Pourchaire's hard work pays off immediately: 'I'm more relaxed'

Theo Pourchaire took pole in Bahrain for the F2 main race with a difference of no less than seven-tenths. The Sauber Academy driver still saw qualifying in 2022 as one of his areas for improvement. That no longer seems to be the case.

Closing a seven-tenths gap on the competition in F2. It doesn't happen often, as all drivers are in the same car. Yet Pourchaire had a good example because during qualifying for the 2021 F2 race in Monaco, he also beat the competition by four tenths. So a fast lap is definitely in the cards, but in 2022 Pourchaire did not grab a single pole in the year he finished second.

Pourchaire working on himself

"I watched my Monaco onboard from 2021 100 times," Pourchaire laughed when GPblog asked him during the press conference in Sakhir what he did over the winter to improve so much in qualifying. The Frenchman made no secret beforehand that he wanted to work on his performance in qualifying and that seems to have worked out quite well.

"Seriously, I did a lot of work with Sauber as well, lots of F1 simulator. Worked with the F1 engineers. Mentally it's so important. Last year, I struggled to push myself to the limit sometimes. I feel like I did a very good job today because I was relaxed. I was much more relaxed than last year. It would be important to focus on myself, on my driving to not do any mistakes. To improve each time. To be relaxed. I know how to drive, I know how to do the job. To do it under pressure, in the qualifying. We only have two, three, four laps maximum each time. It's tough but I did it today."

Pourchaire will start Saturday's F2 sprint race from 10th place due to the reverse starting order. He will start the main race on Sunday from pole position. Next to him will be his teammate Richard Verschoor.