Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost said, ""In Sebastien's second year with us, the partnership has not met our expectations and therefore we have decided to replace him as from the next round of the world championship, the Hungarian grand prix,"

Newly appointed Red Bull reserve driver Jaime Alguersuari is widely tipped to be the Frenchman's replacement. If Alguersuari is chosen to race for Toro Rosso at the Hungarian Grand Prix next week, the 19-year-old Spaniard will be the youngest ever Formula One driver at the age of 19 years and 125 days, beating the record of 19 years and 182 days held by Mike Thackwell which was set in 1980.

Toro Rosso said in a statement: "An announcement about his replacement will be made shortly before the Hungarian grand prix."

Prior to his move to F1 last year, Bourdais won four successive Champ Car championships in America between 2004 and 2007. In 2002, he won the F3000 title, which is the equivalent of today's GP2.