Sebastien Bourdais

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Bourdais moved to Champ Car racing in the United States and joined Newman/Haas Racing for the 2003 CART season. At St. Petersburg, Florida, Bourdais became the first rookie since Nigel Mansell to claim pole position for his very first race. He did not finish higher than eleventh until his fourth race, when he led 95 laps en route to his first Champ Car victory at Brands Hatch. Bourdais followed this up with another victory at the Lausitzring. By the end of the season, he had earned five more podium finishes, including a win from the pole at Cleveland. With a runner-up finish in Mexico City, he clinched the Rookie of the Year title and finished fourth in the overall standings. Staying with Newman-Haas for 2004, Bourdais dominated the Champ Car series with seven wins and eight poles in his McDonald's-sponsored Lola, beating his teammate Junqueira by 28 points. His record also included podium finishes in ten out of fourteen events and qualifying results no lower than third all season. Bourdais successfully defended his Champ Car title in 2005 with five wins in six races towards the end of the season, again with the Newman-Haas/Lanigan team. That May, he also finished twelfth in his first Indianapolis 500. Bourdais won a third consecutive Champ Car title in 2006. His season began with four consecutive victories at Long Beach, Houston, Monterrey, and Milwaukee, although his winning streak was ended by the emergence of A. J. Allmendinger, who won three races in a row through the middle of the season. Bourdais responded with a commanding victory from pole at San Jose, leaving him leading the Champ Car points standings. However, an incident with his arch-rival Paul Tracy that knocked Bourdais out on the final lap of the following race in Denver, and a subsequent win by Allmendinger narrowed the gap between the two. Bourdais's win in Montreal and Allmendinger's DNF had widened his points lead to 62 points with three races left, and Bourdais clinched the championship at the next race in Surfers Paradise despite a weak performance in that race. Bourdais became the first Champ Car driver to win three consecutive titles since Ted Horn achieved the hat trick in 1948. Bourdais won a fourth consecutive Champ Car title in 2007 with victory at Lexmark Indy 300 on 21 October.

In Their Own Story

On 16 March 2008, Bourdais competed in his first Formula One Championship race, the 2008 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. After qualifying in seventeenth position, he took advantage of mistakes made by other drivers, in the first Formula One race since the 2001 San Marino Grand Prix without traction control, and worked his way up to fourth. However, with three laps remaining an engine problem forced Bourdais to retire, but he was still classified eighth having completed more than 90% of the race distance. He later inherited seventh place (and two Championship points) after the disqualification of Rubens Barrichello. Bourdais qualified ninth for the Belgian Grand Prix. During the race he quickly gained places and held on to fifth place for much of the distance, getting as high as third and was on course for a podium position. As the rain fell harder on the last lap he was overtaken by several cars on wet tyres and finished seventh. After the race, an emotional Bourdais was close to tears following the result. This marked his best weekend of the season and his first World Championship points since Melbourne. Bourdais qualified in fourth place for the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. However, his car would not select first gear on the grid and had to start from the pit lane, a lap down (as the race started behind the safety car, there was no warm-up lap). Although he eventually finished a lap behind the race winner, team-mate Vettel, he set the second-fastest lap of the race; only Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen went faster.

Reader's Guide

Bourdais has raced sports cars throughout his career, with spells at the Rolex Sports Car Series, American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, FIA World Endurance Championship. He was a Peugeot Sport factory driver from 2007 to 2011, finishing runner-up three times at his home race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Frenchman was a Ford Performance factory driver from 2016 to 2019, winning the GTE-Pro class at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans. He became a Cadillac factory driver in 2022. As of January 2025, he has won 76 races in total. Bourdais has frequently contested the famous 24-hour race of his hometown, entering for the first time in 1999 (aged only twenty) in a Porsche 911 GT2 run by L.

Did You Know?

• Bourdais won four successive championships in the Champ Car World Series from 2004 to 2007, becoming the first driver to win three consecutive titles since Ted Horn in 1948.
• He was paid US $70,000 to drive for Newman/Haas Racing in 2003.
• In his first Formula One race, the 2008 Australian Grand Prix, Bourdais qualified 17th but worked his way up to 4th before an engine problem forced him to retire with three laps remaining; he was classified 8th and later inherited 7th place after Rubens Barrichello's disqualification.
• Bourdais set the second-fastest lap of the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, only behind Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen, despite starting from the pit lane a lap down.
• Toro Rosso settled a breach of contract lawsuit with Bourdais by paying him $2.1 million to avoid litigation.