Q & A with Sebastien Bourdais
Sebastien Bourdais flew back to Europe between Champ Car races to complete his third test with Toro Rosso at Spa-Francorchamps this week
He talked to autosport.com about his impressions of the revised track, and how he would respond if he were offered a Formula One drive later this season.
Q. Did you learn more in this test?
Sebastien Bourdais: We found some interesting things on the tyres and it was pretty productive, we made some good progress. The conditions were changing so rapidly so we were not necessarily running the right tyres but it was good. We could understand few things. On the intermediates and on the wets, the car balance was good.
Q. Did you like the modifications on the track?
SB: The chicane was really slow. I have never been a big fan of chicanes to be honest. I think it is very artificial and I completely agree it does generate overtaking opportunities. It is quite tight and slow, it does encourage very very bold moves so let's see if it does not cause many crashes. We will see in a race weekend. Definitely it invites to a lot of action.
Q. What about the approach to the first hairpin?
SB: It has not changed all that much. The environment is the same, the walls are back, so that may be good, that may help to avoid chaos at the start. People are not afraid to hit the wall, it is a nice improvement, but you have the chicane, which used to go left and right is now right and left, and I really don't know if you gain much, or anything. It is still a chicane, we will see people react differently once their visor is down. It can become a bit hairy.
Q. Should an opportunity arise to race an F1 car this year, how do you feel? Would you be tempted?
SB: Well, it is impossible to say. You need to know what kind of conditions you will be racing under. I will give a thought, when you propose you have to think about it, but right now it has not even been proposed, so we have to wait and see. I doubt it will happen. I am pretty tied up with the Champ Car, I have got my own load of work, so it is pretty unlikely but anything could happen.
I have to be open, it is always difficult when you are doing a season already. When these opportunities arise there is always positives and negatives. You could be showing up at wrong moment. It is not often you get the Lewis (Hamilton) situation, you need to think it is the right moment for you to jump in the car.
Q. You said many times we have to wait and see see if you are good enough. How about Toro Rosso, is it good enough an offer for you?
SB: Quite honestly, I have always said, and I have been honest, I want to get into F1 in the best possible condition, and the best team I could. As it has been proved, the Lewis chance is very rare, and you have got it tough if it does not happen like that.
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