Théo Pourchaire

Born in Grasse, Pourchaire began karting at the age of two and a half and made his competitive debut at age seven.[3] From there he claimed multiple championships in his native France, as well as finishing third in the CIK-FIA OKJ and DKM Junior championships.[4][5][6][7]

In 2018, Pourchaire stepped up to single-seaters, contesting the French F4 championship.[8] Despite being ineligible for the main championship on account of his age, he claimed victory in the second race at Spa-Francorchamps and claimed sixteen junior victories to be crowned Junior Champion.[9]

The following year, Pourchaire remained at Formula 4 level, but switched to the ADAC Formula 4 championship as part of the US Racing-CHRS outfit.[10] Claiming four wins, multiple podiums, including a double at the German Grand Prix support race, Pourchaire claimed the championship title at the final round at the Sachsenring by seven points from Red Bull Junior and title rival Dennis Hauger.[11][12][13][14]

In October 2019, Pourchaire attended the post-season test at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, contesting all three sessions with Carlin Buzz Racing and ART Grand Prix.[15][16][17] Two months later, he joined the latter to contest the 2020 season.[18] The season was set to start at Bahrain in March, but was postponed to July due to the Covid-19 pandemic.[19] Pourchaire had a difficult start to the season for the first round at Red Bull Ring, finishing 13th and 26th thanks to his poor qualifying performance in 20th. That would soon be a thing of the past, qualifying fifth and finishing ninth in mixed conditions for Race 1. Pourchaire took his first FIA Formula 3 victory at the sprint race of the second Red Bull Ring round, followed by his first feature race win in the next race at the Hungaroring.

This proved to be the final race win of his season, but a late surge in performance, including a string of podium finishes towards the end of the season, hauled him into the championship fight going into the final round at Mugello. Following a first-lap retirement for title rival Logan Sargeant in the final race of the season, Pourchaire ultimately finished as championship runner-up, just 3 points behind champion Oscar Piastri.

In October 2020, it was announced that Pourchaire would make his FIA Formula 2 Championship debut at the final two rounds of the 2020 season at the Bahrain International Circuit. He drove for HWA Racelab, replacing former FIA Formula 3 competitor Jake Hughes and partnering Artem Markelov.[20] Pourchaire qualified 16th for the first feature race and finished 18th. In the first sprint race, he was forced to retire when his fire extinguisher deployed inside his cockpit.[21] He finished the final two races in 18th and 21st place.

Pourchaire at Silverstone in 2021

Pourchaire drove for ART Grand Prix at the post-season Formula 2 test in December 2020, and in January 2021 it was announced that he would join the team for the 2021 Formula 2 Championship alongside then Alpine junior Christian Lundgaard.[22]

At the season opener in Bahrain, Pourchaire initially qualified 11th. However, when Juri Vips was disqualified due to a technical irregularity, Pourchaire was promoted to 10th and would start on reverse pole in the first sprint.[23] Luck would not strike him on the first race. After being overtaken by Liam Lawson at the start, Pourchaire retired from second place with a mechanical issue.[24] Pourchaire scored his first Formula 2 points by recovering to 6th. Pourchaire took his maiden and only F2 pole of the year in Monaco, breaking the record of youngest F2 polesitter.[25] Pourchaire once again broke the record winning the feature race by nearly 3 seconds from pole position. In doing so, he became the youngest driver ever to win a F2/GP2 race.[26] His win moved him into 3rd place in the championship.

Pourchaire qualified fourth and finished sprint race 1 in 5th following passes on Ralph Boschung and Marcus Armstrong during the final few laps at Baku. He was involved in an incident with Boschung at the start, damaging his front wing whilst trying to overtake him. He managed to recover, only to finish just outside the points in 9th. Pourchaire broke his wrist on his left arm in a first-lap collision with Armstrong and Dan Ticktum during the feature race.[27] Pourchaire was uncertain at first on driving at the next round in Silverstone, but managed to recover before the round began.[28] Pourchaire scored points in the first sprint and the feature race, racing to 5th and 8th respectively.

Pourchaire won his second F2 race of the year, winning the opening race at Monza. He overtook Ticktum on the second lap for 3rd, and took the lead from a struggling Vips on lap 15.[29] Pourchaire was on route to take another Monza podium in 3rd place, but on the penultimate lap, a resurgent Ticktum with fresher tires, passed him for the podium place. Pourchaire impressed during qualifying once again, picking up 3rd at `Sochi. Pourchaire was running in 6th during the first sprint, but with three laps to go, Jehan Daruvala spun in front of him, elevating into 5th.[30] The feature race was more successful for Pourchaire as a good start, saw him jump Daruvala at the start into the first corner. On lap 8, Pourchaire attempted an overcut on race leader Oscar Piastri. The following lap, Pourchaire entered the pits and exited ahead of Piastri. But just a few seconds later, Pourchaire with much colder tires, was passed by Piastri.[31] For the rest of the race, Pourchaire would continue to pressure Piastri but lost out to victory by 2 seconds, eventually taking second place.

Pourchaire once again qualified 3rd at Jeddah, out qualifying everyone bar the two Prema cars. While running in 7th during the sprint race 1, Pourchaire spun and crashed into the wall, his car unable to continue. He made an incredible charge from 19th to finish 6th. After the race, Pourchaire commented that "[it] was really hard to drive the car" following his crash in sprint race 1.[32] He was involved in a serious accident with F3 graduate Enzo Fittipaldi at the feature race. Fittipaldi crashed into Pourchaire who had stalled on the grid. Pourchaire escaped unscathed, but Fittipaldi was injured.[33] The weekend summed up a disappointing weekend for Pourchaire, scoring only 4 points. Following his 7th and 9th in the sprint races, Pourchaire ended the Abu Dhabi feature race in 4th, after a battle with 3rd placed Felipe Drugovich. Pourchaire finished his rookie season of F2 with 140 points in 5th place in the championship, far ahead of teammate Lundgaard with only 50 to his name. During the season, Pourchaire achieved a total of 1 pole position, 2 wins, 4 fastest laps and 3 podiums.

Pourchaire stayed with ART Grand Prix for the 2022 season, alongside F3 graduate and Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti. [34]

At the first round of the season in Bahrain, Pourchaire was immediately on the get-go, qualifying second behind pole-sitter Jack Doohan.[35] During the sprint, Pourchaire made progress in the early stages of the race, improving to 5th which included a spectacular overtake on Felipe Drugovich. Unfortunately, as soon as the safety car had ended, Pourchaire began to lose power, and dropped down the order. He would pull into the pits on the same lap and retire. His fortunes would eventually be reversed in the feature race. Pourchaire suffered wheelspin at the start and dropped to 4th at the end of the first lap. Following the safety car restart, Pourchaire passed Ralph Boschung and settled into 3rd. A slow pit stop for then race leader Jüri Vips and 2nd placed Doohan who damaged his front wing after making contact with Pourchaire saw him move into the race lead and go on to win the feature race.[36] After the race, Pourchaire said that "his visor broke" and it was "difficult to concentrate" during the race.[37] The second round in Jeddah was poor for Pourchaire. He suffered a crash in practice and an engine failure in qualifying, leading him to qualify in 21st. Pourchaire was unable to progress to the points during the sprint race, due to half of the race under the safety car.[38] Pourchaire would be hit with more bad luck as on the fifth lap of the feature race, he was forced to retire with a gearbox problem.

Pourchaire was back on form for the third round at Imola, qualifying in seventh. He started in fourth for the sprint race, but fell to seventh where he remained for the whole of the race. Pourchaire had a much better feature race when mishaps occurred to drivers who started ahead of him, included crashes from polesitter Vips and race leader Roy Nissany. This allowed him to take his second win of the year and took the championship from Drugovich who only finished ninth.[39]

As part of his signing with US Racing-CHRS for the 2019 ADAC Formula 4 Championship, Pourchaire was made a member of the Sauber Junior Team.[40] In June 2020, Pourchaire renewed his relationship with the scheme.[41]

Pourchaire completed his first Formula One test in August 2021, driving the Alfa Romeo Racing C38 at the Hungaroring.[42] He will move into a testing role with Alfa Romeo F1 Team for the 2022 season and is set to take part in at least one Friday free practice session (FP1).[43][44]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Pourchaire was ineligible for overall championship classification or points due to competing as a junior.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position points) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap points for the fastest lap from top-10 finishers)

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

* Season still in progress.