by Linus O'Howell
For people that maybe don’t know about F1 Academy, I can tell you that it’s an all-female Formula 4-level Championship where 15 up-and-coming drivers look to showcase what they’ve got. F1 Academy debuted this year at the Red Bull Ring in Austria and it’s final weekend of the season takes place alongside Formula 1 at COTA this weekend. F1 Academy is also going to be televised live for the first time ever this weekend so hopefully this article will give you the knowledge you need to know a bit more about the series when it’s on your TV.
The Teams and Drivers
There are a total of 15 drivers and 5 teams in F1 Academy meaning there are 3 drivers per team. The teams involved are; Campos Racing, MP Motorsport, ART Grand Prix, Rodin Carlin, and Prema Racing and it’s safe to say that people who watch Formula 2 and Formula 3 will definetly recognise those names.
📸 Nerea Marti's #1 car on track.
Campos’ lineup consists of Nerea Marti, Lola Lovinfosse, and Maite Caceres. Whilst Campos may be bottom of the Teams’ Championship, they’ve still had some success as they’ve achieved a total of 8 podiums this year and their highlight came in the first race at Paul Ricard as Marti took victory for the team whilst Lovinfosse finished a very good third.
📸 Hamda Al Qubaisi celebrates.
Onto MP Motorsport and they have Emely de Hues driving for them as well as Hamda and Amna Al Qubaisi. MP are currently having a terrific season as they enter the final weekend of the season leading the Teams’ Championship by 23 points and they’ve won a total of 6 races this season. However, maybe the best thing about that is the fact that all three drivers have stood on the top step of the podium at some point in F1 Academy’s inaugural season.
📸 Sauber Academy driver Lena Buhler.
Lena Buhler, Carrie Schreiner, and Chloe Grant all drive for ART Grand Prix in F1 Academy and they are currently having a solid season, sitting third in the Teams’ Championship. Buhler is particularly having a good season as she currently sits second in the Drivers’ Championship and she’s appeared on the podium more times than anyone in F1 Academy this season (or ever I guess). However, it is also worth mentioning that Schreiner did win the second race in Zandvoort earlier this year.
📸 Carlin driver Abbi Pulling and her Alpine branded machine.
Rodin Carlin have Abbi Pulling, Jessica Edgar, and Megan Gilkes in their team and they’re having a slightly disappointing season as they sit 4th in the Teams’ Championship and they are the only team on the grid yet to pick up a victory. To be fair to Carlin, they have still appeared on the podium 8 times (6 for Pulling, 2 for Edgar) and that’s certainly more than they achieved in FIA Formula 3 this year.
📸 Bianca Bustamante, who has joined the McLaren family and will be back in F1 Academy with ART Grand Prix in 2024.
The final team on the grid is definetly the biggest as Prema Racing’s lineup consists of Chloe Chong, Marta Garcia, and Bianca Bustamante. Prema are currently second in the Teams’ Championship, but a 23-point gap to leaders MP Motorsport is more than catchable whilst Spain’s Garcia currently has a comfortable 48-point lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship. The most amazing thing about Garcia’s season is besides a DNF in the open race at Zandvoort, she hasn’t finished any lower than 7th which shows amazing consistency. Bustamante has also won 2 races for Prema as well.
The Format
Race 1 and 3 of an F1 Academy weekend has a 30-minute (+1 lap) time limit and the points system is exactly the same as what you would see in Formula 1 (25pts for a win, 18 for second, and so on). However, there is also a 15-minute qualifying session before both of these races and the driver who takes Pole will receive an additional 2 points (I like that rule a lot).
In terms of Race 2, the grid is sorted out by taking the top 8 from the first qualifying session and reversing meaning the driver who qualified (and started) eighth in Race 1 will start on pole for Race 2 whilst the driver who got pole in qualifying would start 8th in the second race.
It's worth mentioning that places from 9th to 15th don’t change so if you qualify in those spots, you do have to start there for both races. Also, the points only go down to the top 8 with 10 points for a win, 8 points for second, 6 points for a third, and then all the way down to 1 point for 8th. Like F1, drivers can score an extra point for fastest lap, but only if you finish inside the top 10.
Why You Should Watch
At the end of the day, if you’re reading this article, it’s probably because you’re a racing fan. If you’re a fan of motorsport in general (so not just Formula 1), you should find this series to be enjoyable because all of these women are talented drivers/competitors who all have a point to prove. Below is a list of the timings for this weekend in case you do want to check it out (in BST).
Friday:
Practice 1: 2:15pm
Practice 2: 7:55pm
Qualifying 1 and 2: 11:30pm
Saturday:
Race 1: 3:30pm
Race 2: 9:15pm
Sunday:
Race 3: 3:30pm
Be sure to tune in!
📸 Image credits: F1 Academy, Formula Motorsport Limited.
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