Bourdais expects big upsets in 2009

On the day his team's new STR4 was unveiled at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain, Bourdais believes there is every chance of his team continuing to be a thorn in the side of the manufacturer teams after their impressive 2008 campaign.

"It's always kind of true when you change regulations, everybody has their philosophy about designing cars," said Bourdais. "Some philosophies are not so right, and some are completely wrong. These days, designers and aerodynamicists seem to know what they have to do better than in the past.

"There are a lot of computer models and a lot of technical tools to get it right, but there is still room to make mistakes, and even the big boys are not safe. Potentially it could move the grid upside down a little bit, and hopefully we can move towards the front."

Bourdais says the first impressions of the team's new car are positive, which has given him confidence that he can deliver better results that he managed last year.

"I think the basis is quite strong; it seems to be a fairly balanced car," he said. "Obviously when you have so many things to go through, it's like every new car. You put it on the race track, and it seems like it's not too bad.

"So it's an encouraging start, but we definitely have a lot of things to try and balance adjustments we want to do, so it's going to be quite a hectic session for the whole team."

He added: "We'll do as well as we can. Obviously there is no limitation, so we'd like to score as many points as we can. If the team can sustain or improve, which seems quite difficult when you know who you need to beat to improve your classification, but if we can score as many points as we did last year as a team - and obviously if I can score more than last year - I'd be quite happy.

"It's always difficult to know where you sit, so to define your expectations is not an easy task because obviously we have just put the car on the racetrack. There are so many unknowns about the potential of everyone, including ourselves. Hopefully we will have a good season and score a lot of points; that's all I can say."