Will Theo Pourchaire make it to Formula 1 in 2023? Before the season, the Frenchman was considered a designated climber in the premier class and was supposed to drive there for Alfa Romeo. So far, however, this person has remained silent, especially since Guanyu Zhou will not be easily ousted from his cockpit.
“We’ll look at it at the end of the year,” Alfa Romeo team boss Frederic Vasseur told the Dutch edition of “Motorsport.com”.
“As a Formula 1 team, I’m more focused on Zhou at the moment and it’s a very special and very important season for the team for a number of reasons. It’s important that we get points and develop a very positive momentum with Zhou.”
However, Pourchaire will still be in the Formula 1 car in 2022, as teams are obliged to give two practice sessions on Friday to a rookie – one for each car. However, Alfa Romeo only has to give up one session, as Zhou counted as a rookie himself in the season opener and thus paid the debt.
Valtteri Bottas will have to give way again and let Pourchaire take the wheel – the only question is where. Originally, the racing team had targeted training at Le Castellet, but because Formula 2 has nominated France to replace Sochi, they are stepping back and not disturbing Pourchaire in his normal work.
Only Red Bull and Williams have given up a session so far
But Vasseur himself does not yet know when it will be used: Because in France, Hungary, Belgium, Italy and Abu Dhabi Formula 2 is at the start, on a sprint weekend like in Brazil it makes no sense to use it, “then we still have a few Tire testing events and you can’t imagine giving the rookie session to Singapore,” he says.
“Even Suzuka will be difficult, even if Max [Verstappen] did it there a few years ago,” said Vasseur. So the team doesn’t have many options. “But we’ll find a solution, don’t worry. Because we have to according to the regulations.”
But all the other teams are still facing the same problem. Only Red Bull with Jüri Vips and Williams with Nyck de Vries in Barcelona have given up a session so far. All other teams have to let a rookie drive twice more.
How things will look in 2023 remains to be seen. Vasseur emphasizes that Zhou will also have a fair chance of keeping his cockpit: “Of course,” he says. “He’s doing a great job and everyone is more than happy with what he’s doing. It’s a comfortable situation for me to have several drivers delivering good results.”