Theo Pourchaire ‘disgusted’ with McLaren in one-minute sacked phone call claim

Théo Pourchaire at IndyCar’s 2024 Detroit Grand Prix

Axed McLaren IndyCar racer Theo Pourchaire said he is “disgusted” with them over how his exit was handled.

Initially, Pourchaire’s IndyCar debut with Arrow McLaren at the Grand Prix of Long Beach was meant to be a one-off union, but the 2023 Formula 2 champion impressed to such an extent that McLaren signed the Frenchman for the remainder of the season.

Theo Pourchaire ‘disgusted’ with McLaren

However, on June 18, Pourchaire was told that he was now out at McLaren, with American hot prospect Nolan Siegel signed as his replacement on a multi-year deal, making him the sixth driver associated to their No. 6 entry in less than a year.

Pourchaire, speaking with Auto Hebdo, has now opened up on the shock McLaren decision from his side, making it clear that he is “disgusted” with how it was dealt with, which he said was in the form of a one-minute phone call after his manager had broke the news to him.

“To be 100 per cent transparent, McLaren had signed me to a multi-year contract to drive with them in IndyCar,” Pourchaire began.

“And then, on the Tuesday morning before Laguna Seca, I learned from my manager that they had decided not to have me drive at Laguna Seca, as well as for the rest of the season.

“At first, I was very surprised, I didn’t understand, I thought it was fake. We had only signed a few weeks before. I was disgusted.

“The team ended up calling me for a minute, around 11am that same day, the day before my planned departure for Laguna Seca, to tell me that I was excluded from the program. They didn’t give me the specific reasons.”

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Arrow McLaren’s sporting director Tony Kanaan previously claimed that Pourchaire was collateral damage in the continued Alex Palou saga, who reneged on his deal to race with them in IndyCar from 2024.

“It started back last year with that driver [Palou] that decided not to come over and breach his contract,” Kanaan said, as quoted by Motorsport.com.

“Then we decided on continuity, and it’s been quite a few six months for me. I did not sign up to have to choose four drivers. And then every option we had, because we had to make a decision quick, a lot of them had schedules already.

“I just told the guys out there, ‘You change race cars all the time. You come in, you make a change.’ Not that we want to do that with drivers, but we’re here. I’m in this to win races. That’s all I care [about]. And then I think eventually we look for continuity.”

Kanaan added that Pourchaire did nothing wrong and this was not a personal decision.

“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Kanaan confirmed, “it was just a situation.

“It was a call that we had to make. It wasn’t personal. It wasn’t because of his performance. He’s done whatever he could do. He wasn’t happy, but he understood.”

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