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Crunch time for Bourdais
Topic Started: Aug 29 2008, 03:51 PM (211 Views)
RJHSaints
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http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=43761

Quote:
 
Toro Rosso co-owner Gerhard Berger says Sebastien Bourdais must now prove he deserves a second year of Formula 1, having admitted that the team's 2009 driver line-up is currently "open".

Bourdais has been out-paced by team-mate Sebastian Vettel for the majority of his first F1 season, and with Vettel destined for the senior Red Bull team next year, Berger said it was now time for Bourdais to show his true capability and earn his seat for 2009.

"In Formula 1 you have to give someone half a year of time before you start to judge him," Berger told the official F1 website.

"The half year is over and he is now in a situation where he has to prove his talents.
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Berger added that whoever takes Vettel's drive had a hard act to follow.

"Sebastian has helped us a lot to get the right atmosphere back," he said.

"We had been really struggling with Scott Speed and Tonio Liuzzi last year, but he has proved what the team is able to do and has done it in a very nice way, with us, with the engineers, with everybody.


Maybe the fact that the atmosphere at the team was shit last year had a small amount to do with the fact that STR treated both their drivers dreadfully. <fu>

I really hope they leave F1 soon, Berger has been a right b@st@rd as a boss and they're a nothing team - no ambition, potential or identity.

Would be a shame to lose Bourdais though as I think he has talent and it is good to have a Frenchman back on the grid. Also, considering how much some rate Vettel, Bourdais has generally been in the region of 0.1-0.2 secs off his pace, which is not bad.
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John
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having lost Vettel are they ready to replace both drivers...
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TheCompleteGuitarist
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With such small gaps spreading the field this year it would be foolish to jump to conclusions based on postion IMO.
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RJHSaints
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John,Aug 29 2008
05:05 PM
having lost Vettel are they ready to replace both drivers...

They didn't seem to mind kicking out Liuzzi and Speed within a few weeks of each other.
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Rams
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Bourdais hasn't really been close to Vettel since they got the RB4. I'm still undecided, he's definately racing for his future in the next few GPs.

Who are the candidates to replace him? Berger will want to replace him with an experianced driver. Davidson and Sato... are they really any better? Barrichello would be good if he gets booted out of Honda.
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RJHSaints
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Bourdais was pretty close at the last GP. He lost time in the first stint of the race because of a front wing problem, but was pretty close throughout the rest of the weekend.

Barrichello's seat should be safe now it seems Alonso will not be joining Honda next year.
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Rams
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Being close in the practice sessions only just isn't good enough and doesn't make any difference. When it's mattered, Bourdais hasn't been particularly close to Vettel at all.
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RJHSaints
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Well the fastest laps were less than 0.15 secs apart last Sunday. And, according to you, that is a good indicator of pace. Make what you will of that.
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Rams
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Pace in clear air, yes. But Bourdais wasn't running in clean air often, because he made a poor start and qualified too badly. He finished 30 seconds behind Vettel which isn't good enough, and he's been saying that was his best race!
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TheCompleteGuitarist
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I think Bourdias needs more time than most to adjust. I'd say he's doing a better relative job than Piquet who knows F1 cars, SB is new to driving F1 and I expect it's a very different experience.
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RJHSaints
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Rams,Aug 29 2008
06:42 PM
Pace in clear air, yes. But Bourdais wasn't running in clean air often, because he made a poor start and qualified too badly. He finished 30 seconds behind Vettel which isn't good enough, and he's been saying that was his best race!

Well, you've described Raikkonen as being in a class of his own due to the fact that he set loads of fastest laps, despite him suffering from the very same thing in relation to his team mate!
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Rams
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I've described Raikkonen as being a class of his own in clean air <thumbsup>

I never said his current performances were good.
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