The violent start accident at the main race of Formula 2 in Jeddah 2021 is still weighing on Thoe Purchaire’s mind: “I still have the images in my head “
It was one of the most violent collisions of the 2021 Formula 2 season: the start crash between Theo Pourchiare and Enzo Fittipaldi at the beginning of the main race in Jeddah on 5 December. Unlike Fittipaldi, who broke his right heel in the rear-end collision, Pourchaire escaped physically uninjured.
But mentally the crash left its mark on him, as the young Frenchman revealed on the sidelines of the Bahrain Grand Prix. “After what happened in Jeddah last year, I’m not really confident on the starts,” Pourchaire admits. “I have to work on that, but it’s not easy. I still have the images of what happened in my head. Mentally it’s difficult, but I’m working on it.”
Pourchaire had stalled at the start in Jeddah and Fittipaldi had hit the stationary car at high speed. Both drivers had to be extricated from their cars, but in Pourchaire’s case an examination revealed no physical injuries.
However, the Frenchman does not yet feel untroubled at starts, which affects his performance. On Sunday, for example, he dropped from second to fourth position at the start of the main race in the 2022 Bahrain season opener. In the end, however, Pourchaire still won the race. “But next time I want to start better and do better first laps. I know I can do it,” he is convinced.
Pourchaire says he does not seek the help of a psychologist or mental coach. “No, I don’t work on that,” he says. “I don’t have any mental problems or anything like that, but it’s not easy not to think about it. “