With drivers in the middle of a game of musical chairs prior to the 2005 season, there may be a few new names added to the final list of 2005 drivers. Gary Paffett, an up and coming British driver is being touted as the man to replace Giancarlo Fisichella at Sauber, meanwhile, DTM championship leader Dutchman Christian Albers will test for Jordan next month.
However, there is still one other contender that not too many people are paying a lot of attention to, and that’s current CART star and former F3000 champion, Sebastien Bourdais.
The young Frenchman is managed by David Sears, who believes the time is right for his man to make the switch back to Formula One after a successful run with the Newman Haas team. Sears knows Sebastian’s talent and armed with figures to prove his claim, (data on Montoya, from his CART days, Bruno Junqueira and Bourdais) has approached several teams, including Williams, to organize a test.
“If Sebastien Bourdais hasn't got more to offer the F1 paddock than Gary Paffett, I will eat my Calvin Kleins,” Sears told Autosport. “I would say that at the moment Sebastien's name is being held in high esteem by leading members of the F1 paddock. I would say if he isn't testing an F1 car before the end of this year I will be extremely surprised. He's definitely the most technical driver we've had at Super Nova in 10 years, and he's got a degree in mechanical engineering. The attraction is that he's winning races - ability can get dulled if you're just testing."
“He's excelled in the tests he's done before in F1 - he did two with Arrows, and was offered a contract to race if the team continued. He was given a test by Renault, and wasn't interested in the test drive because he would rather race in America. If he wins the Champ Car series this year then he'll be in a good position to come back.”
;)
