll be 28. And you don't break into F1 when you're 30."

He was critical of French carmaker Renault, winners of both Formula One titles this season with 24-year-old Spaniard Fernando Alonso taking the drivers' crown.

"I don't expect anything from Renault. They have done enough bad-mouthing about me," he said.

"And (Renault F1 president) Patrick Faure's provocative comments on French drivers show they are looking for a reason to justify their policy not to recruit a French driver," he added.

"I don't know the real reasons and, in the end, I don't really care. I just want them to leave me in peace. They should stop having fun demolishing all the French drivers.

"That's the most frustrating thing," he continued. "They won in F1 this year and, sincerely, I say 'Bravo'. I also win and they should also say 'Bravo', even if they are not interested in working with me."

France was left without a regular Formula One driver for the first time in 40 years when Olivier Panis, now a test driver for Toyota, retired at the end of the 2004 season.

France's Franck Montagny was Renault test driver this year but said last month he was leaving the team.

Bourdais, who has competed regularly in the Le Mans 24 Hour sportscar race and won the now-defunct F3000 championship in 2002, said he had talked to several Formula One teams including Williams, BAR and most recently BMW.

"For a while I was pretty optimistic but there was a problem with (Jacques) Villeneuve's contract," he said. Canadian Villeneuve has a year remaining at the Sauber team, which BMW have bought.