Photo: Sauber Motorsport
Theo Pourchaire feels he can be more aggressive racing his Formula 2 rivals in future after team-mate Victor Martins’ defensive move at the start of the Monaco feature race.
The ART Grand Prix duo started second and third on the grid and Martins moved across to defend from the faster-starting Pourchaire on the run to the first corner.
Interviewed for television after the race, Pourchaire said that “unfortunately some drivers are really aggressive” and later suggested that there would have been a crash had he not conceded.
“It was really close,” he said in the post-race press conference. “If I don’t back off, I think there is three cars out in turn one. So I tried to be nice, I just want to finish races. I don’t want to do like last year, I want to score points every race.
“I knew Fred [Vesti] was starting P1 and I’m fighting with him in the championship and he’s really fast, he scores every race, so we need to follow him, we need to be close with him. It was Monaco, I need to get a bit more aggressive if I want to score bigger points.”
Pushed on whether he was referencing Martins with his post-race TV comments, Pourchaire preferred to focus on what he can do differently in future.
“It’s Monaco, we know that everyone wants to keep his position. For sure, I can be a bit more aggressive and I’m talking about myself mainly. I’m leaving a bit too much space sometimes. If I want to fight for better positions and victories, I need to get a bit more aggressive, just a little bit.
“It doesn’t mean crashing into the other guys, it doesn’t mean pushing the others off the track. I know to do that respectfully and I will improve my driving.”
Martins was later penalised for not slowing more for double-waved yellow flags, allowing Pourchaire to finish second behind Vesti, who is now five points ahead of him at the top of the championship.
The Sauber Academy driver also revealed that he has been feeling unwell during the Monaco weekend.
“I was really really sick yesterday, also I have some little allergies with pollen and everything so it’s not good, I’m not feeling very very well,” he said. “Thankfully we had the red flag, I could rest a bit. But physically it was really tough.
“I knew that in Monaco I could keep my position. I was struggling a bit at the beginning of the race, but then after 10 laps I was feeling a bit better and I could drive a bit more consistently, close to the walls without doing any big mistakes so everything was OK.”