Sebastien Bourdais began his career in the French karting series. From there he entered the Formula racing world with the French Formula Renault series, where in 1996, he finished seventh. In 1998, he moved to the French Formula 3 Championship where he won rookie of the year honors. The following year he took the championship title after winning eight races.
Rising quickly through the Formula ranks, Bourdais entered the FIA F3000 series in 2000 competing with the Prost Junior Team. He continued to improve on this circuit, winning the championship title in 2002.
With no sure signs of becoming a Formula One driver for 2003, he signed a one-year contract with Newman-Haas Racing in the Champ Car World Series. He won the pole in his first two races and captured his first win at the Grand Prix of England. In the following week's race in Germany, his first first oval race, Bourdais became the first-ever rookie to win the race after taking the pole position. His third win that season was also from the pole, in Champ Car's first-ever nighttime road-course race in Cleveland. That year he took the Rookie-of-the-Year title and cemented his spot on the Newman-Haas Racing team.
In 2004, Bourdais won the championship title after leading the series in victories, poles, laps led and qualifying average. He won seven of the season's fourteen races and finished on the podium 10 times. He won eight poles and started in the top-three in every race.
2005 was a banner year for Bourdais, as he won the Champ Car Championship. Also, he became the first Champ Car driver in 10 years to win an IROC race when he gave a commanding performance at Texas Motor Speedway. He also drove for Newman-Haas in the Indianapolis 500.
In 2006, he continued his championship momentum – cruising to the championship by virtue of his seven wins, 11 top fives and 13 top-10s in 14 starts. By winning his third consecutive Champ Car World Series crown, Bourdais joined Tom Horn as the only drivers ever to win three consecutive Champ Car titles. His championship trophy was one of many titles earned in 2006, as his efforts combined with fellow Frenchman Nelson Philippe's allowed them to win the Nation's Cup. Bourdais also earned the Hole In The Wall Camps Lap Leader Award, which is given to the driver that leads the most laps of competition over the season, and the Bridgestone Pole Award, leading the series by winning seven of the year's 14 pole positions.
Bourdais secured a fourth consecutive Champ Car World Series championship driving for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing in 2007.
After testing a few times with Red Bull Racing's Formula One team, Bourdais assumed driver responsibilities for the Scuderia Toro Rosso team in 2008. He struggled in his first year with the team and only scored points in two races - four points with two seventh-place finishes. As a result, he had to fight to remain in the seat for 2009, and was subjected to a lot of testing and analysis in the off season.
The work paid off though, as Bourdais secured a race seat with Scuderia Toro Rosso for a second year in 2009.
