Unfinished Business

A clashing IRL race in Kansas kept a lot of the big names away from the United States Grand Prix, but a free weekend enabled some of the Champ Car drivers to take a look around the Formula One paddock. Among them was double champion Sebastien Bourdais, who did the rounds of the team bosses and made sure they knew he was still looking for a way to finally make it into F1.

Back in 2002, the Frenchman won the FIA F3000 title and then famously failed to land a role with Renault, despite a test at the end of the season. Later he complained that he'd been a victim of politics and had suffered from not being willing or able to agree a personal management deal with Flavio Briatore's company. Frank Montagny, in contrast, did sign up, and got the job.

Bourdais turned his attention to Champ Car, and is well on course for a hat trick of titles. He couldn't really do any more to convince the world of his talent, but of course the clock is ticking, there are new names coming along all the time, and success in the US is not widely regarded as a true benchmark of ability in the F1 paddock.

But he hasn't given up hope, and anything is still possible. Just a few minutes after talking to autosport.com at Indy on race morning, he was in deep conversation with Briatore and Renault engineering guru Pat Symonds.

If Heikki Kovalainen is promoted to a race seat, the team will need a test driver. Could Bourdais yet have a chance with the organisation that once spurned him? Flavio has always downplayed the need to have a Frenchman in the camp, but it would certainly be a PR victory, both internally and externally.

Q: You've been very busy talking to team bosses. What did you hope to achieve by coming here?

Bourdais: "Just checking things out. At the very beginning I wanted to be here, and I didn't really change my target. There wasn't anything for me after 2002, so I went to the US and won a few championships. I'd just like to get a chance to do something here. Is it going to happen? I have no idea, but I'm trying."

Q: What sort of reaction have you got from people? Are they fully aware of what you've been doing in America?

Bourdais: "Yeah, it's funny because there are so many people who ask me, 'so when are you going to make it here?' Obviously if it was in my hands it would be done already!

"It's all about opportunities, and right now there are not so many that I can be a pretender for. There might be a few, but the list of drivers is long, and it's a little difficult for me, because being in the US it's kind of tough to be there week-in, week-out, always showing up. It's easy for me to come to Indy, but I can't make it to most of the races as we've got clashes."

Q: You don't have anyone helping you in Europe?

Bourdais: "David [Sears, driver manager and GP2's Super Nova team owner] is keeping an eye on how things are going, but at the end of the day he's got his own things to do. Also, I think there's a lot to be said for how much credit they give to what I do in the US.

"A lot of people think it's not that high a level series, and if they put that up front it's kind of tough anyways. It's not F1, but I won F3000 and I had to go and find something else. There's nothing in between GP2 or F3000 and F1 other than Champ Car. It's just a little difficult.

"At the end you sometimes feel, is it that they don't want me to be there, or do they think I'm just not good enough? But in the mean time if they don't test me, how do they know if I'm good enough or not? I don't know. It doesn't mean it's not going to happen, but it's not easy, or it would have been done a long time ago."

Q: Is that basically what you've been asking - any chance I can have a test to show what I can do?

Bourdais: "Obviously before you think about having a relationship with anybody, you need to get a real feel for what's going on. Every time I've jumped in a car it's been pretty successful. It's my best shot probably just to get in a good car, drive, and work with a team, and they might like it. And if they do, it might open up something else."

Q: What's your feeling about the reaction you've got from the top teams?

Bourdais: "There's no feeling, it's basically just spreading the word around that this is very much what I want to do, and to have them very well aware of that. Some people could think 'he's in the US, he's winning, he's making decent money, and he's happy with that'. Yes, I'm happy with that, but it's not what I want to do for the rest of my career. I really want to get to F1 and show what I can do here. I'm still very much a European."

Q: Would you give up Champ Car to take a test drive? For example, Dan Wheldon turned down BMW because he wasn't guaranteed a race seat for 2007, so Robert Kubica got the deal

Bourdais: "It's obviously very difficult, because there is absolutely no guarantee that you'll get a chance after that, so you give up what you have in the US, take a third driver role, and if it works out - great; if it doesn't, you gave up what you had, and you don't have anything left here. It's a little bit of a gamble, but with most of the top teams anyway there is no easy way in."

Q: Don't you feel that you could come back to America if F1 didn't work out, like Cristiano da Matta did?

Bourdais: "Look at how Cristiano got in [at Toyota] in the first place. There aren't so many teams, that's the truth. And how did he come back? He was at Coyne Racing, not getting paid, not getting anything. That's not racing, that's just doing a hobby. Then he got a break because AJ [Allmendinger] got fired. But a lucky break you don't get every year.

"The chances are, if you leave America, there is no guarantee that you'll find something else if you decide to come back. But at some point you've got to pick a horse and go for it. It's all about your own feelings and your own perspective, whether you decide to go or you don't. If you go, you go 100%. Otherwise you stay where you are."

Q: What do you say to people who think your series is not that competitive?

Bourdais: "I can't say anything. When I come to the F1 paddock, I don't say I'm the big boss, I won this, I won that. All I can ask for is a test just to have a chance to show what I can do in an F1 car. Every time I jumped in a car I convinced easily, so that's all I'm asking for, just a fair shot.

"And if I can do that, then it will be in my hands. If they like it, great; if they don't, they can throw me away in the trash and I'll stay where I am. Then at least it won't feel like unfinished business. Right not it really feels like it is, because I never had a fair shot at it."

Q: You did that test with Renault at Jerez in December 2002, but it didn't work out. Is that still one of the big frustrations in your career?

Bourdais: "No, I think the test was very successful. I was just as fast as Fernando [Alonso] and [Jarno] Trulli that day. Maybe they were not trying, I don't know, but I was plenty fast, and that wasn't the problem. It's just they didn't have anything to offer at that time.

"They already had Allan McNish for Fridays [in 2003]. I was looking for a job, for something to do full time, and they had 10 days of testing to offer. So it could never have been an option anyway.

"It's all about timing, and everyone knows it in F1. You can be a very good driver, and if you don't arrive at the right time, at the right place, you won't find anything."

Q: You had a bit of a situation with Flavio. We know he's not always an easy guy to deal with when it comes to drivers...

Bourdais: "I think a lot has to be said, but the truth is it's the past. The French press has been very bad about it, too. They were trying to criticise his position through my case and my example, because I wasn't Flavio's driver, and they hated the fact that he was a manager and a team manager.

"The truth is, somebody at Renault said he was OK with that, and at the end of the day, why were they bitching at Flavio? He was just smart enough to put himself in a monopoly situation, which is very fair if you can succeed in doing it.

"I think the worse thing that can happen in the F1 side is to have enemies, and if they're as powerful as Flavio, you're starting off very bad. I called him the other day, and we talked a little bit. I don't think there is much left on the table. What's the past is the past, and everybody is trying to move on. If there is something to be done in the future, he's very smart and very clever, and if I happen to be one of his solutions, then I'm sure we can work something out. Again, it's all going to be about timing, and what he wants to do."

Q: Basically you weren't able to be managed by Flavio because you already had someone...

'Yes, because when I signed with Super Nova [for F3000] it was also part of the deal. So I was already signed with David."

Q: You also had some dealings with Tom Walkinshaw and Arrows in 2002

Bourdais: "It was pretty much done. We had a pre-contract, and I did a day and a half testing that summer. The problem was that the team was in such a bad shape, and we never got the pre-contract back because the thing folded, and that was the end of that."

Q: Have you enjoyed the whole experience of becoming successful and famous in America?

Bourdais: "I don't race for fame, but it comes from results, so for sure it's a good thing! We've had our share of very good results. I'm having a very good time driving the McDonald's car, and the Newman-Haas team is a great organisation to be part of, it's very much a family. I'm having a great time. When every weekend you're a contender for race wins and championships, it's all a driver can ask for, I think. I'd very much like to achieve that here, but it's just not that easy."

Q: Does the IRL appeal at all?

Bourdais: "I don't like the fact that they race on these 1.5-mile ovals flat out, like we did in Vegas once. I just think it's stupid and dangerous, and it doesn't require skill. It's all about how fast your car is going to go. You put your trust in your engineers - which is fine with us, because we have a very good engineering department, but it's not my definition of racing, really.

"To me, there are too many of these races in the IRL right now, and the car seems to be a little unsafe. I wasn't too impressed seeing Bruno [Junqueira] crash in Indy, and see the car evaporate. It's a tough deal, but right now I've got no real reason to switch to IRL, because I'm with Newman-Haas in Champ Car."

Q: Whatever happens with the merger, do you think you could have a career here for another 10 or 15 years?

Bourdais: "Maybe, we don't know what the future of open-wheel racing is going to be in the US as far as merger or no merger is concerned. Probably if I wanted to stay in the US for another 10 years, I could do so. But it isn't really what I want to do.

"Like everybody else, I want challenges, I want to be competitive, I want to race at the level I'm supposed to be racing. If it has to be America, it's going to be America, but I still want to believe that I stand a shot of racing in F1."

Q: And you're free at the end of this year?

Bourdais: "I can accept options in F1. I'm allowed to be a little flexible on what I do next year, so if I have a shot, I'll be able to do it."

Q: You're 27. Do you feel that it's now or never for F1?

Bourdais: "The window is very narrow, that's for sure."

Q: Have the teams been asking you how old you are?

Bourdais: "Yes, but they also answer 'still young,' which I'm sure in the back of their minds it's not! But I know very well that I won't make it at 30 years old. I still look very young..."

Q: Finally, do you think you've made serious contacts that you can now pursue?

Bourdais: "Definitely. You don't need to see people every day to be able to proceed in discussions and negotiations.

"But, again, once you come here and establish the contact and people know that you are out there, at some point either they are interested, and you'll stay in touch by one way or another, or they're not interested, and you can try as hard as you want and it won't change a damn thing anyway!"

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- The Autosport.com Team

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