Formula One news

Bourdais retires from possible last race

The retirement of Sébastien Bourdais from the German Grand Prix is believed by some in the Formula One paddock to have been the last race of the Frenchman in Formula One, after entering the sport last year. With reserve driver Jaime Alguersuari waiting in the wings, the fate of Bourdais remains to be seen.

With the Frenchman having told reporters on Saturday that his contract will last until the end of the 2009 championship, it was another disappointing day for four-time Champ Car Champion Bourdais. "On the warm-up laps we weren't so happy with the option tyre (softer compound on offer at each race, this weekend being Super Soft) so we decided to start on the prime (harder compound, Medium), which I think was a good call," Bourdais explained.

Time will tell whether or not Bourdais will be present in Hungary

"But then I began to lose hydraulic pressure and so I lost the power steering, clutch and eventually everything else and so I had to pull in. It's a shame of course because, although we were at the back at the time, I think we had a good strategy, with a heavy fuel load and - even running on primes - we could manage the gap to those ahead of us, staying in touch with them."

Team-mate Sébastien Buemi did finish the race, coming home 16th on his first F1 drive at the Nürburgring. "It was a difficult race, although I had a good start and the opening laps went well," he described. "When we put on the soft tyres at the pit-stop, I suffered with a loss of grip and kept sliding as I struggled to get them up to temperature In the final stint it was the same story - it was not a positive outcome but we will have new updates at the next race and we should be more competitive."

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