Australian Grand Prix: Jenson's back for more

Jenson Button injects excitement back into F1 with McLaren win

Boring? Who said anything about boring? Formula One rediscovered its vroom Down Under on Sunday as Formula One's "cool guy"

Jenson Button claimed his maiden victory for McLaren in an incident-packed, rain-affected Australian Grand Prix.

An inspired call from Button to switch to dry-weather tyres on lap six, one lap before the rest of the field, paid off as he moved from seventh place into second. Sebastian Vettel's brake failure midway through the race completed the job as Red Bull were once again left ruing their lack of points on a weekend in which they had the fastest car.
As thousands of race fans trudged off into the Melbourne rain, chattering excitedly about the thrilling drama they had just witnessed, back in the paddock McLaren's luminous orange victory shirts lit up the night sky as Button celebrated wildly with his team and inner circle.

This was the eighth victory of the world champion's career but arguably the most important given the "Lion's Den" he was presumed to have entered at McLaren; the house that Ron Dennis built around Lewis Hamilton.
Poor Hamilton. A wretched weekend, in which he was nabbed by Melbourne traffic police performing "burnouts" before struggling to 11th in qualifying, was nearly consigned to history with a truly magnificent drive that saw him climb as high as third at one point. "It was probably the drive of my life," he said.
Unfortunately, a poor call from McLaren to bring him in for a change of tyres backfired and he eventually finished sixth after a less-than-brilliant shunt from home favourite Mark Webber.
It was tough luck on Hamilton, although his radio outburst at the team's "freaking terrible" decision to bring him in, while borne of understandable frustration, only served to highlight the fact that Button had made his call unaided.

Button's experience showed on this occasion, although he admitted he thought his "game-changing" call might backfire badly as he struggled to stay on the track immediately after switching rubber.
"When I went into the pit lane I thought I had made a catastrophic decision as it was soaking wet," he said. "I then had a little off at turn three but generally the pace was good and I was able to overtake three or four cars when they stopped."
Button's win was his second in succession at Albert Park after his emotional victory on debut for Brawn GP last year, but the 30-year-old said it was impossible to make comparisons.
"The emotions are completely different," he said. "But this is very special. It has taken me a little while to get to grips with the car but the team have been fantastic. They have really welcomed me in.

"I feel I am just building in confidence and hopefully when we get to the next race we can do something similar as this feels too good."
Button's team principal Martin Whitmarsh was similarly thrilled, saying his new acquisition had made a "fantastic call" to come in early.
"He's got to take the credit. He was the cool guy," said Whitmarsh who also defended Hamilton, a man he had described as "fragile and distracted" 24 hours earlier. "If Lewis didn't feel disappointed and frustrated, I'd be worried," he said.
At least Hamilton later recovered his poise to give his team mate a generous hug. That bonhomie was not being played out at all teams. In fact, little niggles and rivalries that promise to boil over at some point this year are now simmering nicely.
Nico Rosberg's continued dominance of Michael Schumacher at Mercedes is particularly intriguing. The returning seven-time world champion's woes continued on Sunday as he suffered an early prang and then spent most of the race stuck behind 20-year-old Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari.

Schumacher was even passed by Virgin Racing's Lucas di Grassi at one point, which inspired an almighty and telling cheer from the press room.
Over at Ferrari, championship leader Fernando Alonso bore the brunt of a frantic start and spun 180 degrees after being clipped by Button.
The Spaniard recovered well but could find no way back past slower team mate Felipe Massa. That must have rankled.
A disconsolate Vettel, meanwhile, could not hide his disappointment at all. This was the second race in succession the young German was denied almost certain victory by a technical glitch. "It breaks my balls to be honest," the Red Bull driver said candidly of his brake failure.
A special mention must go to Renault's Robert Kubica and Hispania Racing's Karun Chandhok for finishing second and 14th respectively, but it was Button who had the final word on proceedings.
Such was his control as he opened up a 10-, then a 15-second lead over Kubica that he confessed he was in a unique position to pronounce on the rebirth of F1 as an exciting global spectacle.
"I could see quite a bit on the TV screens and it did look like a very exciting race," he said cheekily. How's that for Mr Cool?

www.telegraph.co.uk

Jenson Button speaks up.

Jenson Button is worried that rule changes may make F1 'a procession'

Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button has expressed concern that new regulations could turn the 2010 season into a "procession".
McLaren's Button is dismayed by the ban on refuelling during a race and new tyre regulations which made the season opener in Bahrain a dull spectacle.
"It's annoying because it's a sport I love and it's tough to see a procession," said the 30-year-old.
"I hope when we are racing in Melbourne we're going to have a bit more action."
Button joins seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher in bemoaning the refuelling ban, which means cars must run with a full load at the start.
The other major rule change dictates that the top 10 drivers on the grid must begin the race on the tyres they used in the final qualifying session.
The alterations can promote a cautious approach by placing a premium on tyre management, and drivers must use both soft and hard tyre compounds while the race is in progress.
Button finished seventh in his first race for McLaren, which featured scant drama and few overtaking manoeuvres and was won by Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

"I don't know how we're going to make the racing more exciting than it is," said Button.
"I hope it's just because of the new layout in Bahrain, and it was the first one, that it wasn't so exciting.
"The thing is now it seems the eight or 10 cars at the front, they pull away from the pack and wait until they've got a gap to fall into.
"We've all got the same information, so as soon as we all find a gap, one car pits from one of those teams, and the next lap the other car pits."
Before the season, the teams were worried that the refuelling ban would lead to processional races and discussed introducing a rule that would force drivers to make two stops.

Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn told BBC Sport the teams would review that decision after a few races to give the new rules time to settle down.
The start of this season had been one of the most eagerly-awaited in years, with the return of Schumacher, the British pairing at McLaren and Felipe Massa's comeback from a life-threatening injury adding spice to the build-up.
Button continued: "There's still every chance it's going to be a fantastic season. We just have to see what happens over the next few races.
"But if it's not going in the right direction, then people have to start making the decisions. I hope it gets better, for all of our sakes."
Button's McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton agreed that the first race was "very dull" but predicted more action when the season resumes in Australia on 28 March.
"You've got to assume the next race will be more exciting," he said. "There will be more people and there should be more of an atmosphere in Australia, as there always is.
"The track should be more favourable to the cars. It is a street circuit so it's not the easiest place to overtake, but I think it should be more exciting."

BBC sports

Brawn GP - The complete story

Brawn GP Ltd is a Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was formed on 6 March 2009 after it was confirmed that Ross Brawn, the ex-technical director of the Honda Racing F1 Team, had bought the team from Honda in the wake of the withdrawal from the sport of the Japanese marque in December 2008, and on 17 March 2009 the FIA officially agreed to the name change from Honda Racing F1 Team to Brawn GP. Although the team can be seen as a continuation of the Honda team, Brawn GP was considered by the FIA to be an entirely new entry, but the FIA agreed to waive the standard entry fee in recognition of the team's circumstances. The new team made its racing debut at the 2009 season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 28 March 2009, where they took pole position and 2nd place in qualifying. The team went on to win the top two positions in their debut Grand Prix race on 29 March 2009, with Jenson Button winning the race and Rubens Barrichello coming in second.
The team use Mercedes-Benz engines and its cars are driven by the ex-Honda partnership of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, which has lasted for 3 years. In the early part of the season, several other sponsors were signed, including Virgin, M I G Investments, Henri Lloyd and PerkinElmer.

Although Honda were thought to be the first team to run a KERS in 2008,Ross Brawn stated in an interview that due to the circumstances of the change in ownership the team did not have the time to develop the system yet. On 20 March it was confirmed that Brawn GP will be allocated the final pitlane slot, with Force India moving up one slot. Bernie Ecclestone suggested that this is due to the takeover involving a name change, saying that 'If it was called Honda... whatever was due to Honda, they would have got'. For this reason Brawn GP were initially assigned numbers 20 and 21 after Force India were assigned Honda's old numbers of 18 and 19. This however was changed at the request of Force India because their promotional material had already been printed with numbers 20 and 21. Brawn had no objection and were reassigned numbers 22 and 23, with 18 and 19 not assigned to anyone.

The team started off strongly on the Friday Practice of the Australian Grand Prix finishing in the top five.



In qualifying at Australia Jenson Button took pole with fellow teammate Rubens Barrichello coming 2nd followed by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. This was followed by a race win for Jenson Button, who led from start to finish, with Rubens Barrichello second giving Brawn a 1-2 finish on their debut, which had not happened since Mercedes did it in 1954.

Jenson Button won the rain-shortened Malaysian Grand Prix from pole and picked up the fastest lap. With the win in Malaysia, Brawn GP became the second constructor to win their first two races since Alfa Romeo won the first ever two World Championship Grands Prix at the 1950 British Grand Prix and Monaco Grand Prix.

At the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix Barrichello qualified in front of Button for the first time this season but in the rain Jenson Button finished 3rd with Rubens Barrichello 4th behind the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Button won again at the Bahrain Grand Prix from fourth on the grid with Barrichello in fifth from sixth. Button ran most of the race in clean air and maintained the lead after the Toyotas pitted and fell down the order. This was the first time they were slower, with the fuel corrected qualifying times, in the season and was blamed on the lack of development on the car.

At the 2009 Spanish Grand Prix, Brawn achieved their second 1-2 of the season with Button leading home Barrichello again.

Brawn BGP 001

Following Honda's withdrawal, development of the BGP 001 never stopped and on the day of its debut, Jenson Button performed its shakedown � the car featuring white, fluorescent yellow and black colours. The team gave the BGP 001 its first test at Circuit de Catalunya on 9 March 2009, topping the timesheets many times. With the testing moving to Circuito de Jerez, Brawn GP continued to set the pace, finishing the test leading two of the three tests. During an interview Brawn said there was more speed to come after he explained that '...The BGP 001 car is the result of 15 months of intensive development work and the team have been nothing less than fantastic in their commitment to producing two cars in time for the first race'.

At the first race an official complaint was launched by four teams against the rear diffusers of the Williams FW31, Toyota TF109 and the Brawn BGP 001 on the grounds that they did not fall within the dimensions set out in the regulations, but after analysing the cars the race stewards reported that the cars were legal. This ruling has been appealed, the appeal was heard after the second race of the season. However motorsport's governing body ruled that the car was legal. There was another complaint at Malaysia after which BMW Sauber joined the appeal after they were deemed legal, again. After the appeal the diffuser was deemed legal by the FIA. In Spain, the car received its first improvements since Australia and gave Brawn a 1-2, just as in Melbourne.

Sponsorship
The sponsors that were still with the Honda team stayed on as sponsors, including Bridgestone.
Through the early stages of the 2009 season Brawn has obtained various sponsor deals. On 26 March 2009, Brawn GP announced a partnership with British clothing manufacturer Henri Lloyd. The company will supply the team with clothing and footwear and their brand will appear on the BGP 001. On 28 March 2009 Sir Richard Branson announced Virgin as a major sponsor for the team. On April 17 Brawn announced an agreement with MIG Investments. They would sport the logo on the front of the car. It was also confirmed on April 19 that Ray-Ban, a sunglasses manufacturer, would carry on sponsoring the team - their logo appears on the drivers' helmets. At the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix Virgin sported their Virgin Galactic logo instead of Virgin. They re-signed Endless Advance and NCE and signed a new supplier deal with safety harness supplier Willans before the Spanish Grand Prix. Only for the Spanish Grand Prix, Sony Pictures joined the team with the cars featuring promotional imagery from the upcoming film Terminator Salvation.

FIA-MCLAREN 'LYING' INQUIRY

McLaren will appear before Formula 1's governing body, the FIA, on 29 April to answer charges relating to a breach of the International Sporting Code.

McLaren were found guilty of misleading race stewards following the Australian Grand Prix, which led to Lewis Hamilton being disqualified from the race. Hamilton was awarded third place before being stripped of his points. The FIA will hold the extraordinary meeting in Paris where McLaren will be expected to be present.

"McLaren acknowledge receipt of an invitation to appear at an FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris on April 29, received this (Tuesday) afternoon," said a McLaren statement.

"We undertake to co-operate fully with all WMSC processes, and welcome the opportunity to work with the FIA in the best interests of Formula 1". The FIA said McLaren knew it was lying when it told race officials that it had not given Hamilton instructions to let Toyota's Jarno Trulli overtake while the pair were behind the safety car.

The FIA also claimed that McLaren had made no attempt to rectify its evidence under scrutiny.
The World Council is the body which disqualified McLaren from the constructors' championship and fined them $100m (�67m) for their role in a spy scandal involving Ferrari in 2007.

There is no limit to the action it could take in this instance if it deemed it serious enough. Hamilton, who issued an emotional public apology after the incident, is expected to escape further censure.

The world champion has said he was ordered to give misleading evidence by sporting director Dave Ryan, who was with him at the hearings. Ryan, who has worked for McLaren for 35 years, has now been sacked.

The two were found guilty of "providing evidence deliberately misleading to the stewards".
Hamilton finished fourth behind Trulli's Toyota, who McLaren accused of breaking F1 rules by overtaking while the field was under the control of the safety car.

Officials initially gave Trulli a 25-second penalty, promoting Hamilton to third after Hamilton and Ryan gave evidence he had not deliberately let the Italian through, and he had not been asked by the team to do so.

But McLaren's radio communication contradicted this - and after reconvening in Malaysia at the end of last week, Hamilton was disqualified from the Australian race and Trulli reinstated to third place.

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh, whose own job is under scrutiny, has admitted the team made serious errors in their handling of the situation. He took over from Ron Dennis as team principal only on 1 March and has admitted he did consider resigning at the end of last week.

"It wouldn't be true to say that it (resignation) wasn't (on my mind) because at a time like this, you think about what you got involved with the sport for, and it wasn't for this sort of thing," he said in Malaysia.

"It hasn't been a great experience for me and it wasn't what I started out 20 years ago to experience. In the longer term, I can contemplate my future. It's not self-determining.

It's for the shareholders of this team to take a view and it's ultimately up to them to decide what's best for this team. I'm not resigning this weekend. We've made commitments to look at how we arrived at this situation. We've got to learn from it and we've got to be better in future."

excerpts from BBC SPORTS

FIA Backs down on Proposed Scoring system

Formula 1 has axed plans for a new scoring system in 2009 just nine days before the start of the season.
The sport's governing body, FIA, had earlier this week announced that the driver with the most wins would be crowned world champion.
But following a protest from F1 teams, FIA says it will defer the introduction of the new system until 2010.
The traditional points system will be used when the 2009 season begins on March 29 in Australia.
"The new scoring system has been deferred until 2010, but I'm sure this will be reviewed throughout the course of the season as any new rule changes have to have teams approval before we proceed," an FIA spokesman told BBC Sport.
"We're slightly surprised that the teams have taken this long to come forward as we were under the impression that they were happy with the rule changes."
FIA had argued that the new scoring system would make racing more exciting by encouraging drivers to chase wins.
But after several drivers criticised the change - including defending champion Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso - the Formula One Teams' Association (Fota) claimed the amendment was invalid because the proper protocol had not been observed.
"It is too late for FIA to impose a change for the 2009 season that has not obtained the unanimous agreement of all the competitors properly entered into the 2009 Formula 1 Championship," it said in a statement.
Fota had put forward its own scoring system, with the top three drivers earning 12, nine and seven, rather than 10, eight and six points respectively.
But that was unanimously rejected by the World Motorsport Council (WMSC).
Instead, the WMSC opted for a variant of an earlier idea proposed by F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who had suggested an Olympic-style medals system, with the champion the driver with most golds.
The WMSC approved the "race-wins" plan, albeit with no provision to award medals.
Fota, which insists its own plan has widespread backing, hopes common ground can be reached with the FIA.
"The teams wish to reaffirm their willingness to collaborate with the FIA in order to jointly define a new point system for the 2010 season within a comprehensive set of measures aimed at further stimulating the attractiveness of the F1 sport," added the statement.
Hamilton would have finished second behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa had the new system applied last year.

Ross Brawn on Honda's Revival

The Formula 1 team formerly known as Honda Racing has been saved after the Japanese manufacturer agreed to pass ownership of the operation to Ross Brawn, who becomes team principal of the new Brawn GP outfit.
Brawn served as Ferrari�s technical director for a decade before moving to Honda at the start of last season.
Brawn GP agreed to a deal with Mercedes for a supply of engines in the 2009 season, which gets under way in Australia on March 29.
The deal also secures the future of British driver Jenson Button and veteran Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, who saw off the challenge of compatriot Bruno Senna for the team�s second seat.

Chief executive Nick Fry admitted at a Formula One Teams Association (Fota) press conference that his team would not have survived had it not been for the association�s help.
�There has been an enormous amount of activity behind the scenes; everyone on the stage here has helped us preserve our team.


�I think myself and Ross and our 700 employees all thank them for that. So the answer is yes (the team would have died without Fota),� he said on Thursday.
The future of the Brackley-based outfit had been uncertain since early December, when Honda confirmed they were ending their involvement due to the global economic downturn.
The earlier press conference in Geneva itself was a landmark occasion. A new points-scoring system for this year, a commitment to cut costs by half and the enhancement of the sport�s presentation on television and in the media were the key themes.

But perhaps of even more significance was the palpably flourishing existence of Fota itself. After the love-in on the banks of Lake Geneva, attended by bigwigs from every Formula 1 outfit, the deeply acrimonious McLaren-Ferrari �spygate� affair of 2007 seems like it was a long time ago.

�This is an unprecedented moment in F1 history,� said Ferrari president and Fota chairman, Luca di Montezemolo. �Above all else, for the first time the teams are unified and steadfast � with a clear, collective vision.�

That vision was made manifest when Fota sounded a warning to Bernie Ecclestone, the sport�s commercial rights holder, saying they may consider �alternative� competitions after 2012 if he did not agree to share more revenue.
But Ecclestone was unimpressed. �It�s the same every five years,� he said. �Their revenue isn�t something I want to discuss. It�s up to us � we run the business.�
A number of proposals were put forward at the conference, which Fota want ratified at the FIA�s world council meeting on March 17.
Foremost among them is a new points scoring system for this season, which would change the current scoring system from 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 to 12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1.

Exclusive: Honda will be at Mebourne GP 2009

The Honda Formula One team will be on the grid for the start of the 2009 season after a management buyout. Jenson Button will spearhead the team on the track after two months of intense work on a rescue package by senior managers.

Sources close to the Brackley-based outfit confirmed last night that the deal is going ahead and that the team will conduct a �shakedown� test of their new car at Silverstone next Thursday, which will be Button�s first outing in the new machine.
The management buyout is being led by Ross Brawn, the team principal and former Ferrari technical director, and will be funded by a combination of money from Honda itself for this year, funds from Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One commercial rights-holder, and commercial sponsorship. Recent reports suggested that Sir Richard Branson�s Virgin Group could be a backer but this was being ruled out by informed sources last night.

It is not yet known under what name the team will operate or in what livery their cars will race. Under independent management, with a chassis designed by Honda and powered by a Mercedes-Benz engine under a supply deal with McLaren Mercedes, the �old� Honda team will be something of a hybrid that is likely to take some time to forge a new identity.

At Silverstone, the new car is expected to run in neutral colours. That outing will be followed by the team�s first full test in Barcelona, starting on March 9, which is the last official run-out before the first grand prix of the season in Melbourne on March 29.
While Button is confirmed in one race seat, no decision has been taken on his team-mate. This will be either Rubens Barrichello, the Brazilian, who has been with Honda for the past three seasons, or his compatriot and Formula One rookie, Bruno Senna, 25, the nephew of the great Ayrton Senna.
The buyout is expected to safeguard the jobs of �the majority� of the team�s 700 employees and was approved at a board meeting of the Honda Motor Co Ltd in Tokyo last Monday. After that meeting, Takeo Fukui, the company�s chief executive, was quoted as saying that no �serious buyer� had come forward and the company was finding the sale process �difficult�.
His comments were taken at the time as a sign that winding up the team was still a likely outcome, but it now seems that these remarks were misinterpreted.
The decision by Honda to approve and support the buyout which is regarded as highly unorthodox by senior managers in Tokyo, is a sensitive matter for a company that had made clear to its shareholders that it was withdrawing from a sport that was costing it more than �200 million a year.
While Button will be relieved to have a drive in his tenth season in Formula One, it looks likely to be another frustrating year in a car that has had a difficult birth and is unlikely to be competitive, at least in the early races.

Elsewhere yesterday, Sir Frank Williams dismissed reports that his team were in financial trouble as a result of the decision by RBS to end its sponsorship of the team in 2010. Williams said that RBS contributes only 10 per cent of the team�s budget and there was plenty of time to find a replacement sponsor from 2011 onwards.
�Don�t worry, there�s hundreds of trillions of cash in the world � something will turn up,� quipped Williams, who added that he was dismayed by a story that suggested his team, and the sport as a whole, is in difficulty. �It was presented as though it was the end of the world for Formula One, which is totally, totally untrue,� he said.

French F1 Drivers, Sebastien Bourdais

S�bastien Bourdais

S�bastien Bourdais was born February 28, 1979 in Le Mans and is a current Formula One race car driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the Champ Car World Series having won four successive championships from 2004 to 2007.

In Paris August 2008...

Born into a racing family (his father Patrick races in touring cars, hill climbs, and sports cars), Bourdais began his racing career at age 10 in karts. During the early 1990s, he competed in a variety of karting championships, winning the Maine Bretagne League in 1991 and the Cadet France championship in 1993. Bourdais was part of the winning Sologne Karting team which won the 1996 24 hour Le Mans kart race at the Circuit Alain Prost on a Merlin chassis with Atomic motors.

Bourdais progressed to single-seater racing in 1995, finishing 9th in the Formula Campus Championship. He then spent two years in the French Formula Renault Championship, ultimately finishing second in points in 1997 after winning four races and five pole positions. In 1998, he won five races to become Rookie of the Year (6th overall) in French Formula 3. He won the series outright in 1999, with eight wins and three poles.

Following his success in the lower formulae, Bourdais joined the Prost Junior Team in the International F3000 Championship. He finished ninth in the series with one pole and a best finish of second. In 2001, Bourdais moved to the DAMS team in Formula 3000 and took his first win in the series at Silverstone. He changed teams again for 2002, taking his Super Nova Racing car to three victories and seven pole positions. He beat Giorgio Pantano to the championship by two points after Tom� Enge, who had scored the most points, was penalised for failing a drug test

Champ Days...

Bourdais won his second Champ Car title in 2005.
Following in the footsteps of recent F3000 graduates such as Juan Pablo Montoya and Bruno Junqueira, Bourdais moved to Champ Car racing in the United States and joined Newman-Haas Racing for the 2003 CART World Series season. At St. Petersburg, FL, Bourdais became the first rookie since Nigel Mansell to claim pole position for his very first race. However, he did not finish higher than 11th until his fourth race, when he led 95 laps en route to his first Champ Car victory at Brands Hatch.
He followed this up with another victory at Lausitzring. By the end of the season, he had earned five more podium finishes, including a win from pole at Cleveland. With a runner-up finish in Mexico City, he clinched the Rookie of the Year title and finished 4th 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 team mate Junqueira by 28 points. His record also included podium finishes in 10 out of 14 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 12th 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 him 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 October 21.

In 2002, Bourdais got his first F1 test with the Arrows team and was signed on to drive for the team but the team were on the verge of bankruptcy. In December he tested for Renault at Jerez but fellow Frenchman Franck Montagny secured the test drive instead of Bourdais- rumours suggested that Bourdais did not wish to sign a management deal with Renault boss Flavio Briatore in addition to a Renault contract.

Bourdais returned to F1 in 2007 after being given several tests with Scuderia Toro Rosso. On August 10, 2007 it was announced that Bourdais would race for Toro Rosso in 2008, replacing Vitantonio Liuzzi and partnering Sebastian Vettel. On March 16 2008, Bourdais competed in his first Formula One Championship race, the 2008 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. After qualifying in 17th position he took advantage of mistakes made by other drivers, in the first Formula One race since 2001 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 classfied 8th 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, and was on course for a podium position, but following a chaotic last lap finished in seventh position. After the race an emotional Bourdais was in tears following the result. This marked his best weekend of the season and his first World Championship points since Melbourne.

Malaysia GP '08 on board

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 R�ikk�nen went faster. At the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix he was 6th on the road, but received a 25-second penalty for causing an avoidable accident with Felipe Massa dropping him to 10th. Few agreed with the decision - ITV's Martin Brundle had stated during live TV coverage of the race that he felt Massa may receive a penalty, whilst his colleague James Allen states that 99% of experts he spoke to felt that Bourdais did not deserve a penalty.

24 Hours of Le Mans
Bourdais has frequently contested the famous 24 hour race of his home town, entering for the first time in 1999 (aged only 20) in a Porsche 911 GT2 run by Larbre Competition. The car, which he shared with Pierre de Thoisy and Jean-Pierre Jarier, retired after 134 laps with engine failure.
He returned in 2000, finishing fourth with Emmanuel Clerico and Olivier Grouillard for the Pescarolo team behind the three dominant Audis.
His next three appearances did not go so well. He shared a Courage C60 with Jean-Christop Boullion and Laurent Redon in 2001 but it retired after 271 laps. He drove the same model the next year and finished ninth in the LMP900 class with Bouillon and Franck Lagorce. He missed the 2003 race and returned in 2004, only for the car he shared with Nicolas Minassian and Emmanuel Collard to retire after 282 laps.
Bourdais' next assault on Le Mans would come at the wheel of a factory-backed Peugeot 908 in 2007. The car he shared with Stephane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy finished the race second behind the winning Audi R10 TDi, despite an embarrassing slide on the first lap in wet conditions that cost Bourdais a place to one of the Audis, and car problems forcing him to park the car for the last minutes of the race, waiting for the lead R10 to cross the line.

While racing in the junior formulae and Champ Cars, Bourdais made several appearances in other championships. He won the Spa 24 Hours in 2002 with Christophe Bouchut, David Terrien and Vincent Vosse in a Larbre Comp�tition Chrysler Viper GTS-R. He also won his class at the 2006 12 Hours of Sebring in a Panoz Esperante. In 2005 he also competed in the International Race of Champions, winning his first stock car race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Raikkonen sports new Tattoo in Australia

Mar.13 (GMM) At his first grand prix as reigning world champion, Kimi Raikkonen strolled the Melbourne paddock on Thursday with a huge new tattoo in plain sight.
Having gone over his small 'smiley' tattoo on his right arm with a big black patterned affair one year ago, the 28-year-old Finn's short sleeves on Thursday revealed a new tattoo on the inside of his left forearm.In big black lettering, it predictably reads 'Iceman'.
Also at Albert Park on Thursday, Ferrari driver Raikkonen posed with the supergroup Kiss, who will play after the race on Sunday night.
He blanked the media in Melbourne when quizzed about his new 'iceman' tattoo.The reigning world champion's short-sleeved Ferrari shirt on Thursday revealed to Albert Park paddock dwellers that Raikkonen, 28, seemed to have celebrated his 2007 triumph with the decoration of his inside left forearm.He was asked by the newspaper The Australian if he could talk about his tattoos. "No," Kimi answered.When asked if they have some personal meaning, Raikkonen replied: "I wouldn't have them if they were not personal."

His manager, David Robertson, defended the Finn for not opening up to the press."He has never kissed arse in his life," Robertson said. "He has always just been Kimi. What you get is exactly how he feels."