Bourdais found it hard to celebrate Vettel’s win
While his teammate Sebastian Vettel dominated the race from pole, Bourdais' career-best fourth place on the grid went to waste when he stalled before the start.
The Frenchman could only finish 18th, having already been lapped by the time his car was restarted.
"When I realized that (I was lapped) it felt terrible – I knew that I had nothing to hope for, and I would've been targeting third place, we could have been first and third," Bourdais wrote in his column for French newspaper L'Equipe.
"This Italian Grand Prix wasn't the longest race of my life – because in sportscars I've done longer races – but it was the most dispiriting after what had happened. At the finish the team was nice to me. They understood my disappointment. They all had a comforting word for me, but at the time it was really difficult. I was happy for them and at the same time I had trouble being able to share the moment."
Despite his disappointment, Bourdais paid generous tribute to his victorious team-mate Vettel.
"He really has a huge natural talent," said the former Champ Car star. He's capable of adapting to very different cars."
"As for the future, with or without Toro Rosso, I'm not thinking about this every time I get in the car," he wrote. "I'm trying above all just to give my maximum, and what happens in the future… we will see."