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George Russell will get new team-mate as Mercedes affirm signing of F2 champion

A brand new driver has joined George Russell and Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes.

A brand new backup to George Russell has been confirmed by Mercedes (Picture: Getty)

Mercedes have confirmed the signing of a former Method 2 champion as the most recent addition to their driver portfolio. Theo Pourchaire, who gained the F2 title in 2023 however did not discover a place on the Method 1 grid, has joined the Silver Arrows as their new growth driver, it was confirmed on Monday.

“Delighted to announce Theo Pourchaire as a growth driver for the crew,” learn a publish on the official Mercedes F1 Group account on X. Accompanying these phrases was a picture of Pourchaire, arms folded, sporting a white Mercedes T-shirt whereas smiling on the digicam, clearly delighted to have labored his approach again into an F1 crew’s setup.

Pourchaire completed as runner-up in Method 3 in 2020 and repeated the trick in F2 two years later. He then went one higher in 2023 by profitable the F2 title however, again then a junior at Sauber, didn’t land a spot on the F1 grid for the next marketing campaign. And since he was now an F2 champion, he was not capable of proceed racing on the FIA feeder sequence ladder.

So he seemed to Japanese Tremendous Method, signing with Group Impul however withdrawing from the season after only one spherical, having been approached about a chance in IndyCar. He was signed by Arrow McLaren to race rather than the injured David Malukas, initially on a brief foundation earlier than a deal was confirmed for him to see out the entire season, except the Indy 500 flagship occasion.

Nonetheless, he wouldn’t see out the season in spite of everything as, solely a month after he had been confirmed by Arrow McLaren for the remainder of the yr, the crew U-turned and changed him with Nolan Siegel who stepped up from junior sequence Indy NXT. He was informed simply hours earlier than the announcement, and sooner or later after he had posted on social media to specific his pleasure forward of the subsequent race, clearly oblivious of the method to switch him.

Pourchaire has since discovered a house within the World Endurance Championship, having pushed within the European model final yr and pushed within the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Frenchman, now 22, has earned a spot on the WEC grid for the upcoming 2026 season with Porsche, as team-mate to Nick Cassidy and former F1 driver Paul di Resta.

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