Bourdais: Detroit good, but 'F1 has ruined every track'

Sebastien Bourdais thinks Belle Isle is tops.

Rain, bumps and unseasonably cold weather — the French driver says he'll take the island over Formula One's famous Monaco track in Monte Carlo.

On Sunday, Bourdais drove to victory in Race 2 of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit at Belle Isle during a rain-drenched Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix.

At the wheel of the No. 11 Dallara/Chevrolet for KVSH Racing, Bourdais gave a masterful display of wet-weather driving to beat Takuma Sato (A.J. Foyt Racing) and Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) in the Verizon IndyCar Series event.

On Monday, Bourdais, 36, who was born in Le Mans, France, was still in Detroit smiling about his win.

"It feels really good," said Bourdais, who won four consecutive Champ Car championships in 2004-07 for Newman-Haas Racing. "I'm enjoying my racing again after a horrible experience in Formula One."

After dominating Champ Car, Bourdais moved to F1 team Toro Rosso in 2008 to partner with Sebastian Vettel.

It didn't work out, Bourdais being replaced at Toro Rosso during the 2009 season, and then competing in sports cars and touring cars for several years before returning to IndyCar with Dragon Racing in 2013 and on to KVSH Racing last season.

"I didn't feel wanted or that I could work with the team in Formula One," said Bourdais during a visit Monday to Detroit radio and TV stations. "Now I'm with sort of an underdog team competing against the Penskes, Andrettis and Ganassis, and it is feeling great."

Running low on gas, Bourdais still managed to drive away from the field late in Sunday's race at Belle Isle. Would he change anything on the 2.35-mile track?

"I think Roger and his team nailed it completely," said Bourdais of Roger Penske's recent repaving and widening of the Belle Isle circuit. "Perhaps the braking zone in Turn 7, maybe some work there, but Belle Isle is good, hard American racing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

"It's challenging (racing) on concrete. Driving in the rain at Detroit — it's tougher than any Formula One track, including the streets at Monaco. F1 has ruined every track. They have taken the character out of them, made them vanilla. It hurts me. Monaco is now a frigging parking lot with a couple of turns."

Bourdais said IndyCar is better racing than F1, and for the right reasons.

"Too much in Formula One is all about the wrong reasons," Bourdais said. "Money and position — it is not about the racing.

"In IndyCar, no one makes money. It's just great, pure racing."

Contact Mike Brudenell: mbrudenell@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mikebrudenell.