Toro Rosso are set to confirm on Tuesday that Sebastien Bourdais will leave the team to be replaced by teenager Jaime Alguersuari.
Alguersuari poised to become youngest driver in F1 history
Toro Rosso are set to confirm on Tuesday that Sebastien Bourdais will leave the team, paving the way for Jaime Alguersuari to become the youngest driver in Formula One history.
Despite an impressive pedigree that includes four successive ChampCar titles earned in the United States, Bourdais has failed to shine since joining the Italian team last season.
In 2008, the Frenchman was overshadowed by team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who won Toro Rosso's first ever race at the Italian Grand Prix.
Vettel switched to sister team Red Bull Racing for 2009, while Bourdais was made to wait until February before Toro Rosso finally announced that he would be retained.
However, the 30-year-old has once again found himself second best to another youngster, Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi, who has out-qualified his more experienced team-mate seven to two.
Downbeat
Bourdais' F1 career ended in downbeat fashion in Sunday's German Grand Prix when, having qualified 20th and last on the grid, he retired with a hydraulic failure.
Although team principal Franz Tost refused to confirm Bourdais' departure after the race, reserve and test driver Alguersuari is expected to contest the rest of the season, starting with next weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard is the reigning British F3 champion and, like Buemi, a product of the Red Bull Young Driver Development programme.
Alguersuari would enter the record books at the Hungaroring by becoming the sport's youngest ever driver at the age of 19 years and 126 days.
That would beat the current record, set by New Zealander Mike Thackwell at the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix, by 57 days.
