SAUBER ISSUE HONEST RESPONSE TO MCLAREN’S SHOCK THéO POURCHAIRE RELEASE

Alessandro Alunni Bravi “cannot blame” Arrow McLaren for dropping Sauber junior Théo Pourchaire as he understands the team’s position.

Just a month after signing Pourchaire to complete the 2024 IndyCar season with Arrow McLaren after he successfully filled in for the injured David Malukas, the IndyCar team dropped the Frenchman.

Theo Pourchaire declares: I will be back

The team instead signed Nolan Siegel to run its #6 Chevrolet, citing the “chance to build a foundation for the future”.

Team principal Gavin Ward even went as far as to confirm that the decision was not based on Pourchaire’s performance.

“This has got nothing to do with how he was driving or working with the team,” he said. “We all really like Théo and his attitude coming into the team. But we need to set ourselves up for long-term competitiveness.”

Having taken a few days to absorb the blow, Pourchaire wrote on Instagram: “I’m run by passion, hard work, dedication, God. I will be back.”

And getting back onto the IndyCar grid is exactly what Sauber hope to help him achieve.

The latest on Théo Pourchaire’s shock departure from Arrow McLaren

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Sauber intend helping Théo Pourchaire securing another IndyCar drive

Still a junior with the Formula 1 team, Alunni Bravi says he “cannot blame” McLaren for wanting to put into place a long-term driver strategy.

“McLaren needed to change its strategy on the drivers and we understand their position,” Alunni Bravi told Motorsport.com. “Of course, we cannot be happy, mainly because Théo has lost the opportunity to have a strong racing programme.

“This is something that can happen in motorsport, we cannot blame McLaren.”

Sauber are hoping he will be back in an IndyCar seat before the end of the season with Pourchaire having recorded five top-20 results in his six starts.

“We need just now to look at the future and find another good opportunity for Théo,” he continued. “We are already working with him to secure another seat in IndyCar, hopefully we can do some races this year.

“We wanted for him to have an important racing programme because we want to have him always ready to jump into the car, if necessary. He showed immediately that he can compete for a top 10 position.”

Looking ahead to 2025, Sauber are targeting a top IndyCar seat for the 20-year-old.

“We are focused for him to have a strong 2025 programme with one of the best IndyCar teams,” Alunni Bravi said.

“This is a very demanding championship, different track layouts, track characteristics, a lot of very experienced and professional drivers with specific knowledge of the category.

“So, it’s a good environment for a driver to grow. Now we can’t lose any other opportunities for him to race, because for any driver just the role of reserve driver is not enough to keep them in a good racing shape.”

But while Sauber are targeting another IndyCar drive for the junior, it appears Pourchaire is not in the frame for a F1 2025 race seat with the team instead speaking with F1 race winners.

“There are in the Formula 1 market four Formula 1 race winners and we are discussing with all of them,” he said. “One of the main characteristics we want is a long-term commitment with the Audi project.”

The list reportedly includes Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly and Valtteri Bottas.

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2024-06-25T07:59:30Z dg43tfdfdgfd