Alguersuari set to replace Bourdais

Date published : 13 Jul 2009 - 14:31:26

Sebastien Bourdais is set to lose his Scuderia Toro Rosso seat to Red Bull reserve driver Jaime Alguersuari from the Hungarian Grand Prix.Bourdais place at STR has looked increasingly tenuous after a lacklustre second season in Formula 1 thus far, and speculation that the 30-year-old Frenchman would be dropped intensified at the German Grand Prix, where he had another disappointing outing in the shadow of rookie team-mate Sebastien Buemi.After retiring from the race with a hydraulic failure, Bourdais told French broadcaster TF1 that he has a contract in place for the full season and expects to race in Hungary.However itv.com/f1 understands that with in-season testing banned Red Bull does intend to place British F3 champion Alguersuari at STR to give him F1 experience and assess his capabilities ahead of next season.Toro Rosso is remaining tight-lipped about its plans, a team spokeswoman telling itv.com/f1 that we do not comment on speculation , but an announcement is expected imminently.Spaniard Alguersuari will become the youngest Formula 1 driver in history, making his debut at the age of 19 years and 125 days eclipsing the previous record of 19 years and 182 days held by New Zealand s Mike Thackwell, who started the aborted 1980 Canadian GP.