Pourchaire looks to follow Piastri route: 'Now he is driving in Formula 1'

Theo Pourchaire became champion in Formula 2 this year, but promotion to Formula 1 was not in the cards. Alfa Romeo Racing stuck with Guanyu Zhou, who had a rather anonymous season this year. Pourchaire balks at having to postpone his debut in the king class of motorsport. But: procrastination does not come to an end. He is pretty sure of that.

"It’s like this. I'm, of course, disappointed because my dream is to be an F1 driver. My biggest dream. My dream is to be a Formula 1 world champion, but there's no space for next year," Pourchaire interjected in front of GPblog and others. However, the talented driver knows that his chance is definitely going to come. "It’s okay. I'm 20 years old. I'm super young. The team is helping me a lot. They helped me since Formula 3. I'm confident I can have a seat in the future."

Opportunities for 2024

With Logan Sargeant's contract extension at Williams last Friday, the F1 grid is complete. Exactly the same 20 names as in 2023 will be on the grid next year. After next season, that looks set to change and Pourchaire will also enter the picture (again).

"At the end of the 2024 season, there will be a lot of drivers out of contract. I will try to keep myself busy next year. Show myself as much as possible. I'm a Formula 2 champion now. So, it's different. Before that, I had no major titles in my career. So, it changed a lot of things," said the Frenchman, who revealed to this website that he will drive in Japanese Super Formula next year.

Oscar Piastri

Pourchaire's path is somewhat similar to Oscar Piastri's. The current McLaren driver became champion in 2021, but then was not on the grid in 2022. This year, the Australian excelled. "Yeah. It's doable. It's tough because being on the sidelines, I will be doing a lot of simulator. I hope I can drive in another series next year. I will not be a full-time driver in F1 or F2. Now, I won the championship. I cannot race again in F2. I will try to keep myself busy. I saw Oscar did it very well. Now, he's driving in F1. It just shows the level of the Formula 3, Formula 2 categories are really high. He's driving in F1. He's really competitive. Hopefully I can join him in the future."