F1 Academy: French driver Doriane Pin takes pole positions in Jeddah in her first Grand Prix

The F1 Academy, the women’s Formula 1 championship is taking place this week alongside the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. This is the first race of the season, which will consist of 7 races. Each event includes a free practice session, a qualifying session, and two races.

Doriane Pin is used to circuits as she notably took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This year, the promising French driver joined the F1 Academy with Mercedes as a sponsor and Prema as her team. She dominated the first qualifying session from start to finish with an impressive time of 2:03.472, securing her position at the top of the grid for the upcoming two races.

Abbi Pulling and Maya Weug fought for the second place, but it was ultimately Pulling who took the lead, beating Weug to the first line for both races.

At the start, ten drivers quickly took to the track to prepare their medium tires. Pin was the first to set a time, followed by Pulling who briefly took the lead with a time of 2:05.501.

Pin then improved his time on his second attempt, lowering the benchmark time to 2:04.599. Meanwhile, the Campos Racing team trio chose to wait before going out, a strategy that seemed to pay off when Nerea Martí placed in the top three.

At the end of the session, Doriane Pin further improved her time, extending her lead to over a second. Despite track limit issues, Weug managed to clock a good lap, putting her in second place.

Pull briefly took second place, but was eventually relegated to third position by Weug in the final minutes. Despite her efforts, she was unable to dethrone Pin.

Martí secured the fourth place for Race 1, ahead of Bianca Bustamante from McLaren. Lola Lovinfosse set the sixth fastest time, followed by Lia Block, Chloe Chambers, Aurelia Nobels, and Jessica Edgar.

For Race 2, Lola Lovinfosse, the second French driver in this championship, will start from the second row, followed by Martí. Chambers and Tina Hausmann from Aston Martin will complete the top six, ahead of Nobels, Edgar, and Bustamante.

The races will take place at 1:10 PM on Friday for Race 1, and at 1:05 PM local time on Saturday for Race 2. They will be broadcasted on Canal+ and F1 TV.