It looked like the Formula 1 door had closed for 2023 F2 champion Theo Pourchaire as he took up a full-time race drive in Peugeot’s WEC Hypercar programme this season. But it has creaked open just a fraction since Pourchaire has been announced – somewhat surprisingly – as an addition to Mercedes’ F1 development ranks.
F2 champions and runners-up have struggled to make the leap to F1 after the ‘golden generation’ of 2018 – Lando Norris, George Russell and Alex Albon – all graduated at once. Nyck de Vries and Mick Schumacher, champions in 2019 and 2020, at least reached F1 (belatedly in the case of de Vries) but struggled to make an impact, except with the wall.
