Photo: Alfa Romeo Racing
Sauber junior Theo Pourchaire will take on an indefinite test driver role at Alfa Romeo Racing next year after missing a Formula 1 place with the team.
Pourchaire fought against Formula 2 title rival Guanyu Zhou to become Valtteri Bottas’ teammate at Alfa Romeo in 2022 and was “very disappointed” that he had lost promotion to Formula 1 against the Alpine Junior.
However, Alfa team boss Frederic Vasseur already has a plan for Pourchaire and has set him the goal of winning the F2 title next year if he doesn’t complete the feat this year and exclude himself from a second campaign in the series.
“The plan for next year is for me, if I don’t win the championship, I’ll drive F2 again with the ART Grand Prix,” Pourchaire told Formula Scout.
“That is 99% certain. But if I win the championship, there won’t be any [second] F2 season for me. And then I think I’ll take part in all of the FP1s for the rookies. Next year there will be a mandatory FP1 for rookies. I think there are four, something like that, so I’ll be taking part in these FP1s with Alfa Romeo to drive the 2022 car.
“I’ll be Pirelli again this season. do [tyre] Tests, stuff like that, maybe. Not all tests, but I will definitely be using the 2022 car in the FP1s and other tests.
“And I’ll do some private tests. This is mainly for me to get used to F1, to get used to working with the team with an older car. I don’t want to go wrong, but maybe with the C41 [car from this year] or older. I don’t know the 2019 or 2020 car, but not the 2022 car. I won’t do a preseason, but I’ll probably do some Pirelli tests during the season [in that car]. “
So far, only two drivers have been confirmed for the 2022 F2 season, with Ralph Boschung staying with Campos Racing and Clement Novalak moving to MP Motorsport for the final two races of 2021 before embarking on a full campaign next year after originally working for Virtuosi Racing had signed.
Red Bull is expected to transfer Liam Lawson from Hitech GP to Carlin and bring FIA Formula 3 Champion Dennis Hauger back to the Red Bull Junior Team as he moves up with Prema.
Marino Sato is aiming for a move from Trident to Virtuosi, while FIA F3 racing driver Calan Williams will drive for Trident in the post-season tests next month and has already secured his place on the 2022 grid with an undisclosed team.
Euroformula race winner Cem Bolukbasi recently tested old GP2 cars and is linked to two teams, Jack Doohan will leave Red Bull as he moves up to F2, and Mercedes-AMG junior Frederik Vesti is the favorite to meet IndyCar-bound colleagues to replace The Dane Christian Lundgaard as driver in the other ART GP car.
The post Pourchaire receives Alfa Romeo F1 in-car testing program 2022 first appeared on monter-une-startup.
