Pourchaire reserve driver in 2024: 'Still a chance in the future'

Theo Pourchaire will continue to be Alfa Romeo's [next year's Sauber] reserve driver in 2024, just like this year. The Frenchman is first in the Formula 2 championship, but after the announcement of Guanyu Zhou's contract extension, it became clear that a permanent seat for the Formula 2 driver is not available at the team. Still, Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Alfa Romeo's team representative, does not rule out a future entry of Pourchaire.

Zhou's contract extension was announced worldwide on Thursday morning. Alfa Romeo immediately reported that Pourchaire would remain the reserve driver. Alunni Bravi told Friday night: "We are discussing together what the best racing programme will be for him to be ready to jump into the F1 car. No doors are closed for him in the future. We just thought that it would be the best choice for the team to keep our driver lineup for next year. And this doesn't exclude any opportunity for him in the future."

What the plan is for the rest of this season for the Frenchman, Alunni Bravi already knows: "He will be doing FP1 sessions. We are looking at the best options. In the second part of the season, we still have sprint format weekends or new circuits like Qatar and Las Vegas. So there are only a few opportunities, but we think that we are targeting Mexico and Abu Dhabi. We will decide in the next few weeks what is best for him."