The Dutchman is being linked with Mercedes, who are also yet to confirm their drivers for 2026. George Russell is hoping to land a new contract, while teammate Kimi Antonelli could be loaned to Alpine<\/a>, who have the final seat available next to Pierre Gasly for next season among the current teams.<\/p>\n Team2026 DriversMcLarenLando Norris and Oscar PiastriFerrariCharles Leclerc and Lewis HamiltonRed BullMax Verstappen and TBCMercedesTBCAston MartinFernando Alonso and Lance StrollAlpinePierre Gasly and TBCHaasEsteban Ocon and Oliver BearmanRacing BullsTBCWilliamsAlex Albon and Carlos SainzAudiNico Hulkenberg and Gabriel BortoletoCadillacTBC<\/p>\n Then there is the issue of Cadillac, who will bring two more seats to the grid in 2026. Sergio Perez is almost \u2018guaranteed\u2019 to sign for Cadillac<\/a> after months of negotiations.<\/p>\n The American outfit are talking with several candidates, with Valtteri Bottas and Mick Schumacher being heavily linked. Young stars Felipe Drugovich, Frederik Vesti and Jak Crawford are hoping to land their first drive in F1, but fans think there is one driver who deserves a chance that was never afforded to him.<\/p>\n Motorsport.com posted via X (formerly Twitter) asking fans which driver they would most like to see on the grid. Many pointed towards 21-year-old Frenchman Theo Pourchaire<\/a>, who has been overlooked for a seat since winning the F2 title in 2023.<\/p>\n Several people took to the comments to express their disbelief over how he never got the chance to race in F1. \u201cTheo. Still don\u2019t understand why he didn\u2019t get his chance.\u201d said one fan, while another echoed: \u201cTheo Pourchaire!! Criminal he\u2019s never had a shot at F1!!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe most talented one of this list is Pourchaire by far. Performed straight away in any of the categories he joined apart from Super Formula where he joined a messy team,\u201d wrote one user.<\/p>\n Another fan pointed out the opportunities the Frenchman missed out on: \u201cTheo Pourchaire was shafted out of a seat by Sauber and then shafted out of Indycar by McLaren. If anyone on that list deserves it more than anyone, it\u2019s him.\u201d<\/p>\n One user drew comparisons to Drugovich, who has also not had a chance in F1: \u201cPourchaire, because like Drugovich, they are f\u2014\u2013. F2 world champions and no one is giving them a chance, whole thing of being F2 World Champion makes no sense if THEY don\u2019t get a drive.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, another fan added: \u201cI would like to see what Palou, Pourchaire and O\u2019Ward are capable of. Pourchaire especially, not because he is French (OK, just a bit) but because he was unfairly treated by Sauber\/Audi and McLaren in Indycar. He clearly deserved a chance in both championships.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE:\u00a0All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine<\/a><\/p>\n Pourchaire emerged as a promising young talent in his F2 days. He signed for the Sauber<\/a> driver academy, formerly Alfa Romeo, and won the title in 2023.<\/p>\n However, like Drugovich the year prior, he could not secure a seat in F1 after winning the championship. He remained as Sauber\u2019s reserve driver in 2024, conducting tests and FP1 sessions, before Mattia Binotto named Pourchaire as an option for 2025<\/a> as Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu left the team.<\/p>\n However, the 21-year-old would be denied a seat by Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto. Pourchaire left Sauber at the end of 2024 and has been out of the F1 paddock ever since.<\/p>\n That same year, he was afforded an opportunity in IndyCar<\/a> with McLaren<\/a>, replacing the injured David Malukas for five races. CEO Zak Brown was impressed by Pourchaire<\/a>, but despite signing a deal until the end of the season, he was replaced by Nolan Siegel.<\/p>\n The Frenchman is now competing in IMSA, where he has already secured a pole position and a podium. Pourchaire seems to have finally settled in his racing career, but many still believe he should be given a chance in the pinnacle of motorsport. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Formula 1 driver market is set to throw up some movements for the 2026 season, with current…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,913,85,18173,9657],"class_list":["post-16958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-mclaren","tag-sports","tag-theo-pourchaire","tag-zak-brown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Theo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2171669506-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by James Sutton\/Getty ImagesFans \u2018don\u2019t understand\u2019 why Theo Pourchaire never got his chance to race in Formula 1<\/p>\n![\"McLaren](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2187686150-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by Kym Illman\/Getty ImagesMcLaren CEO Zak Brown was impressed by Theo Pourchaire in IndyCar but he never raced in F1<\/p>\n