(Image via f1academy.com)
Staff Writer: Akshit Bagga
Email: abagga@umassd.edu
A new era is unfolding in the history of motorsports: Women have a dedicated motorsports series of their own, and it’s called F1 Academy (F1A).
Just as any other motorsport competition, F1A is governed by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), and it’s an all-female road to the pinnacle of motor racing, Formula One.
F1A started in 2023; however, due to financial constraints, the season was cut short from seven rounds to five. This year, the women are happy and competing in their second year. New sponsors have taken over, and they are racing to the finish line of the season.
Let’s take a look at the sport and what’s happening in the F1 Academy series.
Five teams have been competing for the F1A drivers’ and teams’ championship with three drivers each. All these 15 drivers have been sponsored and signed to one of the top teams in either Formula One or the feeder series Formula Two or Formula Three.
While Marta Garcia has been declared the winner of the 2023 season after it was cut short, Abbi Pulling has been pushing herself towards the championship this year. Strong performances in both Miami and Singapore in the two races have helped her maximize the points tally in the drivers’ championship.
She has been one of the most promising drivers signed by the Alpine Drivers Academy.
Doriane Pin started the season on a high, grabbing the first win of the season in Jeddah; however, the junior Mercedes driver could not continue the winning momentum. She trailed in the championship, trying to defend second place (P2) from teammate Maya Weug.
Ferrari’s Maya has had the best comeback this season. After round 3 in Barcelona, Spain, she was seventh in the standings; however, strong performances in Zandvoort and Singapore elevated her to third place and put her in a position to fight Doriane.
American driver and Haas junior Chloe Chambers has shown varied pace in the five rounds, with her best points finishing in the Zandvoort weekend in the Netherlands. She currently has scored a solid 103 points and is in fourth place (P4) in the drivers’ standings.
Nerea Martí trails Chloe and is two points short of P4 in the standings. Hamda Al Qubaisi, who is a Red Bull-sponsored driver, sits at P6 while her elder sister Amna Al Qubaisi, who is backed by RB, is struggling this season and has only secured 12 points being P15 in the standings.
Art Grand Prix drivers Bustamante and Lia Block follow in P7 and P8, respectively, while their third driver and currently the youngest on the grid, Aurelia Nobels (born 2007), is currently in P11 with 22 points.
European drivers Carrie Schreiner and Jessica Edgar are P9 and P10, respectively. Hausmann, Lovinfosse, Heus, and Wildcards Gademan and Lloyd fill in the other points standings in the table.
After round 5, PREMA Racing and Rodin Motorsport are the top contenders for the team’s championship, while Campos Racing, Art Grand Prix, and MP Motorsport follow. With two more rounds of racing coming up in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, it’ll be interesting to see who clinches the championships.
Susie Wolff, one of the last female drivers to race in Formula One, heads the F1A division, in a conversation with one of Formula One’s journalists, said, “F1 Academy doesn’t exist just to get a woman into Formula 1.”
She added, “I think we’re not a moment; we’re a movement, and we want to increase participation, increase the talent pool, and make sure that we have more women entering our sport.”
To support female drivers in the sport, F1A has announced that the winner of the F1A drivers’ title will get a fully sponsored seat with Rodin Motorsport in the 2025 GB3 Championship.