Sebastien Bourdais is ruing his bad luck over the weekend – a mechanical fault left him sitting on the grid at the start of the formation lap – a stark contrast to his team-mate who started from pole position and went on to win the race.

Sebastien Bourdais narrowly missed out on a podium in Spa-Francorchamps after losing several places in the dramatic final few laps.

The Toro Rosso ace had driven sublimely all weekend and he vaulted up to fifth place from ninth with a lightening start. He managed to fend of Mark Webber and Robert Kubica throughout most of the race, and when Kimi Raikkonen crashed out of the race, the Frenchman found himself poised for a first career podium.

Toro Rosso co-owner Gerhard Berger may have to think twice about his driver line-up for next year after Sebastien Bourdais delivered one of his best qualifying performances to date.

The Toro Rosso driver has come under intense pressure to sharpen up his act at the team having been consistently out performed by Sebastian Vettel.

Sebastien Bourdais has been left to look back at the poor luck he endured during the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Frenchman was one of several drivers who had problems with the refuelling rigs – during one of his routine pit-stops, there was a flash fire on his car. The Toro Rosso mechanics were quickly on top of the situation, dousing the car and driver with extinguisher foam.

Sébastien Bourdais has been demoted five grid positions after Stewards judged that he impeded BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld in the opening knock-out qualifying session for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Heidfeld’s final flying lap, along with his hopes of making it into Q2, were written off when he closed up onto the gearbox of the Scuderia Toro Rosso driver on his final flying lap and ran wide on the final corner.