25/01/2005
NEWS STORY
Racing legend Mario Andretti, who amongst his many other successes won the 1978 Formula One World Championship title, has told F1 bosses to sit up and take notice of 2004 Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais.
Having been ignored by F1, the Frenchman, who was born in Le Mans, and won the 2002 F3000 championship, went to America, where he won the 2004 Champ Car series with Newman Haas.
Having heard comments made by F1 team boss Frank Williams, basically dismissing Champ Cars and Bourdais' title win, racing legend Andretti couldn't hold back, and warned F1 team bosses that they are missing out.
Referring to Williams, he commented: "He said, 'Let me ask you this; how would Bourdais stack up against Juan Pablo Montoya?'" Andretti told SpeedTV.
"And I said, 'All day. Anywhere. And as a matter of fact, I'm a Montoya fan. I think this guy has got more smarts than Montoya. He's got more control, more technical.
"'Montoya is just flat out,' I said," Andretti continued, "'and sometimes I don't think he knows why.
"'This guy is technical,'" he added, referring to Bourdais. "'You guys are missing the boat.'"