Bourdais fired

UPDATE #2 "I feel badly for Seb. I know how talented he is, after all, he won 4 championships for our Team in 5 years. I also know that he will use this experience to learn and get back to the greatness he was within himself." Carl Haas-Newman Haas Lanigan Racing

07/16/09 (GMM) Toro Rosso on Thursday morning confirmed the immediate departure from the team of its French race driver Sebastien Bourdais.

"In Sebastien's second year with us, the partnership has not met our expectations and therefore we have decided to replace him as from the next round of the world championship, the Hungarian grand prix," said team boss Franz Tost.

It is widely expected that Red Bull's newly-appointed F1 reserve driver Jaime Alguersuari, a 19-year-old Spaniard, will be confirmed as 30-year-old Bourdais' replacement.

Toro Rosso said in a statement: "An announcement about (the) replacement will be made shortly before the Hungarian grand prix."

Prior to moving to F1 last year, Bourdais won four successive Champ Car championships in America between 2004 and 2007. In 2002, he won the F3000 title, which is the equivalent of today's GP2.

07/16/09 Last weekend’s German Grand Prix was Sebastien Bourdais’ last race for the Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 team.

Franz Tost: “In Sebastien’s second year with us, the partnership has not met our expectations and therefore we have decided to replace him as from the next round of the World Championship, the Hungarian Grand Prix."

An announcement about his replacement will be made shortly before the Hungarian Grand Prix. Toro Rosso PR