Mateschitz: Bourdais the best option
Scuderia Toro Rosso team owner Dietrich Mateschitz has said that retaining Sebastien Bourdais for another season was the only genuine option to maintain their strong level of performance from 2008
Bourdais and Takuma Sato were both in contention for a place alongside Sebastien Buemi in the team, but Mateschitz says he valued having a driver return for a second season with them.
"There were no significant alternatives to Bourdais," he said. "Sato was doing well in testing, but he would have started where Bourdais started a year ago.
"Bourdais had some good races and very competitive qualifyings last season, but also some bad luck. When you invest in a driver for one year and he is doing reasonably well, it makes sense to work with him for another year. He has the potential to make the best of his second year."
Bourdais will take over testing duties at Jerez from Buemi tomorrow, which will be the first time he has driven the car since December 10.
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