Théo Jérôme Julien Pourchaire (born 20 August 2003) is a French racing driver who most recently won the 2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship for the ART Grand Prix team.
He is currently a member of the Sauber Academy and serves as a test and reserve driver for Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber.
2013
Pourchaire had a difficult start to the season for the first round at Red Bull Ring, finishing 13th and 26th thanks to his poor qualifying performance in 20th.
That would soon be a thing of the past, qualifying fifth and finishing ninth in mixed conditions for Race 1 at the second Red Bull Ring round.
It became second for Race 2, and took the lead from Jake Hughes into the first corner.
Despite Hughes and Liam Lawson overtaking him, they would both collide later in the race, allowing Pourchaire to take his first FIA Formula 3 victory at just 16 years of age, making him the youngest driver to win in FIA Formula 3.
Pourchaire qualified third at the Hungaroring, but moved up to first after overtaking Logan Sargeant and Alexander Smolyar touched.
Despite a red flag, Pourchaire was untouchable throughout the race, winning by nearly 12 seconds.
The win would prove to be his final one of the season.
2018
Pourchaire started racing in single-seaters in 2018, and proceeded to win the Junior French F4 Championship.
In 2018, aged 14, Pourchaire stepped up to single-seaters, contesting the French F4 championship.
Despite being ineligible for the main championship on account of his age, he claimed his first podiums by finishing second and third in two races at Circuit de Nogaro.
During the second round in Pau, Pourchaire finished seventh, fourth and sixth.
He would take his maiden single-seater victory in the second race at Spa-Francorchamps.
It would be his only win of the season.
His next podium came at Magny Cours with second place in the first race but retired in the second race due to a mechanical failure.
He bounced back in the third race and claimed second place.
but overall claimed seven podiums during the season.
He claimed another podium with fourth (due to a guest driver getting third) in Jerez, and got a second and third places at the final round in Circuit Paul Ricard.
Pourchaire finished the championship third with seven podiums, only behind Ugo de Wilde and champion Caio Collet.
In the junior category, he claimed sixteen junior victories to be crowned Junior Champion.
The following year, Pourchaire remained at Formula 4 level, but switched to the ADAC Formula 4 championship as part of the US Racing-CHRS outfit.
Pourchaire secured his first podium in the series, with a second place in the second race at Oschersleben.
At the Red Bull Ring, Pourchaire claimed another second place in the second race.
However a penalty from Red Bull junior and championship rival Dennis Hauger saw Pourchaire take his maiden ADAC F4 win.
He would follow up with third place the next day.
Pourchaire included a double podium at the German Grand Prix support race, and added two more third-places at Zandvoort.
At the Nürburgring, Pourchaire took a double victory that saw him extend his championship lead even further.
At the Hockenheimring second round, Pourchaire had a poor showing, colliding with fellow Sauber junior member Arthur Leclerc in the first race and stalled in the second.
With Hauger winning all three races, Pourchaire's lead in the championship shrunk from 68 to just a single point.
At the Sachsenring, Pourchaire claimed a win in the second race, and took runner-up position in the other two races.
This was enough for Pourchaire to claim the championship title by seven points from Hauger.
2019
The following year, he moved up and won the 2019 ADAC Formula 4 Championship, scrapping with Dennis Hauger to the title.
In October 2019, Pourchaire attended the post-season test at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, contesting all three sessions with Carlin Buzz Racing and ART Grand Prix.
2020
Pourchaire signed with ART Grand Prix for the 2020 FIA Formula 3 Championship and ended the season as runner-up behind Oscar Piastri by three points.
He was promoted up to the FIA Formula 2 Championship remaining with ART where he finished fifth in the standings during his rookie year.
Born in Grasse, Pourchaire began karting at the age of two and a half and made his competitive debut at age seven.
From there he claimed multiple championships in his native France, as well as finishing third in the CIK-FIA OKJ and DKM Junior championships.
Two months later, he joined the latter to contest the 2020 season.
The season was set to start at Bahrain in March, but was postponed to July due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
