F1 Academy 2023 season recap
The 2023 inaugural F1 Academy season is over.
Marta Garcia was crowned champion and her team, Prema Racing were named constructors’ champions.
The battle for the titles went down to the last round in Austin where the championship was a Formula One support race for the first time.
The last round was also broadcasted for the first time as before only the live timings were shown on the F1 Academy website. And highlights were posted to YouTube and shown on TV.
The season has had its ups and downs but put on a show for anyone who was able to attend, watch the live timings or watch or attend the last weekend.
Everyone will be looking forward to next year’s season which will have a lot of good things instore but for now let’s look back on the 2023 season.
Spielberg
Round one of the all-female series took place at the Red Bull Ring and many people took to TikTok to share that they were watching the live timings.
Abbi Pulling toped the timings for Free Practice 1 while Amna Al Qubaisi set the fastest time for the 2nd practice session.
Marta Garcia qualified in pole position in both of the qualifying sessions and then went on to win race one. Bianca Bustamante came 2nd followed by Jess Edgar in 3rd .
For race two the reverse grid Amna Al Qubaisi won with Lena Buhler and Lola Lovinfosse standing next to her on the podium.
Garcia won the last race of the weekend after starting on pole, Hamda Al Qubaisi came 2nd and her sister stood on the podium for a second time that weekend.
Valencia
Spain was the second round for F1 Academy.
Narea Marti set the fastest lap time in FP1 while Garcia topped FP2.
Marti qualified for pole in qualifying one while her fellow free practice time topper Garcia got pole in Qualy 2.
H Al Qubaisi came 1st in Race 1 with the pole sitter behind her in P2 and Lena Buhler taking the last podium place.
In Race 2, Bustamante finished 1st with Buhler in 2nd, moving up one place from race 1, and Hamda Al Quabaisi came 3rd .
The last race of the weekend gave Garcia the chance to win once again with Marti and Pulling following her over the finish line.
Barcelona
The Academy were once again in Spain for round three in Barcelona.
The younger Al Qubaisi sister was the fastest in both free practice sessions.
Emely De Heus qualified fastest in the first session and Buhler took pole in the second session.
The Dutch racer win race 1 from pole position followed by Pulling and Garcia.
The older Al Qubaisi sister finished 1st after the reverse grid in race 2 with Garcia in 2nd and Pulling taking a second podium of the weekend.
Buhler, Hamna Al Qubaisi and Garcia all took their places on the race 3 podium.
Zandvoort
The championship went to the Netherlands for round four of the 2023 season.
Hamda Al Qubaisi was fastest in free practice one and Lena Buhler was fastest in free practice two.
The Al Qubaisi qualified in pole position in both qualy sessions and won race 1 and 3.
Buhler came 2nd in race 1 with Marti in 3rd place and in race 3, De Haus came 2nd and Buhler came 3rd.
In race 2, Carrie Schreiner finished in first place and Garcia finished second while third place went to Buhler.
Monza
Round 5 was in Italy on the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
Buhler topped the timings in FP1 while Garcia was fastest in FP2 and Qualifying 1. Pulling topped Qualifying 2.
In the first race of the weekend, Garcia finished 1st, Buhler finished 2nd and Edgar finished 3rd.
The second race was won by Buhler who was followed by Bustemante and Pulling.
The Pilipino racer won in race 3 with Pulling in 2nd and Marti in 3rd .
Le Castellet
The second to last round was based in France.
Marti was fastest in FP1 while the fastest in FP2 was Buhler.
Abbi Pulling took poll in qualifying 1 and pole was taken by Lena Buhler in the second qualifying session.
Compos Racing got a double podium in race 1 with Marti winning and Lovinfosse finishing 3rd, they were separated by Pulling in 2nd.
Race 2 was won by Garcia who was followed over the line by Buhler and then Amna Al Qubaisi.
Garcia also won race 3 with Buhler in 2nd again and Lovinfosse in 3rd .
Austin
The last round was with F1 in Austin for the United States GP and it was broadcasted for the first time around the world for everyone to watch.
Garcia was fastest in free practice one and Edgar was fastest in the second session. Both drivers were also the fastest in the qualifying sessions, the Spaniard getting pole for race 1 and the British racer getting pole in race 3.
Marta Garcia won the first race of the weekend and won the inaugural F1 Academy championship.
Pulling came 2nd and Buhler finished 3rd.
In race 2 saw Hamna Al Qubaisi won with Buhler in 3nd and Edgar in 3rd .
In the last race of the season Jess Edgar took her first ever win after starting in pole position, Marti finished second and the new championship champion finished 3rd .
- by Lizzy Oxendale
