Goodbye Bourdais

[toto1041]

good racer. not good enough!

[ISLAMATRON]

"Paul Tracy, a bitter rival during Sebastien Bourdais' successful prior career in the United States, has said he is "not surprised" Toro Rosso fired the Frenchman half-way into his second formula one season. "The guy was a misery even when he had the best car and was winning everything, so I guess he's been pretty unbearable this last 18 months," the Canadian wrote in his racer.com blog."

constant negativity never helps

[Gonner]

As a french man, I'm very sad to see that we, again, have no more drivers in Formula1.

Alain Prost was right, Seb didn't behave the way drivers are supposed to act, he was saying what he thought. But, I was disappointed too by his results.

About PT's comment, I'll say that Bourdais was a perfectionnist, if Tracy thinks that doing the best to get the best car is whining, well he confirms he's better at fighting outside of a car than inside it.

[ConsFW]

If they are going to sack Bourdais, then why didn't they just hire Sato over Bourdais in the first place ?

Because based on their shootout, they found Bourdais to be the better of the two for whatever variables they had in mind. If they fired Bourdais, they may have fired Taku earlier.

Also, Seb B had an unknown variable, and a proven ability in another series, where Sato has already come and gone twice to not a lot of impressive results.

I disagree. Of the three in the shootout - Bourdais, Buemi, Sato - Sato had the fastest lap time with the least experience, having been out of an F1 car for something like 6 months whereas Bourdais and Buemi had experience with the Toro Rosso chassis.

Also, Sato's performance in the Honda was actually fairly impressive, especially in 2004 (he struggled a bit in 2005), his speed was overshadowed by a few mistakes (statistically no more than other rookies) and also plagued by engine failures, with several good performances cut short by blown engines.

His time in Super Aguri really showed his maturity and speed in vastly inferior machinery. Highlights of these are his pass on Alonso for 6th position in Canada 07, his 2007 Q3 qualifying in Australia. He also came up with the strategy of running one lap with the 'bad' option tire under the safety car, then pitting and changing back to the optimum tire.

It is a bit ironic that Sato was named "Unsung Hero of the Year" in 2006 by the Red Bulletin, Redbull's F1 paddock newsletter. The newsletter praised his perseverance and ability to perform in a small, underfunded team with inferior equipment.

[Giblet]

But Sato was in Davidson's shadow for the 2nd half of 2007. Sato's performance reached a plateau, where Davidson kept improving all season.

One memorable bonzai pass, where Alonso had no interest in dicing in a corner with a driver who is known to be erratic, when a championship was on the line, does not a good driver make.

Nothing against Sato, but I have him on the "meh" list for now. Bourdais proved me wrong with his performances though (I used to think he was on it), and maybe Taku with his peaky performances and random offs would have lasted longer, who knows?

Let's see how Alguersuari does. Sounds like he might be a corker.

[ConsFW]

But Sato was in Davidson's shadow for the 2nd half of 2007. Sato's performance reached a plateau, where Davidson kept improving all season.

One memorable bonzai pass, where Alonso had no interest in dicing in a corner with a driver who is known to be erratic, when a championship was on the line, does not a good driver make.

Nothing against Sato, but I have him on the "meh" list for now. Bourdais proved me wrong with his performances though (I used to think he was on it), and maybe Taku with his peaky performances and random offs would have lasted longer, who knows?

Let's see how Alguersuari does. Sounds like he might be a corker.

I don't see how Sato was ever in Davidson's shadow... In '07 Sato finished in front of Davidson 12 races to 5, counting retirements. Not counting races where one of the drivers retires, Sato finished in front of Davidson 7 races to 2. The two were also teammates in British F3, so their history goes back before F1. There, Sato won the championship, outperformed Davidson, and set a record number of wins in a single season. I don't see how that can be construed as being in Davidson's shadow. Davidson also never managed to score a point in the Super Aguri, while Sato scored four. Coincidentally, Bourdais also only managed four points in '08 while driving a better designed, race winning Toro Rosso.

[ISLAMATRON]

Sato was clearly better than Ant at SAR, but he did have more experience in the car.

Sato was very impressive when he tested for STR, but I dont think he could come up with the money they wanted, but I really wasnt under the impression that Seb was bringing any money to the team at all.

[modbaraban]

Sato was clearly better than Ant at SAR, but he did have more experience in the car.

Not really. Sato outscored Ant only because canadian beavers were on his side.

Plus STR are neither a japanese nor a very wealthy team, so Sato would be a too expensive option if you take spare parts into account.

[mx_tifoso]

Let's see how Alguersuari does. Sounds like he might be a corker.

STR have made it clear that it doesn't matter how Alguersuari does this season,as he has the sufficient funds to complete the season no matter what he accomplishes. The money issue has been front and center when it comes to the drivers at STR, Bourdais reiterated that fact right after he got canned.

And with a reported 2M in sponsorship backing, the [way too] young Spaniard is more than a good enough business deal. That's probably more than what some rookie drivers earn per season if lady luck goes their way.

[ConsFW]

Sato was clearly better than Ant at SAR, but he did have more experience in the car.

Not really. Sato outscored Ant only because canadian beavers were on his side.

Plus STR are neither a japanese nor a very wealthy team, so Sato would be a too expensive option if you take spare parts into account.

[ConsFW]

Sato was clearly better than Ant at SAR, but he did have more experience in the car.

Not really. Sato outscored Ant only because canadian beavers were on his side.

Plus STR are neither a japanese nor a very wealthy team, so Sato would be a too expensive option if you take spare parts into account.

I think Ant had more incidents/broken parts than Sato. He most certainly had more retirements. How many times has Sato crashed out at Super Aguri? He was actually very consistent, but I guess people think it's funnier to make a caricature of him as a crasher. Those jokes are getting stale.

[Michiba]

I think that pic just shows that the team trusted sato more when it came to evaluating the different setups than ant...

[Washngo]

Sato and Davidson were both pretty average. But Sato was better. At least Sato, who was --- most of the time, had flashes of brilliance. Davidson was a bore a minute. Never did anything interesting.

[jddh1]

I think that pic just shows that the team trusted sato more when it came to evaluating the different setups than ant...

I think they had overstock of the number 2 livery and ran out of #3.

[Ray]

Taku may have banged up alot of racecars, but at least the guy had balls and would actually race other people. He was a bit of a wildcard but very entertaining.