Bourdais rules out F1

However the Frenchman says he will definitely compete in next year's Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race.

"I think it's over," Bourdais told L'Equipe when asked about his efforts to break into Grand Prix racing.

"It's frustrating but there are loads of talented drivers who never went to F1...one can always say it's unfair but that's F1, and it's never been fair."

Bourdais, who last month won his third title in a row in the US open wheel series, has long hankered after Formula One without getting a break.

The 27-year-old, winner of the now-defunct F3000 championship in 2002, tested for Arrows and was offered a drive by them before they folded at the end of that year.

He told L'Equipe that several teams had been interested in taking him on as a test driver but with no guarantees of an eventual race seat.

"I was supposed to give up everything I had spent four years building up -- for a perhaps," said Bourdais.

The Le Mans-born driver said he had given up on any switch to NASCAR, the US stock car series that Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya has moved to from Formula One, and preferred to concentrate on ChampCars and endurance racing.

"I've always said that I would do Le Mans every year I could, it's a race I want to win," he said. "I hope the discussions with Peugeot come to something but, today, nothing is decided."