Bourdais not expecting help from rookie teammate Jones

Bourdais drove without a teammate last season, as KV downsized after running a second car for paying drivers Sebastian Saavedra in 2014 and rookie Stefano Coletti in ’15. However, Bourdais says regaining a teammate at DCR-Honda is unlikely to be of great benefit to him, given the rookie status of 2016 Indy Lights champion Ed Jones.

“I think some people forget how difficult it is to be a rookie,” said Bourdais who was Formula 3000 champion in Europe in 2002, and switched to Newman/Haas Racing in Champ Car for ’03. “It’s even harder now there is so little testing.

“There’s a lot to learn about the car, about interaction with your engineer and the team, there’s different tracks, your running time on race weekend is not that much. For a rookie, a race weekend goes by so darn fast!

“For Ed, at this stage in his development, it’s a matter of the team giving him a car that makes him feel secure so then he can start pushing hard and finding his limits and the car’s limits. It’s about getting track time and building confidence.

“As far as helping me, I don’t see it. As a rookie I think Ed will just be getting himself together by qualifying time, and even if he pulls out something special, well by then it’s too late to help me – I’m where I am on the grid already!

“That’s nothing against Ed, not at all. With rookies, that’s the way it is, that’s the way a race weekend progresses. It’s natural that I’m going to help him a lot more than he can help me, because he can take what I’m using and then he may suddenly make me look stupid by being faster.

“Certainly that’s how it was for me, in my first year in Champ Car with Bruno [Junqueira] as my teammate at Newman/Haas. He was doing his thing, I was feeding off of him, and looking at his data and sometimes getting it really right in qualifying. I won pole five times, and he might be third or fifth or something because he wasn’t benefiting from anything I was doing – and I was sure as heck benefiting from him!”

Jones talented but difficult to judge yet

After his first test alongside Jones last week, Bourdais said he had sympathy with his new teammate needing time to acclimate.

“This Sebring test was a tough set of circumstances,” observed the four-time Champ Car title-winner. “Ed hadn’t been driving for quite some time and then he jumps into an IndyCar and everything will seem superfast. Even for me who’s used to these cars, if you drive an IndyCar after four months away, it’s like, ‘Whoa! That’s a wake-up.’ You have to spend a couple of laps to readjust, it’s not automatic.

“So when you have to adapt to a new car on top of that – driving something with higher potential than anything you’ve ever driven – it’s not easy.

“Also, when you’re a rookie, you spend so much more energy than you should. No matter how well prepared you are physically – neck, arms and so on – it’s hard to be relaxed in a car when you’re not familiar with it. You’re still learning some of the basics about the car, so you’re not at ease; you’re burning off a lot of energy.

“Then at the same time, you want as many miles as you can get – I think Ed did over 100 laps both days of the test. So you’re not wanting to make any big changes on the car, because you don’t want downtime – you want miles.”

Consequently, said Bourdais, it was too early to assess the potential of the British-UAE 21-year-old, who won the Indy Lights title in his second year in the series.

He stated: “You honestly can never know what a rookie is capable of, when the learning curve might plateau, when he’s going to have that revelation that makes him find however many tenths he’s looking for.

“I know this: Ed’s got a lot of talent, he’s fast, and I think he’ll do fine. But first he needs the miles, so at this point it’s more down to the team to give him a solid baseline setup where he can push himself, gain confidence without getting caught out and learn what he wants the car to do. Once he knows that, then he and his engineer can start finding a setup that suits him, he can express himself and give his full potential.”