F1: Bourdais: I'd have regretted not moving...

[Rory Phoulorie]

Friday, 17th August 2007

Frenchman admits, 'I know I won't be winning in 2008 but I have to try'.

Although he readily admits that wins aren't likely to arrive in his debut season in Formula 1, Sebastien Bourdais has admitted that he had to make the switch from Champ Caror �regret it for the rest of his life'.

The Frenchman, currently fighting for a fourth straight Champ Car World Series title with the leading Newman Haas Lanigan Racing outfit, will need to get used to the fact that he is unlikely to be running at the sharp in end in Formula 1with his new team, which has scored just one point since joining the grid to replace Minardi at the start of last season.

However, Bourdais said he was ready for the challenge ahead and shared the same ambitions as the team to push for bigger and better things.

�I think the whole challenge is to try and make things better,� he said in an interview with the official Formula 1 website formula1.com. �If you have no ambitions in F1, then you shouldn't be there. Toro Rosso wants to be more competitive and so we have the same goals.

�I did everything I could have dreamt of doing in Champ Car and we can hopefully get the fourth title. F1was always something I wanted to give a real try, and now that I have an opportunity with Toro Rosso I will make the best of it.

�I am not pretending we are going to win races in 2008, though it would be awesome, but had I not tried I would have regretted it for the rest of my life.�

Bourdais added that his impending switch to F1 will have no impact on the remainder of his current campaign, with his focus firmly fixed on leaving the American racing scene with another title under his belt.

�It has changed nothing regarding my motivation and my interest in the Champ Car season,� he said. �There was a big challenge at the beginning of 2007 - to prove that we could win the championship with the same equipment as everybody else.

�We are very much in the hunt, and I would be the happiest guy if I could win a fourth straight title for the boys at Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing before I leave - they really deserve it!�

crash.net