Sébastien Bourdais and the Toro Rosso Turmoil

[@NavF1]

His greatest legacy is making kids wearing glasses believe that they could also make it

[@rafleggy2fast486]

Can't stress that enough. First time I went karting and put my glasses on after wearing my helmet, I was like "woah, just like Bourdais!"

[@LathropLdST]

...as someone who knows F1 history, I can only have a laugh.

[@mattiasgarbi9470]

...and being sinonimous with Champ Car

[@michaelskoomamacher5652]

that's more Greg Moore to me but your point still stands.

[@LathropLdST]

@@michaelskoomamacher5652 pfffft... Masten Gregory says hello, kid 😂😂

[@Milehupen]

Anyone can make a video on a relatively forgotten drivers carreer. But really nobody out there can craft such finessed final conclusions like you. Every ending of your video just hits home and concludes beautifully. Especially this one

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thank you! Kind words like this make all the behind the scenes struggles worth it.

[@davidsaintcyr3384]

it's the best part of the content, the narration and conclusions.

[@axkhn4921]

The narration is well paced and soothing. Gives me time to take the words in. I hate when people rush through their videos at a million words per second.

[@Milehupen]

@@axkhn4921 yeees exactly. Im not a native english speaker and his vocabulary even helps me to improve mine

[@AndyFromBeaverton]

How much can I take? This is a sadder story than Old Yeller. If only the 2008 Italian Grand Prix didn't break him. He was never the same after that.

[@TheMobileChicane]

You’ve got to imagine that the confidence boost from a big result there, plus the performance of the STR3, could’ve really delivered some big results from that point on.

[@whyareyoureadingmynickname8158]

Similarities between Bourdais and De Vries are almost eerie. Both super talented drivers that got their chance in F1 way later than they should have which partially contributed to their downfall. In case of former, it also didn't help that his teammate was generational talent.

[@joribremer5260]

His debut was very promising.. Running in 4th for a long part of the race, and could keep Alonso and Kovalainen in far better cars behind...

[@mattiasgarbi9470]

DeVries in FE was good, but Bourdais in Champ Car was even better and had better rivals.

[@christendombaffler]

The bit about the STR3 is very similar to Gasly and Perez's struggles against Verstappen too. Two clear good drivers with race wins to their names who were made to look infinitely more anonymous by their failure to adapt to a car that simply suited the other driver far better, and which in turn had a knock-on effect on their mental state that made them shatter over time. Certainly not helped by how it really felt like almost every time Bourdais did well, there was a big "but" attached to it. That 4th in qualifying at Monza for instance? Still a full second behind Vettel. Without the heartbreak at the start, he would've probably been exposed even more.

[@calvindmncn8085]

​The problem is They often and always make the choosen one everything's needed, but the other one let down.

[@DucatiPaso750]

I watched Sebastian Bourdais win the ChampCar Long Beach Grand Prix 3 consecutive times. I also met him once. I loved the guy!! I was very shocked when he couldn't repeat his success in F1.

[@LASTCARonBROCK]

Tremendous video. You have a wonderful storytelling style that keeps me invested - even when I know very little about F1.

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thanks Brock - your kind words are much appreciated!

[@birandkoray]

alternative video title: le seb vs die sebs (vettel&buemi)

[@mrwolsy3696]

F1 driver history is fascinating, woulda, coulda, shoulda tales with glimpses of talent.

[@nu_foz]

Awesome video. Thanks for this labour of love. The telling of Bourdais' tale is long overdue (with such depth and context too).

[@TheMobileChicane]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@cfc1905_]

In his two years in F1, he had the same name as all his teammates. Another bizarre F1 fact..😂

[@TheMobileChicane]

I’d love someone to do a deep dive and tell me if that’s ever happened another time!

[@IanRB26]

And across in the WRC , we had Sebastien Loeb and some years later, Sebastien Ogier. Motorsports really loves their Seb's 😂

[@Meisterjaeger77]

43:26 no way on his first podium back he got his trophy shattered? Man truly had some unique bad luck. Great video as always mate!

[@TheMobileChicane]

I couldn’t believe it either! There’s a fantastic clip after where the other two are holding their trophies and he’s stood there just holding the base!

[@declanthomas7159]

That clip properly unlocked a memory for me. I bet a teenage Lando Norris watched that full of inspiration 😂

[@cliffthelightning]

TMC is a channel that should have at least 100k subs. All the research and information, great footage, and chill vibe always make me hyped when i see a new video.

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thank you so much; appreciate that!

[@harmkuijpers6642]

Indeed, it's criminal this channel only has 10K subs. This is some of the best long form F1 content out there.

[@ELSTERLING]

Worth mentioning that another reason Bourdais' talent was in doubt revolves around the idea that some have that Champ Car at the time was a spec series but It wasn't. Teams bought cars off of the shelf but could develop their own aero kits for it and most teams couldn't afford to do that. The difference was immense, with Newman/Haas spending $20,000,000 on testing and designing new custom wings alone whilst the poorest teams turned up with the off-the-shelf car, limited mileage and a budget of $3,000,000 for the whole year. It also definitely didn't help that Champ Cars at the time were somewhere between 6 and 11 seconds a lap slower than the current (not particularly fast themselves) F1 machines on the tracks that flattered them most, meaning that whilst they were decently powerful even the truly kitted out ones had worse braking and cornering abilities than GP2 cars. As a bonus Champ Car had also banned moving off-line to block a pass attempt (no, seriously) meaning he had precious little experience with wheel-to-wheel racing in high-end single seaters. During his brief F1 career it was regularly joked about whenever Bourdais complained about someone's defending that he simply didn't like that they were allowed to do it.

[@TheMobileChicane]

Excellent point; well said.

[@christendombaffler]

Breaking when put alongside a ferocious young talent is a bit of a hot topic these days thanks to Verstappen repeating what Vettel did in years past. Poor Bourdais certainly deserved better, but F1 is a harsh world and you need a strong mind for it, especially when luck (and the car) is really not on your side and you're driving for a team that's... not exactly got the best kind of internal atmosphere, something Vettel himself eventually experienced as well. It's criminal that you still don't have 10k subscribers, man. Your longform videos are as excellent as ever.

[@TheMobileChicane]

We’re nearly there! Thanks for all the support.

[@crystalracing4794]

Bourdais was the GOAT of Champ cars and he mastered Lola-Ford chassis

[@KellieLeigh48]

Always a great day when Chicane uploads ❤

[@cribbe6547]

babe wake up , new Mobile Chicane vid just dropped! Perfect timing

[@KayJblue]

A lot of F1 channels are pointless for someone like me. But you manage to give insight and new perspectives into situations in already well versed in.

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thank you for the kind words! (And sorry for the late wait on the reply).

[@CrashXII]

I forgot that Bourdais drove in 2009 even though I watched the entire Season live. I´m looking forward to your verdict on Schumis comeback imo it was better than most people nowadays say however it obviously did not live up to the Hype surrounding it and Michaels expectations.

[@TheMobileChicane]

I saw him at the British Grand Prix of that year.. and same, it wasn’t until researching this video that I realised I’d seen him in the flesh.

[@skytom137]

This was great and I'm glad you're going to do one on Schumacher at Mercedes too. Both of these drivers I've often thought back about "what ifs" and the tiniest margins changing everything in a butterfly effect from unbelievable bad luck, where people looking back at the stats would never realise, yet you do. Brilliant editing and insightful commentary.

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thank you; very kind of you!

[@BerserkerRohan]

Since I was watching F1 during 2008 and 2009, I did get to see Bourdais and I do remember finding it very unfortunate that he wasn't able to prove himself at Monza since the Toro Rosso seemed really good so I could see him getting his best points finish of the season in that race so it was a shame that his bad luck kicked in and he was demoted to a pitlane start. It is funny that we are talking about Bourdais this year since De Vries' F1 career has many unfortunate similarities since both showed promise in other categories of open wheel racing with both having a title in a F1 feeder series but then they would both join Red Bull's sister team and didn't impress and both were outperformed by their teammate which led to getting dropped mid season. At least Bourdais did impress outside of F1 so it was unfortunate that the pinnacle of motorsport wasn't somewhere he could show his talents to the world but like you said at the end, it would be foolish of anyone to turndown an offer to drive in F1. Thinking about Herta and Palou also reminded me of the Andretti situation since it seems like they have met the FIA's requirements at the moment but the team bosses really want to know what their financial situation will be with an eleventh team on the grid so hopefully that gets sorted out since as an outsider, seeing another team competing especially if they are close to the top of the midfield would be very entertaining. If they do get in, I wonder if they will bring in an Indycar prospect into F1 and it will be interesting if they can do what Bourdais couldn't in F1. Both Championships of F1 have now wrapped up but I am excited to see how the battle for the spots in the Constructor's will play out especially with McLaren looking to steal a well earned 4th from Aston.

[@johnyossarian1135]

Awesome, my evening is complete

[@Lewythefly]

47:32 Karun with that fierce mono brow 😂

[@TheMobileChicane]

It’s truly a thing of beauty 😅

[@FormulaHispania]

Kids: I wanna be Sebastian Vettel Men: I wanna be Sebastien Bourdais

[@hitmaneoin]

Fantastic video as always! I think Bourdais is a truly elite driver but his car in F1 always gave him the opposite of what he needed. A nervous back-end when Bourdais always preferred a car with understeer. It's crazy how many great drivers Red Bull have kicked to the curb after a very short period of time in Formula One. And now they are stuck with a mediocre 2nd driver in Checo...

[@camrsr5463]

He is my favorite driver on the IMSA grid. how many poles can he get at Mid Ohio?! He was my fave in Indycar too. The pugeot days were fun. so many track records. He must have some luck after what happened at Indy. hero status achieved.

[@Adam-yc3zu]

The Mobile Chicane graces us.with another upload! Just fantastic!

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thank you!

[@WushuMR2]

Good video! With regard to why Sato wasn't chosen in 07, it could very well have been because that year Williams brought in Kazuki Nakajima in exchange for free Toyota engines. So Sato may have been seen as only possibly grabbing a portion of the Japanese market and thus not the sure thing it may have seemed to be.

[@TheMobileChicane]

Great point; although I reckon Sato was substantially more popular in the Japanese market than Nakajima ever was (though that’s just my own opinion)

[@townicus5908]

Excellent video as always!

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thank you!

[@ofs82]

Man, I spent so much time in 2008 and 2009 arguing with people about how Bourdais was a much better driver than his record in F1 showed, and he wasn't anything like as outclassed as the points totals made it look and deserved much more respect than he was getting given, so it's great to see him finally get a proper shake. I always thought his biggest problem was that he was a great sportscar driver; the way he often won in Champ Car was by getting extra fuel mileage being as quick as anybody else but being easier on the car and using less fuel, getting longer stints and fewer stops. He was great at that. The format of F1 at the time he went over there also didn't help with his preference for qualifying by going into a long stint and just getting to learn the car; the Q1-2-3 banzai format relied on instant one-lap pace which introduced a different skillset to the sport, and that was one area Bourdais was lacking. That also hurt him because the 2008 era F1 cars with all those winglets and things were designed to maximise dirty air and make it hard to overtake - so what use was having that race pace if you were always starting in the bottom four? The guy was never going to be some kind of legend or something, but he's certainly no worse than a lot of drivers who've had a multi-year journeyman career in F1, and better than a lot of people who've had a longer career at the top than him thanks to money, contacts or just being in the right place at the right time.

[@DontTreadOnMe777777]

Had to settle in and enjoy another great video, as always your content is fantastic and the highest quality!

[@TheMobileChicane]

Much appreciated, thank you!

[@angus_bangus]

Phenomenal video as always. Please keep up the good work. I’m always looking forward to your videos!!

[@TheMobileChicane]

Much appreciated as always!

[@dominicbarden4436]

If a few things had gone his way here and there Bourdais would've ended up with a fairly decent haul of points in 2008, probably somewhere in the teens. And for how weak Champ Car arguably was at the time of his dominance, there were still several good drivers in there who consistently took the fight to Bourdais and Newman/Haas (even if they lost more often than not): e.g. Justin Wilson, Paul Tracy, A.J. Allmendinger and rising stars such as Will Power. I think his exploits in the reunified IndyCar series over the last decade prove that he does have what it takes and deserves his Champ Car success. He had midfield equipment at KV Racing and Dayle Coyne Racing and he would often be near the sharp end of the field. Six wins, seven other podiums and plenty of top 10 finishes prove that, even if his best championship finish was only 7th and his only other top 10 finishes were two 10th places in 2014 and 2015.

[@devilxtreme]

First i want to tell you, your doing a amazing job. I thought Bourdais would be the next champion. I followed the champcar back in the days and he was the Schumacher of Champcar. He was the man to beat. And with his experience in F3000 and Wec i didn't doubt. However it was sad it didn't worked out and he didn't didn't had luck on his side. I wonder if he had more time to adapt to the high tech F1 and fast nervous handling F1 cars. A shame, but his pre F1 period many racers were probably jealous

[@mavadelo]

38:00 Ok, that had me actually LOL IRL, well played Sir. Bourdais was not a bad driver at all, I would say that in another team than STR he could have had more succes. His results in Spec series proves he is no slough at all. But sadly for him (and the majority of American series honed drivers) is that F1 isn't a spec series. We have seen it with Speed, Power, now Sargeant. F1 is a different beast. In a spec series, there is not really the development cycle you have in F1 and just like we see this year with Alonso vs Stroll or Verstappen vs Perez... if your teammate does better, the car will be devloped in their direction, bringing the real danger that a car you can handle at the start of the season is getting away from you during season progression. I would love to have seen him succeed in F1 but alas, it was not to be. Great video mate. seems you are almost at 10k subs, helped a bit by subbing :)

[@TheMobileChicane]

Haha, glad you enjoyed the reference! Thanks for the support - 10k here we come!

[@missourimike7260]

IRL had all the best driver's Champ car at that time when the series was split up was the weaker of the 2 fields. He probably wouldn't have any titles if they were combined in my opinion. It should at least be mentioned

[@19megamustaine85]

Didnt known that, so that is why ewen Buemi beat him ?

[@crystalracing4794]

Sainz, Gasly and Albon have won seats at other teams. To a lesser extent Liuzzi did this at Force India and HRT.

[@Duval-In-The-Wall]

I liked Liuzzi, just a shame his career always seemed to spiral

[@JaredAlwaysWatches]

Awesome job!! Love to see you getting closer to 10k !!!

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thank you - we’re so close now!

[@diegocraigdallie]

Awesome as always, I knew it was going to be Bourdais😁

[@TheMobileChicane]

Well guessed 😉

[@Fastbikkel]

This is such a nice channel. Real nice niche info being shared here, i like it.

[@TheMobileChicane]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@bemolp7498]

Awesome Video, greetings from Germany

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thank you, and welcome!

[@SultanOfAwesome]

Great video again, getting awfully close to 10k now

[@TheMobileChicane]

We’re so close!

[@seancassidy795]

Oh fuck yes, new Mobile Chicane.

[@rhodrage]

It's amazing how some drivers are incredible in several series, but not F1. It just shows that the motorsport world is large, and you can still be a great without a good F1 season.

[@aircholo1245]

Really enjoyable report/summary, thanks for posting and the effort.🏁🏁

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thank you for watching!

[@Brenooliveira8989]

Excellent video as always!Today I learned Bourdais drove in 2009 as well, I could swear 2008 was his only season in F1.

[@TheMobileChicane]

I don’t blame you! I was surprised to remember I’d actually seen him in 2009 too, at the British Grand Prix.

[@AndyS-kv2jh]

Another masterpiece!!! Whenever I watch your videos I keep thinking Edd Straw would love your videos.

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thanks! I hope he would too.

[@timy0218]

Love your Videos

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thanks! A Heidfeld video is on the list.. but so are about 50 other topics!

[@jacobmassey3897]

They're wasting their time with Ricciardo and need to focus all their attention on Lawson.

[@Duval-In-The-Wall]

Saddest fact: He got less F1 points than Latifi

[@Haulinbassracing]

in all the years or watching racing ive come to discover I must be what held/is holding back bourdais from greatness as 95% of the time i see him race he crashes out.

[@jimmyvuletich9453]

That SRV Albert King video is amazing, really didn’t expect to see it here 😂😂😂

[@johnjohnson9658]

Jaques Villenueve went from Indy 500 and Championship winner to F1 world Championship in 2 seasons with Williams showing uncommon ability to transition seamlessly challenging for podiums out of the box and knocking off Shumacher who tried to take him out but backfired on him to lose the world championship because Michael was a sucky boy sore loser that could'nt stand to lose a fair fight.

[@RAFlamingo3]

I think that a lot of Bourdais domination of champ car is down to the lack of competitiveness of the series in the mid-2000s. I don't see much of top talent drivers in the CCWS besides guys like Junqueira, Tracy, Wilson, Power and Glock. Guys like AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alex Tagliani and Patrick Carpantier were all really good drivers but for every one of them you had guys like Nelson Philippe, Mario Haberfeld, Gaston Mazzacane, Andrew Ranger, Ronnie Bremer and Jan Heylen. The split really killed the competitiveness of CART/CCWS after 2002, when teams like Penske, Ganassi and Green/Andretti jumped ship to the IRL and a lot of the guys in Champ Car were pay drivers and field fillers.

[@TheMobileChicane]

Fair point - if we’re going to say that his F3000 title credentials were weak owing to those he beat, you could argue a siniliar thing with ChampCar.

[@mets137781]

yeah bourdais came alongwhen Champ Car was in its death spiral . The Champ Car/indy split is a video in itself but for non oval lovers it was a dark time in open wheel racing.

[@RAFlamingo3]

@@TheMobileChicane That's not to say that Bourdais was a bad driver though. As stated, there were a few really good drivers in the CCWS at that point but it wasn't the hyper competitive environment it was in the mit/late 90s anymore.

[@Ryzard]

To be fair, he still performed in other series, and was overall (and remains) competent if not near the top in most any series I've seen him in.

[@Duval-In-The-Wall]

Glock was in ChampCar?

[@The_ZeroLine]

He spent way too much time in F3000. That was a big red flag.

[@TheMobileChicane]

A fair point too. I’d love to do a deep dive into F3000/GP2/F2 stats and see the optimum time to spend in the category!

[@kieferclarkf1674]

13:06 “Fair shake of success” Ya you could call winning a world championship that.

[@Ryzard]

Oh god, the clip of the indy crash just brought back flashbacks. I was there. It was... Pretty scary, especially since I was paying special attention to him at the time

[@TheMobileChicane]

It was shocking just to watch back from my perspective - I can only imagine in person it was terrifying!

[@Ryzard]

@@TheMobileChicane I didn't even remember it happened until it came up in the video, suppose it got repressed lul

[@EstebanRapido]

I'm surprised there was no mention of the upgrade STR had right after they kicked Sebastian out. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong but I believe they had improved performance right after he left the team.

[@TheMobileChicane]

That rings a faint bell, but I’m not 100% sure on that. They only scored 3 more points after Bourdais left (all Buemi) so performance wasn’t a huge improvement if those updates did come in.

[@mvd4436]

Amazing long form content.

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thank you!

[@wife9571]

excellent, top quality video. engagement!

[@TheMobileChicane]

Thank you!

[@ykpr]

Great video. You can't have success in a lot of series (F3, F3000, Champcar, Indycar , IMSA, Le Mans etc ....) and not to be good. It was just not as a good place as a good time with a lot of bad luck and a futur world champion teammates.

[@KR1736]

I love bourdais but the champ car fields he was beating was not exactly the toughest that’s ever existed

[@mets137781]

yeah unfortunately champ car despite a great product was in its death spiral

[@KR1736]

@@mets137781closed up after 2007. So it was pretty dire

[@mets137781]

@@KR1736 it was depressing. I didnt like oval racing. Cart also had a solid lineup of interesting tracks even without indy.

[@KR1736]

@@mets137781 the car they had was pretty good. But that’s about it

[@mattiasgarbi9470]

Depends: Allmendiger, Wilson, Junqueira, Hunter-Reay, younger Graham Rahal and Will Power were good drivers. However I can't deny there were DUD drivers

[@patrickcesalestajodywibowo741]

Wake up babe, he's back! You maybe should do a collab with Peter Brooks F1. I think both of you guys like a fellow F1 'historian' who like to discuss about F1 in the past. Can't wait to see.

[@dengernoodle4391]

19:27 my, where have i heard that before

[@PeterKKraus]

He did a lot of crashing in the Ganassi Cadillac GTP. At least he gave an undamaged car to Scott Dixon at the Petit Le Mans last week.

[@kevinterry6444]

Having been there, I enjoyed watching his first stint as it was mega! The 01 team overall drove really well and shame they didn't take the win.

[@omega3556]

The 2023 Imsa season is the nail in the coffin for Bourdains career I'm afraid. And still people are going to say it is only bad luck.

[@TheAlphaDingo]

10:32 DaMatta looks like Zuckerberg in that footage lmao I like Bourdais, seems like a good bloke with a lot of bad luck. He's one of my favourites over in WEC, glad he's still managed to have a successful career in other categories even if his F1 dreams failed to flatter

[@food223]

Lol that joke was harsh on Oscar but still funny

[@Skreezilla]

Honestly i would rather have Flav as a manager than trust the Red Bull young driver program....

[@andredeketeleastutecomplex]

A 'champ' in IndyCars/CART/whatever is a WhoThis? In F1.

[@insertgenericusernamehere2402]

I'll be honest completely forgot he was a champ, champ. He's a solid driver to this day.

[@KingofWolves3277]

It makes you think how Red Bull Operates at Red Bull and Alpha Tauri nothing much has really changed

[@johnjohnson9658]

Who even drinks red bull ? Its incredible how huge they have become in motorsports upstaging all the greatest names in F1

[@david_new46]

I don't know who drinks it, but most cans seem to end up on the roadside 😂

[@benjamindepew]

Good God these videos are good.

[@TheMobileChicane]

Hey, thank you so much!

[@davison077]

Excellent

[@jdoe9518]

The old world old money will never allow anyone associated with the USA to succeed or prosper in F1. Jacques Villeneuve is the exception to the rule due to the situation with his father.

[@filipecoutinho5706]

Of course the real question is did the guy drive with the glasses on ??

[@TheMobileChicane]

I believe so!

[@formula31]

unlucky to come up against one of the greatest F1 drivers ever

[@catnamestaken]

Coolcool