Formula 1 prospect gets surprise IndyCar McLaren lifeline days after 'disgusting' rant

Formula 1 prospect Theo Pourchaire will reunite with Arrow McLaren as a substitute for the injured Alexander Rossi for this weekend’s IndyCar Series round in Toronto, after Rossi broke his right thumb after clipping the Turn 8 in Friday's practice session. Pourchaire being recalled comes after the 20-year-old Frenchman admitted he was "disgusted" by how McLaren handled his dropping for Nolan Seigel last month with a one-minute phone call.

"Following an on-track incident where Alexander Rossi sustained a broken right thumb, Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team announces Théo Pourchaire to race the No. 7 Ryde Arrow McLaren Chevrolet for the remainder of the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto race weekend," Arrow McLaren announced.

“Théo will arrive at the track ahead of the qualifying session Saturday afternoon, missing Practice 2 as he travels to Toronto from Europe. Alexander has returned to Indianapolis to begin his treatment and the team wishes him a quick recovery.”

McLaren turning back to Pourchaire following Friday's disaster comes as little to no surprise after the 2023 Formula 2 champion reaffirmed it was an amicable split on X. Pourchaire hit out at French publication AUTOhebdo, who published a lengthy interview with the driver, where he seemingly hit out at McLaren's handling of his dropping.

The Sauber Academy driver has claimed he was misquoted. "I’ve read the article published on AUTOhebdo this week, and I’m disappointed in how grossly inaccurate my words and comments portrayed my interview,” Pourchaire wrote on X.

“While I was surprised by Arrow McLaren’s decision to take me out of the car ahead of Laguna Seca, we ended on amicable terms. Sure, it’s disappointing not to be racing with the team, but they’ve held up and respected all areas of the contract, and Zak [Brown], Gavin [Ward] and Tony [Kanaan], along with the rest of the team, have been fully supportive of me and my wish to get back into an INDYCAR or other racing.

"There’s no question on Arrow McLaren’s stability in its partnerships and their funding, so for AUTOhebdo to include that in my interview, it’s absolutely false. I’m appreciative of the time I had with the team, there are no hard feelings, and I hope this helps correct the perception there’s been about the team and myself.”

McLaren issued the following statement to Express Sport: "We have a contract with Théo through the remainder of the year and are upholding our end of the contract. We won’t speak on details of the contract, but it’s all been above board.”

Sauber chief Alessandro Alunni Bravi also absolved McLaren of any blame. “McLaren needed to change its strategy on the drivers and we understand their position,” Alunni Bravi told Motorsport.com.

“Of course, we cannot be happy, mainly because Théo has lost the opportunity to have a strong racing programme. This is something that can happen in motorsport, we cannot blame McLaren.”

He continued: "We need just now to look at the future and find another good opportunity for Théo. We are already working with him to secure another seat in IndyCar, hopefully we can do some races this year. We wanted for him to have an important racing programme because we want to have him always ready to jump into the car, if necessary. He showed immediately that he can compete for a top 10 position.”