The two drivers, regular residents of the Formula 2 championship, will take part in a test session in Mexico.
Unheard of in ten years. There will be not two, but four French people on the track in Formula 1, in Mexico, during the 21st meeting of the season. The first free practice session, Friday October 27, will put two young French upstarts to the test, Théo Pourchaire and Isack Hadjar. The two drivers are invited respectively by the Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri teams to practice their skills for an hour at the wheel of a Formula 1, they who are racing this season in the antechamber, in Formula 2.
At 20 years old, Théo Pourchaire is almost a regular. The Grassois made his debut in F1 last season for first tests with Alfa Romeo. Isack Hadjar, just 19 years old and competing in his first season in F2, is offered an express promotion into the deep end. For both men, this full-scale test is an almost obligatory step on their path to F1.
Isack Hadjar and Théo Pourchaire benefit from a new regulation put in place in 2022, obliging all F1 teams to place a young driver during a free practice session twice during a season. The objective is to allow these apprentices to get their feet wet while the number of test sessions outside Grands Prix has generally decreased to level out development expenses. “These tests demonstrate certain facets of the pilot, they are important moments, but which are more of a symbol than a demonstration of performance or learningtempers Cyril Abiteboul, former boss of Renault F1 and consultant for franceinfo: sport. It’s extremely short, barely an hour, with a rigid schedule because there are a lot of things to do during testing: work on the development, fine-tuning the car for the rest of the weekend. It’s not a zone of freedom.”
The presence of Théo Pourchaire at Alfa Romeo and Isack Hadjar at Alpha Tauri then with the big sister, the Red Bull juggernaut of triple world champion Max Verstappen, in Abu Dhabi on November 24, is not insignificant. The two drivers are part of the Sauber and Red Bull “academies”, a sort of training center for apprentice champions. “Being in the fold of a team is important, it has even become a necessary condition, believes Cyril Abiteboul. When we look at recent years, Lando Norris at McLaren, Max Verstappen or before Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull… You almost have to go back to Fernando Alonso to see great drivers arriving without the support of a team.”
Supported by a flourishing economic context in Formula 1, the teams can support young hopefuls over the long term, while limiting the phenomenon of drivers who “buy” their presence in the discipline with a significant financial contribution. “It’s becoming more of a pure sporting meritocracy and we should be happy about thatsupports Cyril Abiteboul. I don’t think F1 has missed out on obvious talent. However, I am not sure that the drivers who arrived in F1 all deserved it.“
Because this new situation does not offer a guarantee of obtaining an immediate place in the paddock either. The F2 title holder, the Brazilian Felipe Drugovich, recruited as the first member of the Aston Martin academy, should see his horizon blocked for the second season in a row in 2024. The observation also applies to Théo Pourchaire, on track to become Formula 2 world champion this season at the end of a third exercise which was not initially envisaged, and who will have to settle for a role of development driver in 2024 for Alfa Romeo.
“The risk is to create a parking lot of drivers who are stored in front of the F1 entrance like trophies.”
Cyril Abiteboulat franceinfo: sport
The lengthening of careers – Fernando Alonso will be 43, Lewis Hamilton 39 next season – but also the new organizational model of the teams are all obstacles to these new arrivals, continues our consultant. “It’s always a problem of risk aversion. The sums at stake are so large, and the risk for a team director so high that he will sometimes prefer a ‘safe bet’ driver. The ‘team principals’ are today employees like the others, whereas at one time, when Ron Dennis decided to put Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren, he was practically at home, like Frank Williams who owned his team. They had no one to tell them, ‘be careful, you’re doing something stupid by taking a young person’.”
Towards a 2024 season without “rookies”
The next F1 season should therefore set a precedent, with a grid without a single rookie driver, while Williams wishes to retain the American Logan Sargeant, whose seat is the only one still uncertain. Nothing prohibitive for the Tricolores Théo Pourchaire and Isack Hadjar as for the others. Australian Oscar Piastri, Formula 2 world champion in 2021, had to wait a year on the sidelines before shining with McLaren in recent months.
Their presence in free practice 1 of the Mexican Grand Prix is a sign of “good dynamics for Hadjar and Pourchaire”, judge Cyril Abiteboul. Helmut Marko, head of Red Bull’s young driver program, sees Isack Hadjar as a “young Alain Prost” as he spoke to Canal + in August 2022. “I know Helmut adores him,” Max Verstappen then outbid Max Verstappen. The Dutchman knows what he is talking about, he is the model of success in the Red Bull champion apprentice network.