Doriane Pin takes double pole in another sensational showing in Qatar

Credit: Joe Portlock

Mercedes-backed driver of Prema, Doriane Pin, has had a hugely significant and successful  qualifying session in Qatar, as on Saturday, she has taken pole position for both races.

Pin delivered a fantastic performance and continued her form in the shortened and delayed qualifying session around the Lusail International Circuit. After topping both practice sessions, Pin has continued topping every session of the weekend so far and she will start both races from the front of the field.

French racing driver Pin took a double pole position and in the overall qualifying classification she was fastest ahead of Maya Weug, who is her Prema teammate and backed by Ferrari. Championship leader Abbi Pulling was third.

Pulling can clinch the championship this weekend should she score 18 points across the round. This would complete a dominant season if she was to win the title with a round to spare.

How F1 Academy Qualifying unfolded in Qatar

After practice was to put to bed under the night skies of Qatar, Saturday would bring a new day filled with action, which would begin with qualifying.

The qualifying session would set the grid for both of the races to take place across the weekend. This would require two strong lap times from the drivers to help them get a good grid position for both races. The best lap time from the drivers would be the used to set the grid for race 1, whereas each driver's second best lap time will set the grid for race 2

On Friday, it was Doriane Pin who was fastest in both practice sessions showing her speed around the circuit as she did in the testing F1 Academy had at the Lusail International Circuit, earlier in November.

Qualifying would be delayed from the scheduled 15:30 start local time as there would be repairs made to part of the barriers around the circuit, following an incident in a Porsche support race.

Eventually at 15:34, the session would start with Race Control shortening the session to 23 minutes, to help balance out the schedule, with the Formula 1 sprint race waiting to commence and this would end up creating a backlog.

The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane and the session would be underway for 23 minutes of qualifying with all 16 cars peeling out of the pit lane.

Some drivers would be opting for different running plans compared to the rest of the field, so a real split of qualifying strategy. The drivers would not have as long as they would have liked and therefore changing tyres would leave them with an even less amount of time.

The first flying laps would be pin and it would be Doriane Pin who would go to provisional pole, continuing where she left off from the practice sessions on Friday. It was a great lap from the Mercedes-backed driver, who had her Prema sitting at the top from her teammate Maya Weug.

Weug though was showing strong pace and she herself would be the next to go fastest overall and she would take the spot of provisional pole in her Ferrari-liveried Prema machine.It was a great lap and specifically was a 1:55.779 from the Dutch driver.

Emely De Heus would then be noted by FIA Race Control for speeding in the pit lane. This would be investigated following the conclusion of the session but a grid penalty would be unexpected.

Pin would return to the top of the pile with another lap to see her take provisional pole as the clock began to tick down continuously and the drivers were running out of time.

Abbi Pulling, the championship leader, was having a difficult session and not reaching top spot like she has been used to. Maybe this was exactly the fortune that Doriane Pin may be needing to stay in championship contention.

Soon enough the drivers would move onto their final laps with limited time to make their two best lap times good enough for top grid spots with the chequered flag soon out and being waved from the race control tower. 

At the end of the session, Doriane Pin would improve on her best lap time to take pole position for both races and would give herself the best possible chance to stay in championship contention. The Mercedes-backed driver of Prema was so consistent with her lap times and is definitely the driver to beat this weekend.

Pin would be top ahead of her Prema teammate Maya Weug, who showed great speed and would finish second in a Prema 1-2. Weug showed great speed throughout with Abbi Pulling rounding off the top three in third.

Williams-backed driver Lia Block put in a fantastic effort to qualify fourth for ART with Hamda Al Qubaisi in fifth for MP Motorsport rounding off the top five. Wildcard entry Alisha Palmowski would end up qualifying in sixth, in a fantastic first qualifying in F1 Academy for her.

In seventh would be Tommy Hilfiger backed driver Nerea Marti, who would be the highest placed Campos driver. She would be ahead of Bianca Bustamante in eighth, with Aurelia Nobels and Jess Edgar completing the top 10.

Action of round six in the 2024 F1 Academy season would continue in Qatar later on Saturday, with race 1 under the night skies and getting underway at 11pm local time.

2024 F1 Academy Championship: Round 6 - Qatar qualifying provisional classification

1. Doriane Pin (France, Prema Racing)
2. Maya Weug (Netherlands, Prema Racing)
3. Abbi Pulling (Great Britain, Rodin Motorsport)
4. Lia Block (United States, ART Grand Prix)
5. Hamda Al Qubaisi (United Arab Emirates, MP Motorsport)
6. Alisha Palmowski (Great Britain, Prema Racing) *WILDCARD*
7. Nerea Marti (Spain, Campos Racing)
8. Bianca Bustamante (Philippines, ART Grand Prix)
9. Aurelia Nobels (Brazil, ART Grand Prix)
10. Jess Edgar (Great Britain, Rodin Motorsport)
11. Carrie Schreiner (Germany, Campos Racing)
12. Chloe Chambers (United States, Campos Racing)
13. Emely De Heus (Netherlands, MP Motorsport)
14. Amna Al Qubaisi (United Arab Emirates, MP Motorsport)
15. Tina Hausmann (Switzerland, Prema Racing)
16. Lola Lovinfosse (France, Rodin Motorsport)

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal