Born into a racing family inLe Mans (his fatherPatrick raced in touring cars, hill climbs and sports cars), Bourdais began his racing career at the age of ten inkarts. 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.[citation needed]
Bourdais progressed tosingle-seater racing in 1995, finishing ninth in theFormula Campus by Renault and Elf Championship. He then spent two years in theFrench 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 (sixth overall) inFrench F3. He won the series outright in 1999, with eight wins and three poles.[citation needed]
Following his success in the lower formulae, Bourdais joined theProst Junior Team in theInternational F3000 Championship. He finished ninth in the series with one pole and a best finish of second. In 2001, Bourdais moved to theDAMS team in Formula 3000 and took his first win in the series atSilverstone. He changed teams again for2002, taking hisSuper Nova Racing car to three victories and seven pole positions. He beatGiorgio Pantano to the championship by two points afterTomáš Enge, who had scored the most points, was penalised for failing a drug test.[2]
After his Formula 3000 career and with no prospects for graduation to Formula 1, Bourdais signed withOpel to race in theDTM in 2003.[3] His manager,David Sears, inserted a clause in his contract which allowed him to break his contract without penalties in the event that he managed to secure a drive in Formula 1,CART or theIndy Racing League. Bourdais tested for Opel but did not drive in a DTM race because he managed to secure a drive in CART for 2003. Bourdais was to be paid €250,000 for his 2003 season with Opel.
He followed this up with another victory at theLausitzring. By the end of the season, he had earned five more podium finishes, including a win from the pole atCleveland. With a runner-up finish inMexico City, he clinched the Rookie of the Year title and finished fourth in the overall standings.
Bourdais was paid US $70,000 to drive for Newman/Haas Racing in 2003.
Staying with Newman-Haas for 2004, Bourdais dominated the Champ Car series with seven wins and eight poles in his McDonald's-sponsoredLola, beating his teammate Junqueira by 28 points. His record also included podium finishes in ten out of fourteen events and qualifying results no lower than third all season.
Bourdais successfully defended his Champ Car title in2005 with five wins in six races towards the end of the season, again with the Newman-Haas/Lanigan team. That May, he also finished twelfth in his firstIndianapolis 500.
Bourdais won a third consecutive Champ Car title in2006. His season began with four consecutive victories at Long Beach, Houston, Monterrey, and Milwaukee, although his winning streak was ended by the emergence ofA. 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-rivalPaul 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 sinceTed Horn achieved the hat trick in 1948.
Bourdais won a fourth consecutive Champ Car title in 2007 with victory at Lexmark Indy 300 on 21 October.
In 2002, Bourdais got his first F1 test with theArrows team and was signed on to drive for the team[4] but the team was on the verge of bankruptcy. In December he tested forRenault at Jerez but fellow FrenchmanFranck Montagny secured the test drive instead of Bourdais.[2]
Bourdais returned to F1 in 2007 after being given several tests withScuderia Toro Rosso. On 10 August 2007 it was announced Bourdais would replaceVitantonio Liuzzi[5] at Red Bull's b-team, Toro Rosso, as team-mate toSebastian Vettel. On 16 March 2008 Bourdais competed in his first Formula One Championship race, the2008 Australian Grand Prix inMelbourne. After qualifying in seventeenth position he took advantage of mistakes made by other drivers, in the first Formula One race since the2001 San Marino Grand Prix 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 classified eighth having completed more than 90% of the race distance. He later inherited seventh place (and two Championship points) after the disqualification ofRubens Barrichello.
Bourdais qualified ninth for theBelgian Grand Prix. During the race he quickly gained places and held on to fifth place for much of the distance, getting as high as third and was on course for a podium position. As the rain fell harder on the last lap he was overtaken by several cars on wet tyres and finished seventh. After the race, an emotional Bourdais was close to tears following the result. This marked his best weekend of the season and his first World Championship points since Melbourne.
Bourdais qualified in fourth place for the2008 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; onlyFerrari'sKimi Räikkönen went faster. At the2008 Japanese Grand Prix, he was sixth on the road but received a 25-second penalty for causing an avoidable accident withFelipe Massa dropping him to tenth. Few agreed with the decision –ITV Sport'sMartin Brundle had stated during live TV coverage of the race that he felt Massa might receive a penalty, whilst his colleagueJames Allen stated that 99% of experts he spoke to felt that Bourdais did not deserve a penalty; the FIA were under such public scrutiny at the time following a string of controversial decisions that they made the unprecedented step of releasing publicly "stewards only" footage of the incident, to justify the decision.[6]
Bourdais tested significantly for the Toro Rosso team during the winter, though he was uncertain of a drive heading into the new year. On 6 February 2009 however, he was confirmed as a Toro Rosso driver for a second year, partnering Swiss rookieSébastien Buemi.[7] Despite two points finishes in the year at theAustralian Grand Prix and inMonaco, Bourdais struggled to match his less experienced team-mate. InSpain Bourdais struck Buemi's car as the field attempted to avoid a spunJarno Trulli on the first lap, ending the race for both drivers. At theBritish Grand Prix Bourdais collided withMcLaren driverHeikki Kovalainen, again ending the race for both. At theGerman Grand Prix he suffered a mechanical failure after qualifying last by over a second.
On 16 July 2009, Toro Rosso announced that Bourdais would no longer be driving for the team. Toro Rosso'sFranz Tost said the partnership had not met up to his expectations, and Bourdais would be replaced as of theHungarian Grand Prix.[8] Bourdais was advised by counsel to file suit for breach of contract by Toro Rosso, as he had a viable case.[9] Toro Rosso settled the matter with a $2.1 million payment to Bourdais to avoid litigation.[10]
His next three appearances did not go so well. He shared aCourage C60 withJean-Christophe Boullion andLaurent Rédon 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 andFranck Lagorce. He missed the 2003 race and returned in 2004, only for the car he shared withNicolas Minassian andEmmanuel Collard to retire after 282 laps.[2]
Bourdais' next assault on Le Mans would come at the wheel of a factory-backedPeugeot 908 HDi FAP in2007. The car he shared withStéphane Sarrazin andPedro 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,[2] 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. In his second Le Mans as part of the Peugeot factory team, in 2009, he finished in second place, one lap behind the winning Peugeot. Bourdais was to drive thepole-winning No. 3 Peugeot in2010, but a suspension failure halted co-driverPedro Lamy before Bourdais could turn one lap in the race.[11]
In October 2010, Bourdais drove withJonathon Webb in theMother RacingFord Falcon V8 Supercar in theGold Coast 600. In October 2011, Bourdais drove withJamie Whincup in the Team VodafoneHolden Commodore V8 Supercar in theGold Coast 600, winning Saturday's opening race and finishing second in the second race landed Bourdais the inauguralDan Wheldon Memorial Trophy, awarded to the international driver who scored the most points over the Gold Coast weekend.[18] Wheldon had been set to contest the event but lost his life in the 2011 IndyCar season finale just a week earlier. Winning the V8 Supercar race meant that he is the only driver to have won a race at theSurfers Paradise Street Circuit in both Champcar/Indycar, as well as V8 Supercar. He has also participated in theBathurst 1000 once, finishing ninth withLee Holdsworth in2015.
He won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in2014 in the Action Express Corvette DP withJoão Barbosa andChristian Fittipaldi. In2015 he finished second at the 24 Hours of Daytona and claimed the win at the12 Hours of Sebring, both with an Action Express Corvette DP.
On 22 November 2019, the day it was announced he had lost his IndyCar series ride, Bourdais was announced as one of the drivers for the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing/JDC-Miller Motorsports entry, alongside Joao Barbosa.[19]
Bourdais made his IRL debut at the 2005 Indianapolis 500. In his first full-time season in the unified Indycar series (2011) with Dale Coyne, Bourdais wound up 23rd in the championship, scoring the fastest race lap at Edmonton.
A switch to Dragon Racing Team for 2012–13, first with the ill-fated Lotus, then with improved Chevrolet power, he finished 25th and twelfth, respectively, in the IndyCar championship. By 2014, Bourdais broke through for two pole positions and one victory. By midpoint in the 2015 season, his second year driving forJimmy Vasser'sKV Racing team alongside teammate Stefano Coletti, Bourdais's stock steadily rose, to top 20 status in the world drivers' ranking.
On 20 July 2014, having won the 1st heat race in Toronto, Sébastien Bourdais joinedAl Unser Jr. andRyan Hunter-Reay as the third driver in the history of organised motorsport to scoreopen-wheel Championship Racing victories, under three sanctioning bodies (e.g., CART, and CCWS, and IRL sanction), in North America. Against stiff opposition, Bourdais finished 2014 scoring 5 top-5s and 10th overall in the 2014 IRL championship.
On 31 May 2015, in the second heat race at Belle Isle, Detroit, in a drive from far back on the grid harkening back toStefan Bellof at Monaco in 1984, effortlessly carving his way by lesser drivers on a tight, composite street circuit, in heavy rain, breaking through with an impressive, high-profile victory and fastest race lap, Bourdais recorded his 33rd victory inAmerican Championship car racing, just behind Al Unser Jr. with 34.
On12 July 2015, at theMilwaukee Mile, Bourdais dominated the field and had the entire field a lap down at one point and won, his second of the 2015 season. He finished tenth in points. After KV Racing went down to one team for 2016, Bourdais struggled with a lone win again at Detroit. He finished in fourteenth in points for 2016. In October 2016, it was announced that Bourdais would make the change to Dale Coyne Racing to drive the No. 18 for the 2017 season. His KVSH race engineer Olivier Boisson would also follow him to DCR.
In his first race back to DCR, Bourdais won the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to start the 2017 season coming from last after a qualifying crash, on 12 March 2017. He backed this up with another recovery drive at the Long Beach race, starting from ninth and making an early rear wing change, to finish second, extending his lead in the series standings.
Bourdais' No. 11 car after the running of the2015 Indianapolis 500 where he placed 11th
On 20 May 2017, Bourdais was involved in a single-car accident while qualifying for theIndianapolis 500.[20] He suffered multiple fractures to his pelvis and a fracture to his right hip.[21] The surgery was successful but Bourdais was forced to sit out for most of the season to recover.[22] Bourdais would return at Gateway and run the final three races of the season.
In 2018, Bourdais returned to the Dale Coyne Racing Team now partnered with investors James "Sulli" Sullivan and former driverJimmy Vasser asDale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan. The team also found steady sponsorship in the form of SealMaster and SportClips Haircuts. Bourdais started The Firestone St. Petersburg Grand Prix in fourteenth place. He ended up losing a tire on the opening lap but the misfortunes ofWill Power andTony Kanaan saved him from going a lap down. He went on an off sequence pit strategy and found himself 3rd with a handful of laps to go. On the final restart,Alexander Rossi divebombed the first corner and got his tires locked up on the slick airport runway paint and got into race leaderRobert Wickens who had led 67 laps that day and Bourdais snuck by to win. It was his first win since last year at St. Petersburg and his first since the injury. Bourdais was emotional in victory lane and said "he never doubted that he would run in IndyCar again". Bourdais went on to win pole at the very next race in Phoenix, his first on an oval since 2006.[23] Bourdais was also the only driver to lead laps at each of the first four races of the2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season.
On 22 November 2019, Dale Coyne Racing announced that Bourdais would not return to the team in 2020.[24]
On 4 February 2020, it was announced that Bourdais joinedA. J. Foyt Racing to drive part-time in the2020 IndyCar Series season, running the races at St. Petersburg, Barber Motorsports Park, Long Beach and Portland.[25] He finished fourth in the rescheduled St. Petersburg finale, an effort that kept the entry in the Leaders' Circle program for 2021.[26] On 15 September, Bourdais was confirmed as a full-time driver for Foyt in 2021.[27] At the season finale at Long Beach Bourdais announced that 2021 would be his last year competing full time in the IndyCar Series and that he intended to focus his efforts on sports car racing in the future. Bourdais however did not rule out racing in a select number of IndyCar events in 2022 and beyond, including the Indianapolis 500.[28]
In 2005, Bourdais competed inthe 29th season of theInternational Race of Champions, racingstock cars against a field of twelve drivers from eight different US-based racing series, winning one race in the four-race season and finishing fifth in the overall standings.