McLaren CEO Zak Brown may be in the Formula 1 paddock every weekend, but he also has his eye on the team’s other racing pursuits.
There’s already been a crossover between McLaren’s F1 team and their IndyCar set-up when Pato O’Ward took part in FP1 in Abu Dhabi at the end of the 2023 season.
Speaking on the Drive to Wynn Podcast, Zak Brown reserved special praise for another driver trying to break into Formula 1.
The 2024 IndyCar season started last month and Arrow McLaren had three cars on the grid at the start of the campaign.
O’Ward and former Marussia driver Alexander Rossi have occupied two of those seats.
They were supposed to be joined by David Malukas, however, a mountain biking injury before the beginning of the season has prevented him from making his McLaren debut.
Callum Ilott stepped in for the first race in St. Petersburg, but his commitment to the World Endurance Championship has meant missing the last couple of races.
That’s opened the door to Sauber junior driver Theo Pourchaire and McLaren CEO Zak Brown has been seriously impressed with the 20-year-old.
The young Frenchman was hoping to be in Formula 1 this season after conquering F2 in 2023 but has instead had to focus on racing elsewhere.
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McLaren CEO Zak Brown really impressed by Theo Pourchaire
There’s been plenty of hype surrounding Theo Pourchaire for the past few years.
He was an ADAC Formula 4 champion just after his 16 birthday and was immediately promoted to Formula 3.
He only spent a single season at that level, finishing runner-up to Oscar Piastri and both drivers then made an immediate step up to F2.
Piastri immediately showcased his credentials by winning back-to-back titles, but Pourchaire did very well as a 17-year-old to finish 5 in the championship.
He was runner-up in 2022 before finally securing the title last year ahead of Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti.
However, a Formula 1 seat wasn’t forthcoming for Pourchaire and Zak Brown has instead offered him his first experience in IndyCar with Arrow McLaren.
He finished 11 in Long Beach, just missing out on the points before a 22-place classification in Alabama.
It’s unclear just yet whether he’ll get another chance to shine in IndyCar or whether he’ll return to Super Formula in Japan.
Theo Pourchaire still fighting for his Formula 1 opportunity
Speaking about how the race in Long Beach went, Brown said: “Long Beach was definitely a disappointment, qualifying is not where I expect our team to be, especially after being fastest on Friday.
“I would say the one good takeaway was Theo [Pourchaire] is a hell of a racing driver, he did a great job, so Pato [O’Ward] and Alex [Palou] came together, or more like Pato came in together with Alex unfortunately, which got Alex a flat [tyre] and Pato a drive-through [penalty] so they had to recover from that.
“And Theo just kept making one pass at a time, keeping his nose clean and drove like a pro and the team enjoyed working with him, so I would say that was a highlight of the weekend for us.”
Pourchaire will be glad he’s impressed Brown during his short time with Arrow McLaren but it doesn’t help him break into Formula 1.
Unfortunately, he’s part of Sauber’s academy and the imminent arrival of Audi is going to make it incredibly difficult for him to earn a promotion onto the grid.
They’ve already signed Nico Hulkenberg for 2025 and want three-time F1 race winner Carlos Sainz to join him.
Both Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu would be ahead of him in the pecking order should Sainz turn down the opportunity and there are other rookies – such as Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman – who are ahead of Pourchaire in the thinking of other teams.
However, Pourchaire will hope he’s done enough to convince Brown he deserves a full-time race seat at Arrow McLaren.
The team confirmed today that Malukas has been released due to his wrist injury and the statement concludes, “Arrow McLaren is finalizing its driver assignments for the remainder of the 2024 season and will announce confirmations for upcoming races in due course.”
The post ‘Did a great job’: Zak Brown admits being blown away by 20-year-old Sauber junior driver this season appeared first on F1 Oversteer.
