Théo Pourchaire believes he would not have found a way on to the FIA Formula 1 World Championship grid in 2023 even if he had won the FIA Formula 2 championship this year.
The Sauber Junior Team driver, who made his free practice debut with the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN team at the Circuit of the Americas last month, currently sits second in the championship standings, although Felipe Drugovich has already secured the title.
Alfa Romeo has already confirmed that Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu will remain at the team next year, and Pourchaire will likely step up to the role of test and reserve driver.
The Frenchman says he is okay knowing that he will not be on the Formula 1 grid next year, with his aim now on making the jump in 2024. He also admits that reaching Formula 1 is currently his only real ambition and he is not looking to drive in anything else right now.
“To be honest, even if I’d won the championship, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be in F1 in 2023,” said Pourchaire to Motorsport.com. “Because of many things, and that’s the sports nowadays, it’s like this, it’s built like this. So I’m okay with that.
“I understand that I’m still young, and I’m ready to work on myself and to build myself to be ready to grab a seat in 2024. My dream is to be a Formula 1 driver, Formula 1 world champion.
“The rest, I’m not really interested in doing, I’m not really interested in being a GT driver, Formula E driver or other things.
“I mean, if I cannot get to F1, maybe I will drive those cars, those championships, but my dream at the moment is to be in F1, that’s it.”
Looking back at his free practice outing, Pourchaire admitted it was an amazing feeling, and he is eager to drive a modern-day Formula 1 car again sooner rather than later.
“The FP1 outing was amazing, it’s unbelievable,” the Frenchman added. “F1 cars are really fast. Being on the Formula 1 weekend with all the other drivers on the track, it feels amazing.
“That track is amazing, Austin is unbelievable, I love this track now. I only did 15 laps on it, but I would love to drive again there.
“It was very good for me, because I will do a lot of simulator work with Sauber next year, with Alfa Romeo, so it’s important to know how the car behaves in reality, how it works in reality, so I can correlate a lot on the simulator, which is good to help the team because there is a good gain of performance there.
“The team is already in good shape, we did some good upgrades on the car, so next year can be a really good year for the team. So let’s see, we will work hard, and I will move there to Zurich, next to Hinwil, where Sauber is based and I will work with them.”
Looking ahead to 2023, Pourchaire has been linked with a possible move to the Super Formula championship in Japan in recent weeks, although a third season in Formula 2 remains a possibility.
“We were talking about this with the Sauber Academy a few days ago,” he revealed. “It’s an option because Formula 2 is, in my opinion, the best championship after Formula 1.
“We are on the same weekends as the Formula 1 teams, we are watched by every Formula 1 team. I am still very young. I am capable of winning this championship for sure, at least I will give my best if I do this for another year, I don’t know yet.’
“Let’s see how it goes in the talks for my future. But if I have a good contract, a good option, why not do a third season in F2?”
