F1 Academy

Elisa Vicencio

Pulling extends her championship lead in the third round of the F1 Academy whilst Chloe Chambers challenges Doriane Pin for second place in the drivers’ championship.

The F1 Academy started the European leg of their season with a return to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. This follows last month’s Miami race weekend, where Alpine driver Abbi Pulling proved her dominance by winning both races, ousting her championship rival, Doriane Pin.

Pulling continued her command over the championship, securing double pole positions. She was closely followed by Haas driver Chloe Chambers, who missed out on pole by 0.059 and 0.076 seconds in both qualifying sessions. Campos driver Nerea Marti completed the top three for the first race of her home race weekend, whilst Pin started in third place for the second race. 

Race One

Pulling immediately secured a strong start as the lights went out for the weekend’s first race. She maintained her lead into turn one over competitors Chambers and Marti. There was, however, a fight for second place, with Spanish driver Marti overtaking Haas’ Chambers for the runner-up position. Meanwhile, Pin, who started in fourth place, had an unfortunate start. She stalled on the grid, meaning the PREMA and Mercedes driver fell to 12th place.

“Red Bull driver Emely de Heus overtook Aston Martin’s Tina Hausmann into turn four for seventh place in the midfield.”

PREMA Racing faced problems on the other side of the garage. Maya Weug contacted Lola Lovinfosse’s rear tyre and collided with RB’s Amna Al Qubaisi. This contact left both Weug and Al Qubaisi beached in the gravel, leading to the safety car’s deployment.

After six laps under the safety car, Pulling commanded the restart on lap seven, slowing her competitors down before accelerating out of the 12th turn. This was a move that ultimately secured her win. Meanwhile, Red Bull driver Emely de Heus overtook Aston Martin’s Tina Hausmann into turn four for seventh place in the midfield. This put Hausmann on the defence against Williams’ Lia Block and Charlotte Tilbury driver Lovinfosse. Like de Heus, Pin also made her way up the grid, clearing Schreiner and Lovinfosse and putting herself in the points-scoring position. 

In the concluding laps of the 16-lap race, Pulling continued her display of dominance, opening a comfortable gap to her second-place competitor, Marti. Her championship rival Pin gained further points by taking advantage of Block’s battle with Hausmann and overtaking both drivers for an eighth-place finish. Marti secured second place at her home race, whilst Chambers finalised the podium positions. This was despite an intense battle for third place with McLaren’s Bianca Bustamante on the race’s final laps. 

Following Bustamante’s fourth place, Hamda Al Qubaisi finished in fifth ahead of de Heus, Pin, Edgar, and Block, who rounded out the point-scoring positions of the first race.

Race Two

Straight off the line, Haas driver Chambers was able to take the lead from pole-sitter Pulling. The Alpine driver was forced to go defensive to maintain her second position from Marti. Pin also had a challenging start, falling to sixth place from her third-place starting position in the opening. 

“The competition for the podium positions was fierce, with a four-car battle between Pulling, Marti, Hamda Al Qubaisi and Pin”

The first lap additionally proved difficult for both Bustamante and Edgar. Both had to take the escape road at the first chicane but were also awarded five-second penalties. Bustamante’s penalty was caused by a false start off the grid, whilst Edgar was penalised for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Following these penalties, both drivers faced intense battles from the competitors, leading to Bustamante and Edgar losing their positions. Mercedes driver Pin passed Bustamante for fifth place after going side-by-side into turn four. Williams driver Block received a tow from Edgar, allowing her to overtake into seventh place.

“Chambers was in a league of her own, commanding the race from the first lap.”

The competition for the podium positions was fierce, with a four-car battle between Pulling, Marti, Hamda Al Qubaisi and Pin, who shared less than a second between themselves. Championship leader Pulling struggled with her tyre wear, forcing her to be defensive against her three competitors. However, her tyres also started to suffer despite Marti’s strong fight against the Alpine driver. This put her at risk to Al Qubaisi in the Red Bull, who overtook Marti down the finish straight for third.

Final Rankings

In the face of all the battles across the grid in this invigorating second race, Chambers was in a league of her own, commanding the race from the first lap. The Haas driver not only took her first victory in the series but also took the point for the fastest lap. This means she is equal on points with Pin and is challenging for second place in the championship standings.

“It feels amazing,” Chambers told Sky Sports. “I don’t know how to explain it. I worked at this all year and we are only before the halfway point of the season, so to get it this early is a big boost for my confidence”.

Campos Team Manager Gabriela Parra also expressed her elation for Chambers’ and Marti’s strong results over the race weekend. “We tried to maximise as much as we could during this weekend. It’s always nice to have good results when you’re at your home race in front of the crowd that is cheering you. To have grabbed Chloe’s first win and then Nerea and Chloe’s podium was amazing, so feeling on a high.” 

Following Chambers, current championship leader Pulling took the follow-up position, whilst Hamda Al Qubaisi secured the final podium position. This will be her first podium of the season. Campos driver Marti finished fourth place ahead of Pin, who took fifth place. Williams’ Block also had a very successful race, achieving her best finishing position in sixth place in the season. She was followed by Bustamante, Husmann, Lovinfosse, and de Heus in tenth place.

READ NEXT:

Featured image courtesy of Lukas Raich via Wikimedia Commons. No changes have been made to this image. Image licence found here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *