Pourchaire knocks on door at Alfa Romeo: Zhou's position under pressure

Dominance in Bahrain

Pourchaire's Formula 2 season has got off to an excellent start. The 19-year-old driver dominated in Bahrain with the fastest time in qualifying, which was a whopping seven-tenths faster than second place.

The Frenchman was also rock solid in the race. On Saturday, he climbed from P10 to P5 in the sprint race, and on Sunday, no one could threaten his leading position.

In the standings, this now puts the Sauber Academy talent in the lead with 32 points. Ralph Boschung is his closest rival with 28 points. The Swiss won the sprint race and finished second in the main race. Still, ART Grand Prix, in particular, seems to be the team to beat this year, as Pourchaire's teammate Victor Martins also performed well with a second place in qualifying and P3 in the sprint race.

The stakes are high for Pourchaire this year. Back in 2022, he also set the F2 title as a big goal but was beaten by Felipe Drugovich in his second season in the class. The Frenchman went to work on his qualifying to be even better this year. Indeed, a move to F1 remains the ultimate dream.

Protegé of the Sauber Academy

And that dream is still alive, as Pourchaire has been part of the Sauber Academy since 2019. As part of that academy, he won the ADAC Formula 4 championship (2019) and finished second in the Formula 3 (2020) and Formula 2 (2022) championships. That did not yield more than a reserve role with Sauber's F1 team, Alfa Romeo, before 2023.

So, Pourchaire knows what he has to do: win the F2 title. With a strong start, he immediately puts pressure on Guanyu Zhou. Whereas Valtteri Bottas has a multi-year contract at Alfa Romeo, Zhou is fixed only for 2023. So there lies an opportunity for Pourchaire.

Zhou did not win an F2 title himself but made the move to F1 after finishing third behind Oscar Piastri and Robert Shwartzman in his third F2 season. In 2022, he also failed to convince in F1 alongside Bottas. He lost the qualifying duel 14-7 and an average difference of 0.526s. Nicholas Latifi was the only one with such a big difference compared to his teammate (also 0.526s), and the Canadian lost his seat as a result. Zhou also scored far fewer points than his teammate. Valtteri came to 49, Zhou to 6.

Who will get the spot at Alfa Romeo?

Whereas Pourchaire impressed in Bahrain, Zhou did not yet succeed. The Chinese finished narrowly (by 0.030s) behind Bottas in qualifying and saw him pick up the points again. Zhou himself finished outside the points and was used at the end to take the fastest lap away from Pierre Gasly. It did not yield a point outside the top ten.

As a reserve driver, Pourchaire is likely to make an appearance in Alfa Romeo's C43 during free practice in 2023 as he did in 2022, allowing the team to directly measure the Frenchman against the current drivers. Pourchaire is not alone in dealing with Zhou, however, as there is another hijacker on the coast.

With Audi set to take over the Sauber team from 2026 onwards, Mick Schumacher's name is also singing around the team. The German lost his seat at Haas and will be Mercedes' reserve driver in 2023. The son of Michael Schumacher will be hoping his German nationality, and F1 experience, will help with the application.

Pourchaire, like the F1 drivers, will also return to action in Saudi Arabia. The Frenchman must hope ART can continue the line from Bahrain, as few teams seem capable of doing anything against it. The Red Bull juniors, in particular, were disappointing. Only Zane Maloney managed a podium on behalf of Rodin Carlin in the main race. Dennis Hauger still managed second place in the sprint race but crashed out in the main race.