The identity of Valtteri Bottas’ teammate at Alfa Romeo in 2023 appears to be down to a two-horse race.
Frederic Vasseur is personally championing the Sauber team’s own junior Theo Pourchaire, the 18-year-old fellow Frenchman who is a title contender in Formula 2 this year.
Vasseur says Pourchaire will be making a Friday practice or tyre testing appearance in 2022.
"We’ll find the solution, don’t worry," he said recently.
At the same time, Alfa Romeo is not yet ready to confirm that Guanyu Zhou will be keeping his seat next year - even though the team says it is impressed with the Chinese rookie.
"I haven’t spoken to any team yet," Zhou is quoted by the Dutch publication Formule 1.
"I feel like I have already proven myself as a fast driver, now I have to show that I can perform consistently."
Pourchaire, meanwhile, appears to have a lot riding on his Formula 1 hopes for 2023, as he confirmed that he will not return to F2 next year.
"This is my last season in Formula 2, that’s for sure," he told the France Racing portal.
"If I don’t go into Formula 1, I don’t know what I’ll do. I haven’t thought about that with my team," the teenager said, adding that he expects to have "several options".
"I don’t want to think about F1 at the moment. It remains a dream to me.
"At the moment I don’t even know if I’ll be used in a free practice session, but that’s a good thing because then I’ll stay focused on this season.
"The rest will take care of itself."