Bourdais ready for the F1 challenge

Sebastien Bourdais in his new F1 ride

Sébastien Bourdais will begin his first ever Formula One season with the Toro Rosso team in 2008 after spending five fantastic years in the Champ Car series. "It was only happiness and great memories," the French driver told AFP.

"To this day, those were the best years of my life, be it in private or in motorsports," said 28-year-old Bourdais. "I married Clare and we had Emma. I arrived as a semi-professional bachelor. I emerge as a man, a father, and a professional of my sport."

The new Toro Rosso driver goes on to say thet he has a special relationship with 82-year-old actor and Newman/Haas/Lanigan co-owner Paul Newman. Newman even made a surprise appearance at Bourdais' wedding a year and a half ago.

"That was unexpected and surprising, he took a liking to us [Claire and I]. We have done incredible and unanticipated things with Paul, like spending Thanksgiving with him and going to Daytona. It was a bit surreal, because we don't tend to think that icons like him can be like everyone else," Bourdais went on to say in the interview.

"We keep in touch. We call each other and it has already been planned that he will come to a Grand Prix. We'll keep in contact whatever happens," he added.

In his first F1 season with Toro Rosso he plans to take it realistically and one step at a time.

"When the doors did not open following my F3000 title in 2002, I was not offended. I knew the rules," Bourdais related. "I took the Champ Car gamble because I wanted to remain in a single-seater. I don't regret it. I enriched my experience and lived fantastic years."

"However, even if you have talent and deserve a seat, this is not a sport where merit is always rewarded. There has to be an opportunity and there aren't fifty of them. I knew that even if I won everything on the way, there was no guarantee," he stated.

"We [he and the team] must grow together and see what happens," Bourdais concluded.