IndyCar to F1 gone wrong - Sebastien Bourdais’ failed F1 stint

After dominating over in America, Sebastien Bourdais made his long awaited F1 debut in 2008, and there was a lot of expectation surrounding him. However, his stint in F1 would end up being a disaster, which lead to him being sacked halfway through 2009. In this video, I go through his F1 stint, and why it didn't work out for him.
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[@statto300]

I always remember Bourdais in Champ Car with that iconic McDonalds livery

[@ivaneurope]

Bourdais was dominating in an era when ChampCar was a shell of its former self - this was a time when the Indy Racing League (formed in 1996 by Tony George as a FU to CART) was getting the upper hand as now it had the top marquee teams like Penske, Andretti (f.k.a. Team Green) and Ganasi along with their sponsors like Marlboro and Target while Honda and Toyota also jumped ship, because all of them want to race at the Indy 500. Sure, ChampCar still had Newman-Haas, Forsythe and Ford still hanging around, but it wasn't the same as the glory days of CART in the 90's when it could even rival F1 in terms of popularity. With depleting entries ChampCar had no choice but to merge with the IRL (which by then was using the Indycar name) in 2008.
In Toro Rosso Bourdais was always going to be the odd one out - this team was supposed to nurture the next talents coming from the Red Bull Academy (at least in the first years of existence). Not only that he was too old, but also outside from the Academy (the last non-Red Bull affiliated driver until Sergio Perez) which would be always a disadvantage. Not to mention that he was paired with Vettel, who would become a 4-time Formula One World Champion with 50+ wins under his belt and was the main focus of Red Bull at the time.

[@Midtable1881]

He was unlucky but god that 2008 Toro Rosso is a good looking car.

[@lonewolf2513]

Bourdais was put on this earth to drive Indycars and Prototypes.

[@rhodriedwardwilliams]

Totally disagree he did a solid Job in F1 especially against Vettel

[@lonewolf2513]

He did ok. But the man was meant to race over here.

[@Scorpio19110]

If F1 technology advances to have cars easier for older drivers to drive, then older drivers will not be as overlooked as they are currently. Frentzen was 27 when he joined and had a relatively successful career for a midfield driver, notwithstanding the one time he drove a championship winning car. Palou may have done a solid effort in F1, even if it meant not staying at McLaren for more than a season or two.
Back on topic: Bourdais had the unfortunate situation of sometimes not having much competition, either Newman-Haas were stronger, or other teams had a worse lineup that couldn’t challenge him. One couldn’t really say whether he would have landed an F1 drive if ChampCar had the drivers IRL had.

[@ivaneurope]

Paul Newman and Carl Haas were one of the few to remain loyal to CART/Champ Car during the series' darkest days, while the other big names such as Penske, Ganassi, Andretti and Rahal decided to defect to the other side (i.e. Tony George and the IRL). And considering that Newman-Haas was the only one of CART's top dogs remaining it was a cakewalk - sure, Gerald Forsythe's team was still there with Paul Tracy (a notorious powder keg and the only driver to defeat Bourdais, which was in 2003) and other smaller teams like RSPORTS (founded by Paul Gentilozzi and Carl Russo) with Justin Wilson, Team Australia with Will Power (and Simon Pagenaud in 2007) and Minardi USA (Paul Stoddart entered the series under the Minardi name with Keith Wiggins' HVM Racing) with Robert Doornbos did offer some resistance over the years, but they were no match for Newman-Haas and Bourdais.

[@Jasongilliar]

Great video, great work

[@davidmarecek1754]

5:28 the 2002 F3000 championship ended up being quite a farce (and I'm not saying it just for being Czech and having bias towards Enge), not only because of the Enge failing drug test in Hungary, but also because Pantano could've won it as well, if not for Coloni (Pantano's team that year) shenanigans in Spain.

[@bartomiejczerwinski5897]

What shenanigans in Spain? Pantano won in Spain that year.

[@davidmarecek1754]

@@bartomiejczerwinski5897 shoot, my bad. I thought I heard somewhere that he was being held up by his teammate in Spain, but actualy it was Hungary again.

[@axemanracing6222]

Racing IndyCar feels legit these days. F1 is a shell of its former self. I remember those times when they changed the rules every year to break Schumacher's dominance. Since the frozen rules (2014-2020) with a superior car on the grid for years to come, F1 wasn't F1 anymore. I'm still watching but only to be angry about inconsistency and politics.

[@Charlzrp]

however

[@potatogirlcultist19]

Main takeaway from the video: Weed makes you drive fast. If not so, why would they have disqualified Mr. Egne?

[@ralphe5842]

How about Michael Andretti

[@ic3man]

9:20 Junqueira Nazareth 2001 was at the time most recent rookie to get pole position.

[@lonewolf2513]

I believe he meant the first rookie to do so in his first career start

[@ic3man]

@@lonewolf2513 ah. Interesting fact: most recent driver today to get pole on debut is Robert Wickens 2018 St. Pete. Bourdais won

[@DJDouglasWarden]

You can't say Thomas wasn't idiot for taking the substance that day period when it comes to cannabis, you can smoke a joint and still test positive for it.30 days later period I find it hypocritical that raising organizations ban a natural plant.That doesn't even affect the way you drive but it's okay to celebrate drinking alcohol

[@AdamHinckley]

24:01 don't forget that he went to sportscars afterwards *EDIT* you did talk about it few seconds later *EDIT 2* think he won Le Mans prior to 2016 with Peugeot lmp1

[@lonewolf2513]

Nope his best finish with that squad was 2nd

[@AdamHinckley]

@@lonewolf2513 I thought he did win one year

[@lonewolf2513]

@@AdamHinckley with the Ford GT but not overall