2024 F1 Academy Zandvoort | 4 talking points

Pulling extends her lead at the top

Pulling began her weekend in familiar fashion as she topped both practice sessions on Friday, before setting pole position for Race 1 with the fastest time in qualifying on Saturday morning. She didn’t manage to achieve the clean sweep though, as she was pipped by Doriane Pin’s superior second fastest effort.

Unperturbed by that, or the enforced rescheduling of race one to first thing on Sunday morning, Pulling made a good start and led comfortably for the duration of the race to take her fifth win of the season. She finished ahead of Nerea Martí who managed to get ahead of a slow starting Pin at the first corner. Pulling completed the set with a bonus point for fastest lap to take home the maximum haul of 28 points.

From an unfamiliar second on the grid for race two, it was Pulling who lost out at the start as her own slow getaway allowed Ferrari’s Maya Weug to slip into second place. The Zandvoort circuit proved exceptionally difficult to pass on for the F1 Academy drivers, particularly without the aid of DRS on the start-finish straight. Despite 17 laps of near relentless pressure, Pulling was unable to make the move and had to settle for third.

It was the first time she’d finished outside of the top two all season, but her run of results thus far has left her with plenty of daylight in the championship, and she comes away from the Netherlands with an extended 71-point lead with six races to go. Hers to lose? For now you’d say so.

Pin finally back on the top step

But you have to say that Doriane Pin, back up to full strength it would seem after recovering from a fractured rib, is the driver most likely to put up a challenge for the title. She looked a little tentative during practice as she slowly got herself up to speed, but put in the laps when they mattered in qualifying. She got within a tenth of Pulling, but set a faster second time to take pole for race two. It was a welcome return to the top for Pin who has struggled to replicate the dominant form that threatened to end the season before it began in Jeddah several months ago.

Things threatened to turn sour yet again on Sunday morning as she was hit with a five-second penalty for an imperceptible jump start in race one, and while she raced to a second-place finish on the road she was demoted to fifth in the final classifications to give Pulling a big points swing.

The Mercedes junior put things right in race two, though, with a faultless drive that saw her take victory by almost two seconds ahead of Weug. With six races to go, Pin is going to need several more wins like this one to try and close the gap in the drivers’ championship, but it’ll be a huge task to overcome a charging Pulling.

Weug back on form

There was another return to form for Maya Weug, who made the most of her home weekend to take two podium finishes, results much more to her liking after a dismal showing in Spain two months ago.

She was immediately on the pace on Friday, and maintained that strong performance through the rest of the weekend. She qualified fourth for race one, and much like the rest of the field she remained in place throughout the shortened 13-lap distance. She spent the entirety behind Nerea Martí, but benefitted from Pin’s penalty to climb to third at the finish.

Weug went one better in race two as she stole second from Abbi Pulling at the start and soaked up 17 laps of pressure to hold off the champion elect and secure her second podium of the day. With that she climbs back up to fifth in the drivers’ standings, but the goal between now and the end of the year has to be a taste of victory.

Gademan takes her wildcard opportunity with both hands

We’ve been waiting for one of this season’s F1 Academy wildcard entrants to make an impact, and Nina Gademan did just that when she arrived at Zandvoort and immediately got on the pace.  In fairness, the Dutch driver has been racing in British F4 alongside Abbi Pulling this year so does have plenty of experience in the cockpit of a single seater, but her performance in F1 Academy was impressive nonetheless.

She qualified sixth for both races with some remarkable consistency, setting two quick laps just 0.044 seconds apart. She climbed to fifth in race one, promoted a spot further after Pin’s penalty, and performed well to stick with the established pair of Martí and Weug.

She sought to make even more of an impact in race two as she got her elbows out to firstly see off the challenge of Hamda Al Qubaisi, and then on lap nine she sent an aggressive move up the inside of Arelia Nobels into turn 11. She got through, but Nobels had to take to the gravel to avoid substantial contact, and the stewards ruled Gademan had pushed the limits of legality and imposed a ten-second penalty.

Had the move paid off, Gademan would have taken fourth place and best of the rest behind Pin, Weug and Pulling who were 12 seconds up the road. As it was, she was relegated to tenth, just barely clinging onto a single point.

Despite that disappointment, Gademan proved she was worthy of her wildcard opportunity, becoming the first to score points, and showcasing her ability among a field of established talents on the F1 Academy grid.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.