Sebastien Bourdais admits he is currently "struggling massively" to make his mark in formula one.

Recent headlines have highlighted the Frenchman's need for results, as Toro Rosso ponders the 2009 season without its star driver Sebastian Vettel.

His half-season grace period courtesy of team co-owner Gerhard Berger now over, the multiple Champ Car title winner speaks out about his task of proving himself at the wheel of a car he doesn't like.

"On a good day I am two-tenths behind Sebastian. On a bad day I am five tenths off, which is way too much," he admits to F1.com.

Bourdais' real problems began at Monaco, when Toro Rosso debuted its current car, which is not suited to his driving style.

"It's not that I'm getting my ass kicked every fortnight -- but it's not far from it," he confessed. "Probably it is one of my weaknesses -- not being able to adapt my driving style to cars I don't really like.

"Sebastian is much more flexible," Bourdais admits, referred to his 21-year-old teammate. "That is probably his number one quality I would say, as he really has been able to step up the game and to find ways around the problems, whereas I am just kind of hitting the same wall a bit."

Recent speculation has linked Takuma Sato, Bruno Senna and Sebastien Buemi with a Seat at Toro Rosso for 2009, but Bourdais is staying sanguine about his own chances.

"That's the game of formula one. You need to show some results if you want to stay where you are."

Source: GMM