Sébastien Bourdais

Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (28 February 1979 - Present): French racing driver from Le Mans, France. Competed in Formula 1 for Toro Rosso (2008-2009), making 27 starts with no points scored. Before F1, Bourdais achieved unprecedented success in American open-wheel racing, winning four consecutive Champ Car World Series championships from 2004 to 2007 with 37 race victories, becoming the first Champ Car driver to win three consecutive titles since Ted Horn in 1948 and earning 2003 Rookie of the Year. After nearly joining Arrows in 2002 (team bankruptcy prevented it), Bourdais finally entered F1 on 10 August 2007, replacing Vitantonio Liuzzi at Toro Rosso alongside Sebastian Vettel.

His F1 debut came at the 2008 Australian Grand Prix, where he qualified 17th but climbed to 4th before an engine problem forced retirement, classified 8th. Despite this promise, he was dropped mid-way through his second season. Post-F1, Bourdais competed in IndyCar (2011-2021) and drove for Peugeot Sport (2007-2011), finishing runner-up three times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.