Q & A with Sebastien Bourdais

Q. What do you think of what you've seen of Valencia so far?

Sebastien Bourdais: It is a new concept, I should say. It is wide and smooth, with beautiful asphalt - with walls on the edges! It reminds me a little bit of Las Vegas, which we had in Champ Car last year - although not the American way with big bumps and stuff like that. It is very wide as well, so it makes for a very different set-up.

Q. You've been through the learning process with new tracks in Champ Car. Could that be an advantage for you here?

SB: If I have an advantage, then good for me! I don't really expect one because I think everyone has the experience and the background to adapt quickly, but if it is an advantage for me then I will take it.

Q. How do you judge the season so far? It started off very well in Australia with some strong results, and then there was a bit of a dip...

SB: Yeah, there were two phases. We had the old car and I was feeling, at the beginning, not so strong believe it or not. In Australia I wasn't very happy with the setup, and we were still trying to find something. Throughout the winter we did some systematic changes, testing items, and we didn't really work on setup. I was never really that happy or comfortable in the car - but we started race-after-race to find some things that were good for me. And I think we reached a peak in Spain, where I was very happy with the car and we had a really good qualifying given the level of the car. We made it to Q2 and I was quite happy.

Then, after Turkey, we had the new car and obviously we had two complicated races for various reasons. Monaco could have been a great one but it went to hell, and in Montreal the track went to oblivion and I took it on me - I didn't feel comfortable given the surprise issues we had.

We then introduced the new aerodynamic package, and from there it became obvious that I was not a happy camper at all. The car has got a characteristic that is not to my liking. It is not that the car is quick or slow - it just doesn't suit my driving style or I don't suit it.

Q. Is it a handling thing?

SB: Yeah. The car has massive instability in the slow corners and it has got some understeer in the high-speed stuff, and that is pretty much two things I don't like about cars. The problem is that we cannot really find a fix with the setup. It is just the way the car is, and I am struggling.

Q. So what can you do? Can you change your style?

SB: That is what you do. You consistently try to do the best you can, and adapt when what you have is what you have. In the meantime, when you do it counter to your nature it is difficult. I am struggling, clearly.

Plus we spent the first three weekends, France, Silverstone and Hockenheim, trying to find some different concepts and we didn't find a solution - then you lose time, you look stupid and you get outqualified quite severely and then you have a bad weekend. Then in Hungary we had a clean weekend, we did what we could, we started to work a bit more on the details and it was a bit more competitive, and then we will see what happens here. But for sure, it is over to find big revolutions, we are just going to try and dial the little things and hopefully get a better and better feel with the car.

Q. So do you foresee a difficult end to the season?

SB: There is not going to be a revolution. It is not worth expecting it, it is not worth waiting for it - or even looking for it. We've run the setup enough now to know where the limits are, so unless an aero bit arrives that changes the aero configuration of the car it is going to be the way it is going to be. There are going to be some races where it is going to be better than others, depending on the track configuration and grip and things like that. And we will go from there.

Q. Is it frustrating that you have a car that you don't particularly like?

SB: It is never fun. When you are having to compose with a car that you don't do well with, it is never easy at the wheel. But what can I say? We do what we can, the team is doing its best and if we could find a solution, if we could develop our own things, then maybe we can do something. But we are kind of secondhand on the whole deal, so Mark is doing a fantastic job with it and Sebastian is quite happy. I don't know about David, I think he is not particularly super happy with the balance but is still dealing with it - and I seem to be the one who is having the toughest time to adjust to it. We will keep plugging away and see what we can do with it.

Q. What about in wet conditions?

SB: In the wet it is different. It is true. You see the setups are very different and you cannot really say that you are that much on the limit. You are on the limit but in different ways. These tyres obviously are not very forgiving and as soon as you have too much understeer or oversteer you get graining, and you lose confidence in the car - and it is very much an on-off situation. You lose confidence and from there it is gone. I can only hope that I can get a bit more comfortable in it, and keep on working on small details to get a better idea of what I need to do.

Q. Are you comfortable that team bosses Gerhard Berger and Franz Tost are aware of your issues, as they cast a thought to next year?

SB: Well, I am comfortable about nothing. In F1 people don't care about reasons or explanations, they look at results and teammate comparisons. So for sure, I need to be delivering better results - there is no question about it. But, not putting extra pressure on myself. If people want to understand they will understand, if they don't want to understand then there is nothing I can do about it. I will keep on doing my job and not think too much.

Q. What have they told you about next year?

SB: For the moment, nothing. But I think they were quite happy with what I did at the beginning, and for sure now it would be good to have a couple of good weekends to secure a seat for next year