The 15 female drivers took to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit for the 1st of 7 rounds in 2024 with fresh liveries and new drivers ready to take on the challenge.

What’s new for this season?

F1 Academy, directed by Susie Wolff, has the aim of developing and preparing female drivers to progress up the motorsport ladder.

With last year’s inaugural champion Marta García and runner up Léna Bühler moving onto the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, the series seems to be fulfilling its purpose.

5 teams with impressive achievements in other junior categories each enter 3 cars to form a grid of 15 drivers. This year, F1 Academy will have a closer relationship with F1 itself. The races will be held on the F1 weekends, giving the female series the exposure it requires to be effective.

The top 5 finishers in the championship will also receive FIA Super Licence points to aid their advancement through the ranks, and drivers may only compete in the series for two seasons to encourage progression.

Most crucially, all 10 F1 teams will support an F1 Academy driver with the remaining drivers being backed by various other partners. Those backed by an F1 team will run the liveries of their team. These are the backing situations for this year’s drivers:

Driver	Team	Backing
Lola Lovinfosse	Rodin Motorsport	Charlotte Tilbury
Abbi Pulling	Rodin Motorsport	Alpine
Jessica Edgar	Rodin Motorsport	N/A
Emely De Heus	MP Motorsport	Red Bull Ford
Hamda Al Qubaisi	MP Motorsport	Red Bull Racing
Amna Al Qubaisi	MP Motorsport	Visa Cash App RB
Chloe Chambers	Campos Racing	Haas
Carrie Schreiner	Campos Racing	Kick Sauber
Nerea Martí	Campos Racing	Tommy Hilfiger
Bianca Bustamante	ART Grand Prix	McLaren
Aurelia Nobels	ART Grand Prix	Puma
Lia Block	ART Grand Prix	Williams
Tina Hausmann	Prema Racing	Aston Martin
Doriane Pin	Prema Racing	Mercedes
Maya Weug	Prema Racing	Ferrari

Qualifying in Jeddah

F1 Academy’s qualifying format this year is unique in comparison to similar series. Each driver’s fastest lap will set the grid for Race 1, whilst the drivers’ second fastest lap will set the order for Race 2.

With members of the F1 Paddock out in force to support the series, all eyes were on the 15 drivers to see who would come out on top in the first qualifying session of the season. It was Doriane Pin who dominated the session, securing pole position for both races.

Expectations were high for the French WEC driver who had secured a win in the UAE F4 championship last month.

Despite the pressure, she delivered beyond expectations. The Mercedes academy driver secured pole for Race one by a staggering 0.785s with Britain’s Abbi Pulling and the Netherlands’ Maya Weug taking P2 and P3 respectively.

Race one

After a strong performance in qualifying, come Friday, it was Pin’s race to lose. She kept her composure, fending off her competitors following a Safety Car restart to take the chequered flag first.

As for the rest of the field, the race was not so simple. Bustamante had an eventful race, stalling on the formation lap and ending up off the track within a few corners of lap one.

With Chloe Chambers closing in behind, Bustamante went wide again but this time with Chambers following her, this allowed Lia Block, making her single seater debut, to close the gap.

A Safety Car was brought out due to a spin from Wild Card entry Juffali that took out the front wing of A.Al Qubaisi. After overtakes on both Hausmann and Block, Britain’s Edgar suffered from a puncture and fell back through the pack.

Block’s race was also ruined following contact with the wall leaving her down in 16th, and Martí was taken out the race after Lovinfosse clipped the rear of her car. Following post race penalties, the field finished as follows:

Driver	Team	Time
1. Doriane Pin	Prema	26:50.962
2. Abbi Pulling	Rodin Motorsport	+0.8
3. Maya Weug	Prema	+6.9
4. Chloe Chambers	Campos	+11.6
5. Lola Lovinfosse	Rodin Motorsport	+13.2
6. Bianca Bustamante	ART	+13.9
7. Tian Hausmann	Prema	+20.0
8. Aurelia Nobels	ART	+22.7
9. Hamda Al Qubaisi	MP	+23.4
10. Carrie Schreiner	Campos	+24.6
11. Reema Juffali	Prema	+25.0
12. Emely de Heus	MP	+26.0
13. Amna Al Qubaisi	MP	+40.9
14. Nerea Martí	Campos	1 lap
15. Jessica Edgar	Rodin Motorsport	1 lap
16. Lia Block	ART	2 laps

Race two

Race two was not so straightforward for Pin despite lining up on pole once again. Down to Turn One, Pulling threatened to take the lead but couldn’t quite make it past the French driver.

The rest of the race was not short of drama: a lock up from Chambers sent Lovinfosse spinning with Block then making contact with the spinning car whilst trying to avoid the incident.

The first of two Safety Car restarts saw Schreiner making contact with de Heus causing Juffali to hit the barriers in an attempt to avoid Schreiner, bringing out the second Safety Car. Britain’s Edgar finished in the top 5 and Amna Al Qubaisi worked her way up the grid from 14th to finish 6th with her sister making up 5 places too. With 5 second penalties for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, Bustamante and Chambers finished 8th and 10th respectively. Block picked up two penalties for a false start and speeding in the pitlane, leaving her in 11th. Whilst Pin crossed the line in 1st, she failed to notice that the race had finished meaning the French driver took the chequered flag twice, leading to a post race penalty of 20 seconds, promoting Pulling to the top step of the podium and dropping Pin down to 9th. The top 10 finished as follows:

Driver	Team
1. Abbi Pulling	Rodin Motorsport
2. Maya Weug	Prema
3. Nerea Martí	Campos
4. Jessica Edgar	Rodin Motorsport
5. Hamda Al Qubaisi	MP
6. Bianca Bustamante	ART
7. Carrie Schreiner	Campos
8. Amna Al Qubaisi	MP
9. Doriane Pin	Prema
10. Chloe Chambers	Campos

The rest of the season

With such an impressive start to the season, all eyes will be on Doriane Pin to see if she can replicate a Jamie Chadwick W-Series style dominance throughout the rest of the season.

Despite a well-deserved win being lost in Race two in Saudi Arabia, Doriane Pin had an almost spotless weekend. She should go into the next round in Miami with an immense amount of confidence given the pace she has demonstrated in round one.

But will anybody be able to challenge the Mercedes Junior?

It looks as though Pulling and Weug will be the closest in this year’s campaign but it would be tough to bet against the round one star, Doriane Pin, as this year’s favourite to win the championship.