Sébastien Bourdais not with Arrows in Hungary

Who will it be?
By Huw Alban
August 12 2002

Who will partner Enrique Bernoldi for the rest of 2002? Will the team be competing in Hungary? Who is the new team owner? These are the top questions on the AllAboutArrows message board at the moment. One thing is certain today, Sébastien Bourdais will not be in the number two seat this weekend.

The young French driver completed two days of testing for Arrows recently, and the feedback from the team was positive about his talents. This led to speculation that he might land a seat with the team in 2003, and, more recently, take the vacant drive left by Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

In a recent interview with the popular F1 news site F1-live.com, Sébastien stated that he would not be driving for the team this Sunday, and has opted to continue to concentrate on the remaining races of this year’s F3000 championship instead.

“Arrows did not really contact me for the position to fill. Therefore I do not think I will drive for them next weekend,” he has been quoted as saying. “I did not expect the deal to be done and I am not that disappointed. Arrows told me they would prefer for me to keep focused on the F3000 crown and that’s exactly what I will do.”

It has been widely speculated that the team will reveal the identity of their second driver later today (Monday), but then again this was also speculated for last Friday as well. It Is also hoped that the identity of the new team owner, or at least details on the package to secure the team financially, will also be made public.