Well it's Official: Bourdais Out, Alguersuari In!
 

It's sad b/c I liked Bourdais a lot. With all the time he spent in Champ Car, I saw him as the closest we were going to get to an American in F1. Hopefully, he'll get a seat with one of the new teams in 2010. The part about Sebastien Loeb at the end of this article is very interesting.

Alguersuari gets nod for Hungary debut

By Jonathan Noble Monday, July 13th 2009, 09:54 GMT

Jaime Alguersuari will become the youngest Formula 1 driver in history when he makes his debut for the Scuderia Toro Rosso team as replacement for Sebastien Bourdais at the Hungarian Grand Prix, AUTOSPORT has learned.

Following a weekend of speculation about Bourdais' future, on the back of a disappointing first half to the campaign, Toro Rosso is expected to confirm within the next 48 hours that it has decided to part company with the Frenchman.

And although the team has decided that reigning British F3 champion Alguersuari will be slotted into the seat alongside Sebastien Buemi, an announcement confirming the plan is not expected until after the Spaniard has finished competing in this weekend's World Series by Renault race at Le Mans.

Toro Rosso has decided to give the youngster the race opportunity in spite of his lack of experience as it is the only way for him to gain experience in preparation for a full season in 2010, due to the in-season testing ban. The team has so far declined to comment on the situation.

There are also suggestions that Alguersuari's step up is being eased by Spanish oil company Repsol, who are personal backers of the youngster and are poised to tie-up a deal with Toro Rosso.

Alguersuari's step-up means he will make his debut at the age of 19 years and 125 days. It beats the previous record of 19 years and 182 days held by Mike Thackwell, who drove for Tyrrell in Canada 1980 - although was officially a non-starter after a first-lap red flag.

The next youngest driver was Ricardo Rodriguez, who raced for Ferrari at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix aged 19 years and 208 days.

Despite Alguersuari's promotion to the race seat, Sebastien Loeb remains linked with a switch to F1 with Toro Rosso once his commitments in the world rally championship are finished this season.

Poor Bourdais.

And Loeb has little experience in a formula car, what makes him think he'll be successful in F1?

19 years old? some guys have all the luck. wish I would have gotten into racing when I was 3

No reason to believe he'll be any better or worse than Loeb ... probably all a matter of sponsorship v. PR dollars.

No kidding, but at 6'2" I wouldn't have had much of a chance any way.

I think that's exactly what the issue is.

Well, for starters: he's an absolutely fantastic driver with an incredible amount of natural skill behind the wheel of any car. I think he'd be a great fit in an F1 car.

what made bourdais think he would be successful? every driver at the pro level thinks he has what it takes to be wdc, otherwise what's the point?

for his first taste in F1 he did fairly well:

Citroen team leader Sebastien Loeb put in an impressive performance on Monday when he joined the Red Bull Racing F1 team for the opening day of its winter test programme.

Intended as a 'thank-you' by mutual sponsor Red Bull for winning the WRC drivers' title for a record fifth time in succession, Loeb completed 82 laps in total, his best a 1 minute 22.503 seconds, which left him eighth overall on the unofficial timesheets - just two tenths slower than Robert Kubica and quicker than the likes of Nelson Piquet Jr, Adrian Sutil and Christian Klein.

Having had a brief shakedown at Silverstone last week, the Frenchman had a better idea of what to expect when he took to the track at the Circuit de Catalunya and he ended up providing useful feedback from his first serious outing in an F1 car.

Indeed after spending most of the morning settling in to the unfamiliar surroundings of the Spanish Grand Prix venue and finding a good balance on the Renault-powered RB4, Loeb's confidence convinced the team to put him to more serious use in the afternoon.

With the F1 rules switching away from the grooved rubber that has been mandatory for the past decade, Loeb was tasked with evaluating the new Bridgestone slick tyres and he provided the team with 'valuable data' that it will take into the rest of the test.

Speaking following his 'prize drive', the WRC ace admitted that he had been taken aback by the potential of the Red Bull machine.

"I don't think I'd like to take this much horsepower into the forests!" he quipped, "It was a great experience though and I had fun, although I have to say that driving one of these cars is tougher physically than driving my rally car.

"Towards the end of the day, I began to get a good feel for the car and enjoyed the sensation of it moving around on the track - and I have to say that the level of grip in the high speed corners is very impressive."

Robert Kubica is six foot, you have a chance.

Me at 6'7", I have no chance.

Well I'm also 215lbs so I've got a way to go before I can fit in a F1 car.

Because Bourdais was actually successful in an open-wheel racing series prior to his F1 career?

I just don't think what Loeb said was right, no matter how good he is, IMO.