[TheMirror]

OK, so that's 2 Champcar championships and counting. Granted, the series is watered down talent wise, but its top level racing at the end of the day. Tough to think that guys like Tiago Monteiro, Christijan Albers, Montagny, etc. get the nod for F1 rides over Sebastien Bourdais.



Absolute domination on all types of courses, even stretching to his rookie year. The guy simply "has it". He's a 100 percenter.



Yet, Ralph Schumacher gets paid over 10 million dollars a year to spectacularly underachieve in a Toyota.



The retirement of Michael Schumacher will have major reverberations in the Formula 1 driver's market for years. Teams will increasingly take chances on the "next great driver", and that could give Bourdais his leapfrog shot at a great team. The struggle will be much greater if he tries to break in with a team like RBR, Sauber, or Toro Rosso.



Perhaps Williams' current weakness could be his gain, or perhaps McLaren. Renault surely must be interested in a native French speaker.



For Chrissake, he was born in LeMans and has won an IROC race!

F3000 Champion in 2002 and French F3 Champion in 1999!



How much more do you need?



Check out the credentials:

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/Drive...asp?ID=310



Thoughts?

-Mirror

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[tom968]

I haven't had the chance to see him race all that much, but your

right he does have the credentials and talent.



His best shot is probably with Renault if Alonso leaves at the end of the year,

and being French helps.



If he can't get a ride with a top team would he be willing to make

the switch to F1 and race in the mid pack?



It's not 100% certain Shumacher will retire at the end of this year. If

he does retire it opens up a lot of spots.

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[Mark]

Bourdais's probelm is he refuses to do a F1 test drive for a year. Champ/Indy don't carry much weight anymore, at least in F1 circles, and even the F2 and F3 depend more on your team for the championship so it is not the ticket it once was either. It also helps if you have $$$$ backing you up which is how at least two of the three you mentioned got their seats. Don't discount Sauber as a place to break in, even before BMW it wasn't a bad place to make your start and get noticed and they will be moving up over the next couple of years.

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[TheMirror]

Yeah, I can understand that. There arguements for and against being a test driver. The plusses are lots of seat time and a familiarity with the environment and a particular team. The minus is being a hostage of the driver employment environment; if a spot doesn't open up after a year, then what? Two years as a test driver in the prime of a driver's career isn't an altogether palatable situation. Very true that Champ/Indy car carries less weight than ever. His talent is just so remarkable though, it should be pretty clear to team owners that he should get a look.



No doubt about needing some $$$ though.



Cheers,

-Mirror

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