The Dutch Grand Prix played host to round 4 of the 2024 F1 academy season, with championship leader Abbi pulling looking to extend her title lead over her closest rival Doriane Pin.
Finlay McSporran
Published: 15:35, 26th August 2024
In this article we’ll give a brief overview of the weekends action and how it affects the rest of the season.
Qualifying
The action began with qualifying on Friday and it was the two championship rivals who locked out the front row for both races, with Pulling securing pole for race 1 and Pin for race 2.
Wild card entry Nina Gademan qualified a respectable P6 for both races while Bianca Bustamante crashed at turn 3, and would be starting at the back for both races.
Race 2 winner in Spain Chloe Chambers, 3rd in the championship, had a difficult session as she could only manage P7 for race 1 and P11 for race 2.
Race 1
Race 1 was supposed to get underway on Saturday afternoon however heavy rain delayed the start, with the race eventually being re-scheduled to Sunday morning.
When the race finally did get underway pole-sitter Abbi Pulling got a great start to lead into turn one, while Pin fended off Nerea Marti to hold onto second.
However, a jump start for the Mercedes backed driver earned her a 5 second time penalty which dropped her down to 5th as the flag fell, with Pulling dominating the race to take her 5th win of the season, being joined on the podium by Marti in 2nd and Maya Weug in 3rd.
Race 2
Pole-sitter Doriane Pin was looking to make up for yesterdays disappointment as she held the lead comfortably into turn one, as Pulling slipped back into 3rd, being passed by Maya Weug for 2nd.
Further back, Nina Gademan was stuck behind Aurelia Nobles in the battle for 4th. On lap 9 Gademan sent one down the inside of Nobles at turn 9, forcing Nobles off the track and into the gravel which earnt Gademan a 10 second time penalty dropping her down to 10th.
Out in front Doriane Pin cruised home to take her second win of the season and reduce the points deficit to Pulling who finished 3rd behind Weug.
Championship Outlook
With P1 in race 1 and 3rd in race 2 Abbi Pulling extends her lead in the drivers standings with 190 points to her name, 71 more than Pin in second one 119.
A great weekend for Maya Weug saw her finish on the podium in both races, moving her up to 5th in the championship with 84 points to her name, just 1 behind Nera Marti in 4th while Chloe Chambers remains in 3rd place on 89 points.
F1 Academy returns for round 5 in Singapore in 4 weeks time.
Other News
In other news, Kimi Antionelli will make his Formula one debut at Monza this weekend for Mercedes during FP1 the team have confirmed. The Italian, who recently turned 18, has been heavily linked to replace Lewis Hamilton next year with an announcement expected this weekend during the Italian Grand Prix.
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