Do you think Sebastien Bourdais deserves a shot in F1?

If a quarterback plays well in Division II football, does that mean he'll be good in I-A football? No. They're completely different animals.

 

In that case list the championships all the current F1 drivers have won in other series. After all they're in F1 and it's the tops so every driver there must have kicked a lot of butt in another series in order to make it, right?

Nobody in their right mind is going to argue that Bourdais doesn't have more talent than at least some of the doofus drivers in F1.

 

ChampCar cannot be compared to F1. It does not compete with F1. CART actually did at one point. You'll notice that there are many drivers that win go-kart championships in their teens, but don't make it to F1. Just because you win in one series, it does not mean you "deserve" the opportunity to drive in F1.

He has money. He can pay for his seat if he wants. The problem is, he doesn't want to follow the normal F1 career path. The majority of the drivers paid for their ride in some way (either cash or sponsors). I doubt he wants to pay for a seat in a Super Aguri because he's probably aiming for a seat in a top team. Ain't gonna happen.

 

Agree with that.
Access to an F1 seat is a lottery.

Bourdais must at least be as fast as 1/3 of the present field, and faster than another 1/3, but that's not enough to get a seat in F1.
If he was really desperate to do F1, I presume that he could beg for a testing role in one of the lower teams, but even then, their choice of drivers is sometime dictated by the sponsors, national interest, cost, etc... What about Albers, Doornbos, Luizi, Sato, Yamamoto, Ide, Kartyhayan, etc... Do/did they deserve to be in F1? Answer is No.

 

I think he deserves at least a test by a 2nd tier team (like Williams or Toyota). However, I doubt that anyone in F1 really cares what I think!

Wasn't he all set to go with Prost right before the team folded?

 

He has been offered testing roles on teams, but he wants a straight shot to a race seat. No decent F1 team is going to put an unproven driver in a car he has never driven before. Everyone else usually goes to a small team, or works their way up as a test driver.

 

The 27-year-old, winner of the now-defunct F3000 championship in 2002, tested for Arrows and was offered a drive by them before they folded at the end of that year.

He told L'Equipe that several teams had been interested in taking him on as a test driver but with no guarantees of an eventual race seat.

copied from autosport, No i dont know what other teams have offered him seats

 

This test driver thing is relatively new, like the team third car on Friday practice.
If you can't get a driving seat in F1, better look somewhere else.

Testing miles after miles like Badoer at Ferrari and Wurz at McLaren have done for years alone on a track, certainly denotes your abilities to drive fast, develop a car, and so on, but it's not an actual measure of your skill as a racer, is it?

At 27, Bourdais don't want to spend another 3 years testing without any promise of a drive. At the end he is a racer who likes to collect trophies, not a 'civil servant' who counts the laps and pockets a cheque.

 

Whoa, Pandora's box. I could argue that Kanaan, Castroneves, Hornish, Andretti Jr., etc, are just as good if not better. rankly I put Champ Car behind IRL in the racing food chain. And then I would also add that Jeff Gordan and Tony Stewart actually better than any of the Champ Car drivers. You can not be so myopic as to think only a European series has talented drivers.

 

But Briatore only favors drivers he manages anyway.... how about that as a conflict of interest.

Bourdais won an F3000 championship which is no easy task and that in and of it self provides evidence he can at least be better than half the current F1 drivers. Champ cars are clearly no spring board for any thing right now and unless he's willing to sacrifice a lot Bourdais will never race in F1. It's a shame but such is life as a driver........

However, Fisichella most likely will not shine at Renault anyway so at this point employing Bourdais at Renault could at least have some upside potential.

 

There a lot of people who deserve a shot...why not??

 

Because he wears glasses and no in F1 does.

 

ROFL

made my day

 

He's obviously fast enough. Champcar is pretty much the fastest thing out there besides F1. He's dominated it for the past 3 years (racing against ex-F1 talent). There are few other non-F1 racers that I would place before him in driving talent.

 

Excellent. Dan K. great points about Cart vs. IRL.

 

He is F1 material. I would apply as a test driver and see what happens next. If nothing happens after 2 years, do something else....Champ Car again or 24h LeMans.
In life you don't always get the easy route, even if you have trophies to show it.

 

I respect the man's talent, but I voted he does not deserve a shot in F1. My reason for feeling this way is his attitude. He won't make the move without a drive in a decent team. Other drivers have paid their dues as testers and what not and have made their own breaks that way. He can't expect to get a race seat right away. The cars are very different animals. I feel if he really wants to be in F1, he should take a testing spot with a team, learn the car, and work his way into a race seat as most others have. I honestly can say I don't feel bad for him not being given a race seat without taking a testing role first.

Mark

 

And by the same token, an All-American in Div I doesn't mean he will make it in the NFL, and I've seen an awful lot of players in Div. I that probably should not even be in Div. II..... and I photographed in the Big 8 conference for 11 years. (of course now it is the Big 12).

We are not saying Sebastien will MAKE IT in F1 - we are discussing if he deserves a SHOT at it. To me, that means TESTING for a week or two before he would make the actual jump - based on how well he tests.

What did Nico Rosberg do to get into an F1 car ? Where is everyone that says these guys with last names of Senna and Piquet deserve a shot ?

*I* deserve a shot at buying an Enzo - but that doesn't mean I'm going to actually buy one.

 

+1, Exactly right, but then again everyone is given a shot at stealing an Enzo but not everyone takes the chance.

 

Can you blame him?
Jacques Villeneuve moved from CART to Williams F1 without spending years testing.
Juan Pablo Montoya did the same. Zanardi came back from CART to Williams the same way.
I didn't see Nico Rosberg spend years testing either.

I think that when a top team starts offering you a testing role, it's a way of telling you they don't really value you.

Look at Anthony Davidson that some journos were raving about only a few years ago; after years of testing for Honda, all he can get is a lousy seat at Super Aguri. Thanks but no thanks.

I truly believe that apart from one or two exceptions, these testing jobs are dead-end. What you want is a proper ride, even in a mid-field team.

Also, is F1 really the pinacle of motorsport as some say? Better climbing regularly on a podium in a 'lower' form of motorsport, than never be among the 10 first finishers in GP. Champcar is just the ticket for Bourdais.

 

Why would an accomplished team give SB a race seat though, he has never been driven an F1 car before and I presume there are a number of differences between them. It also might be strange to have a team to pick a driver from outside the "comfort zone" of the current driver pool. If he really wanted to be in F1 he would have gone to GP2 like many other drivers or taken a testing seat.