 |
| Sensational rookie Sebastien Bourdais was on the pole by a half second after two rounds of qualifying for the St. Petersburg Grand Prix. (Photo: Autostock) |
Count them up and you'll find almost half of the field are rookies this year, which is worth a little delve into the archives to see if it's an unprecedented number. But just because they're new doesn't mean they're necessarily new to open wheel racing. Sebastien Bourdais, who stole pole from the series most winning driver Paul Tracy, recently walked away with last year's Formula 3000 championship, the number one series on the F1 feeder rung. The young Frenchman was driving flawlessly in first place for half the race until his rear wheel unfortunately made contact with a concrete wall, breaking his suspension and ending his run.
 |
| Ryan Hunter-Reay, a rookie in CART this season, won three races after a late start in Toyota Atlantics last year. The 2002 season saw Vancouver's Michael Valiante take U.S. driver Jon Fogarty to the wire in season finale. (Photo: Barry Hathaway) |
Of course in racing what is bad for one is usually good for another. Canada's superhero Paul Tracy became race leader by default. It was by no means a walk in the park on the way to the finish line with Tracy's car joining the rest of the field, rear ends slipping and sliding on old rubber while the Ford's massive torque often overwhelmed driver and machine, punting them into Turn 10, what fast became a motorsport Bermuda Triangle. Tracy came all too close to joining the 'contact' crowd on his last lap while negotiating that very same corner, that incidentally claimed Canada's Alex Tagliani early in the race.