Bourdais edges nearer to F1 drive

Bourdais won his third straight Champ Car title in 2006

Sebastien Bourdais moved a step closer to a seat in Formula One after Toro Rosso revealed they had an option on the triple Champ Car title-holder.

Bourdais has tested three times for Toro Rosso since last December and has impressed team co-owner Gerhard Berger.

"He has been quick, consistent and good with the engineers so I think he has a good potential," said Berger.

"He delivered what we were expecting from him. We have an option on him until the end of the month."

Frenchman Bourdais was offered a race drive by Arrows before the team folded in 2002.

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The 28-year-old was also considered by BMW-Sauber as a possible replacement for Jacques Villeneuve before the start of last season.

American Scott Speed and Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi are the current Toro Rosso drivers but Berger said the team were still assessing their options for next year.

"There are a couple of names that we know are able to do a good job," he said. "One of them is Sebastien Bourdais and another one is Sebastian Vettel."

German Vettel, 20, is the BMW Sauber reserve driver and scored a point on his race debut at Indianapolis this season as a replacement for the injured Robert Kubica.