F1 Academy

At the start of the race, Maya Weug got a better start than her fellow Prema teammate Doriane Pin and made her way up into second. Both of them fought wheel to wheel for a few corners but Weug was able to come out on top and maintain second.

Down in fourth, Lia Block tried to take advantage of the two fighting in front but was unsuccessful in her attempts to make a move. 

Wildcard entry Ella Lloyd was doing well as she beat Carrie Schreiner off of the line before applying pressure onto Hamda Al Qubaisi. 

By the time lap three came around, Pulling had already achieved a lead of over a second to Weug but shortly came to an end as the safety car was deployed due to Bustamante catching the kerb at turn 7 and spinning. She was able to rejoin the race and eventually catch up to the back of the pack. 

It was Pulling out in front who was responsible for the safety car restart as they began making their way into lap 5. She took an early gamble however and was able to build a gap over Weug throughout the last few turns as they crossed the line to begin lap 5. 

At the back of the pack, there was contact between Bustamante and Hausmann which resulted in the McLaren junior bouncing over the run-off area. Hausmann was given a 10 second time penalty for the incident. 

At the front of the pack, Pulling was setting fastest lap after fastest lap and had pulled a comfortable 1.2 second gap on Weug with teammate Pin closely followed behind with only half a second between the two. 
 
Abbi continued to extend her gap out in front and took the chequered flag with a 3.2 gap to Weug in second. Pin crossed the line in third, the gap between herself and Weug having increased to nearly a second and a half.  

1) Abbi Pulling (Fastest Lap)
2) Maya Weug / + 3.276
3) Doriane Pin / + 4.584
4) Lia Block / + 9.471
5) Nerea Marti / + 10.830
6) Hamda Al Qubaisi / + 11.400
7) Ella Lloyd (Wildcard) / + 12.436
8) Chloe Chambers / + 17.909
9) Carrie Schreiner / + 20.078
10) Emely De Heus / + 20.596
11) Amna Al Qubaisi / + 21.928
12) Auelia Nobels / + 22.741
13) Lola Lovinfosse / + 24.080
14) Bianca Bustamante / + 24.944
15) Jessica Edgar / + 30.167
16) Tina Hausmann / + 79.497

​Written by Kelsie Jayes.

Formula 1

McLaren junior Bianca Bustamante caused an aborted race start as she drove over her grid box. She then failed to start from the pit lane for which she got a 10 second stop and go penalty for. The race was shortened to 11 laps due to this added formation lap

Going into turn one, the top four (Pulling, Weug, Pin and Block) all managed to hold their positions. However, Red Bull driver Hamda Al Qubaisi wasn't as lucky and dropped down a couple of places after going wide onto the run-off area at turn 1. Ella Lloyd took advantage of this opportunity and overtook Nerea Marti and Al Qubaisi. Lloyd's hope was short-lived however as she received a 5 second penalty for a false start.

Lloyd wasn't the only driver to receive a 5 second penalty however as 3rd place Pin also got one later on for the same reason. When she was given this penalty, she was 3.8 seconds ahead of Lia Block so decided to put in the work to pull away even further from the young American driver.

Pulling took the chequered flag just over 2 seconds clear of Weug in 2nd. Luckily for Pin, she managed to pull a big enough gap to remain ahead of Block by 2 tenths.

Wildcard Ella Lloyd wasn't as lucky though as her penalty dropped her from sixth to ninth.

1) Abbi Pulling 
2) Maya Weug / + 2.056
3) Doriane Pin (Fastest Lap)  / + 8.564
4) Lia Block / + 8.772
5) Chloe Chambers / + 9.563
6) Hamda Al Qubaisi / + 15.680
7) Nerea Marti / + 16.343
8) Carrie Schreiner / + 17.960
9) Ella Lloyd (Wildcard) / + 19.901
10) Tina Hausmann / + 20.564
11) Lola Lovinfosse / + 22.152
12) Amna Al Qubaisi / + 22.501
13) Jessica Edgar / + 27.377
14) Aurelia Nobels / + 28.000
15) Emely De Heus / + 37.345
16) Bianca Bustamante / + 57.095

Written by Kelsie Jayes

© F1 Academy

An eventful and enjoyable qualifying session saw Championship leader Abbi Pulling claim pole position for both Race 1 and 2. 

As the time started, the drivers all flooded the track ready to give it their all. Nerea Marti was the first to set a lap time of 2:06:806 but was quickly beaten by Pulling. Abbi's pace continued however, her second flying lap coming in at a 2:04:662 putting her almost five tenths clear.

​Pin and Weug then improved their times knocking Pulling down to third. Pulling responded though with an even better lap which put her 0.040s. Maya Weug then set a 2:04:179 which was short lived as Dorianne cleared Maya's time by over 2 tenths. 

As some of the grid returned to the pits ready for a second set of tires, Amna Al Qubaisi had a moment which caused her to spin off onto the run-off area in sector one. 
 
More grip was found on the second set of tires as personal bests were being set up and down the order. It didn't take long for Pulling to re-emerge out in front, setting a 2:03:631. She tried to improve her lap with less than a minute remaining which she failed to do. Luckily for her though however, nobody else was able to come close. 

1) Abbi Pulling / 2:03:631
2) Maya Weug / + 0.238
3) Dorianne Pin / + 0.265
4) Lia Block / + 0.567
5) Hamda Al Qubaisi / + 0.608
6) Chloe Chambers / + 0.619
7) Nerea Marti / + 0.627
8) Ella Lloyd (Wildcard) / + 0.678
9) Bianca Bustamante / + 0.801
10) Carrie Schreiner / + 0.902
11) Tina Hausmann / + 1.287
12) Lola Lovinfosse / + 1.321
13) Jessica Edgar / + 1.325
14) Emely De Heus / + 1.347
15) Aurelia Nobels / + 1.369
16) Amna Al Qubaisi / + 1.477

1) Abbi Pulling / 2:03:747
2) Dorianne Pin / + 0.158
3) Maya Weug / + 0.261
4) Lia Block / + 0.558
5) Nerea Marti / + 0.688
6) Hamda Al Qubaisi / + 0.715
7) Carrie Schreiner / + 0.857
8) Ella Lloyd (Wildcard) / + 0.861
9) Chloe Chambers / + 0.979
10) Bianca Bustamante / + 1.041
11) Emely De Heus / + 1.232
12) Tina Hausmann / + 1.249
13) Jessica Edgar / + 1.424
14) Aurelia Nobels / + 1.451
15) Lola Lovinfosse / + 1.545
16) Amna Al Qubaisi / + 1.567

Written by Kelsie Jayes

© F1 Academy

At the start of the session, a brief yellow flag was brought out as wildcard entry and British F4 driver Ella Lloyd stopped on track momentarily due to a technicality issue. Every time she braked, the car would seem to cut out, not allowing her to drive around the track properly and continuing to stop on track each time she braked. She was able to drag her car back to the pits where the mechanics would begin to work on the issue. 

Not long after Lloyd returned to the pits, there was another yellow flag. This time it was caused by fellow British driver Jessica Edgar. She had spun and tapped her rear wing on the barrier which caused significant damage. She was also able to return to the pits as the rear wing damage was the only problem with the car. 

Lloyd was sent back out on track after the technicality issue was fixed. This was proven to be untrue as pretty much straight away as she was stopped on track yet again as she continued to struggle with the same issue. 

Towards the end of the session, Lia Block had a small spin which was shortly followed by Lloyd spinning and tapping the barrier. 

1) Abbi Pulling / 2:03:993
2) Nerea Marti / + 0.346
3) Doriane Pin / + 0.499
4) Maya Weug / + 0.685
5) Carrie Schriener / + 1.546
6) Lia Block / + 1.551
7) Chloe Chambers  / + 1.634
8) Hamda Al Qubaisi / + 1.775
9) Lola Lovinfosse / + 1.823
10) Aurelia Nobels / + 1.913
11) Ella Lloyd (Wildcard) / + 1.943
12) Bianca Bustamante / + 1.983
13) Tina Hausmann / + 2.358
14) Emely De Heus / + 2.719
15) Amna Al Qubaisi / + 2.726
16) Jessica Edgar / + 4.427

​Written by Kelsie Jayes.