Photo: F1 Academy

Ava Dobson, Nina Gademan and Rachel Robertson have secured full-time seats in F1 Academy for 2026.

Hitech GP has signed Dobson and Robertson, while Gademan and Esmee Kosterman will race for MP Motorsport in the all-female Formula 4 championship.

Dobson drove Hitech’s wildcard entry in the sole Miami race in 2025 and finished 13th. The 17-year-old American made a USF Juniors cameo in 2023 as a car racing rookie that put her 16th in the standings, and in 2024 did two rounds in GB4 when it ran for F4 cars. With a best finish of ninth, she was 17th in the points table.

Last year was busier, starting off with a full-time GB4 campaign as it switched to a modified version of GB3’s old car. Dobson made the podium once, but was a lowly 19th in the standings. Following her F1 Academy debut, she reunited with Hitech for Saudi Arabian F4 later in the year. Two sixth places were the highlights en route to 11th in the championship.

Scottish racer Robertson made her F1 Academy debut with Hitech in the 2025 finale on Las Vegas’s Strip circuit and made an immediate impact by finishing fourth from 13th on the grid. That event came in the middle of the Saudi F4 season, in which she also netted a fourth place and came 13th in the standings.

The 18-year-old’s primary programme for 2025 though was in prototype sportscars, as she came third in Radical Cup UK where she had earned a factory seat.

Gademan is yet another driver who spent much of last year, and she will race with the branding of the Alpine Formula 1 team on her car for a second season as she switches to MP in F1 Academy.

The 22-year-old Dutchwoman did one F1 Academy round in 2024 with Prema and finished fourth on debut, then as a full-time driver with the team in 2025 she picked up a win (which was on home soil at Zandvoort) and three other podiums to come sixth in the standings.

In 2024 she had focused on British F4, where she drove for Fortec Motorsports as a rookie. The switch to Hitech for 2025 only led to two British F4 appearances in the end, but she raced across the globe with the team. She came 15th in the Iberia-based Formula Winter Series, which she missed the last round of, made a Formula Trophy outing in the United Arab Emirates and two podiums from two rounds in Saudi F4 put her ninth in the points table.

Kosterman was confirmed to be racing in F1 Academy this year last November, but the team she would drive for was not announced until five days ago when MP published a social media post. Like the team, she hails from the Netherlands.

The 20-year-old cameoed in Indian F4 in 2024, and last year made four British F4 outings, came 10th in Saudi F4 and scored on her F1 Academy debut as the wildcard driver at Zandvoort.

The post Dobson, Gademan and Robertson nail down 2026 F1 Academy deals appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Meritus GP

The Saudi Arabian Formula 4 championship will return for a second season this year, with a five-round calendar.

Bahrain will host pre-season testing and the opening round this week, then a mid-week round two on October 15/16.

Next month there will be two rounds in one week, with races in Jeddah on November 10/11 and then November 14/15. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix venue will also host the finale on December 5/6.

In the inaugural season last year, all cars were centrally run by Meritus GP, which previously centrally ran F4 South East Asia. Local company AlTawkilat will be championship promoter this year, but has not stated if it will directly run the cars.

There have been 10 drivers announced so far, a group consisting mostly of 15-year-olds and including Red Bull juniors Scott Lindblom and Chiara Battig who are single-seater newcomers.

Lindblom was fourth in entry-level sportscar series Ginetta Junior this year, and in 2024 primarily raced in the OK kart class. The Swede won the title WSK Euro Series title and came eighth in Champions of the Future.

His year started by coming 11th in WSK’s Super Master Series for OK Junior karts, and in that category he was previously third in the World championship, fourth in WSK’s Euro Series and 15th in the CIK-FIA European championship.

Battig joined the Red Bull Junior Team less than seven weeks ago, having previously been part of the Alpine Formula 1 team’s female-focused Rac(H)er programme in 2023, and steps up from karting.

She came 15th in the European championship for OK karts this year, with her rookie season in senior karting starting on a victory-contending high but then mostly lacking results. The Swiss was 29th in CotF, but on OK-N karts is currently second in the CotF Academy Program.

Making the same step this weekend is Thibaut Ramaekers, the 2025 CIK-FIA world champion on OK karts. The Belgian claimed that title last month, after being CotF runner-up and fifth in the CIK-FIA European championship.

His 2025 began on X30 Senior karts, coming fifth in the IAME Winter Cup.

Faris Organji, 17, is one of three local drivers confirmed for Saudi Arabian F4 and will be debuting in single-seaters. The other two locals are F4 Middle East backmarkers Abdullah Kamel (16) and Farah Al Yousef (23), the latter of whom was the wildcard driver in the all-female F1 Academy series when it visited Jeddah this year.

Nina Gademan also has track knowledge and F4 experience from F1 Academy, where she currently sits sixth in the standings. The 22-year-old from the Netherlands started this year by coming 15th in Formula Winter Series.

Heading to Saudi Arabia from GB4, which now sits above F4 in the single-seater ladder, is Indian racer Ary Bansal and Ava Dobson. Last weekend Bansal became champion and 17-year-old American Dobson claimed her first podium.

Rounding out the grid is Adam Al Azhari. The Emirati was sixth in British F4 and 10th in F4 Middle East this year.

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Photo: F1 Academy

Nina Gademan celebrated her 22nd birthday by claiming her maiden F1 Academy victory on home soil in the reversed-grid race at Zandvoort.

There was pre-race drama as Hitech GP’s wildcard driver Esmee Kosterman was instructed to head to the pits on the formation lap and team-mate Aiva Anagnostiadis had a spin.

Gademan started from pole and had a big gap by the opening corner as ART Grand Prix’s Lia Block went around the outside of Prema’s Tina Hausmann for second. Her team-mate Doriane Pin was fourth and made contact with Campos Racing’s Chloe Chambers before turn two, with the latter going off and dropping to eighth.

MP Motorsport’s Maya Weug, who has pole for race two, started eighth and made up two spots on the opening lap. She tried diving past Rodin Motorsport’s Ella Lloyd at turn nine and was side-by-side with her through turn 10 before tucking back in behind, then moved up to fifth when Hausmann crashed out at turn eight on lap two.

That brought out the safety car, and when racing resumed on lap five Weug attacked Lloyd on the outside at turn one. She was then freed of pressure as Pin ran wide at turn three and conceded third, and by lap six Campos’s Alisha Palmowski was attacking Weug.

But the local talent was soon the fastest driver on track again and cleared Pin in the esses on lap seven while Chambers overtook Palmowski. By lap eight she was attempting to pass Lloyd again, this time into turn three, and on lap nine they ran side-by-side until Weug got ahead at turn two.

Pin and Chambers were on their tail, and the latter made her move at turn eight to recover to her starting position of fifth.

Gademan had managed a small gap over Block, and continued without pressure up front through the race’s second half while Weug went on a charge to reduce a 2.5-second gap to second place.

She got onto Block’s tail on the penultimate lap and was very close on the inside into turn one. She filled her mirrors there again on the final tour, and looked to the inside at turn 10. Block planted her car in the middle of the road into turn 11, so Weug sat behind.

Through the last two corners they got closer again and finished 0.127s apart, with Block keeping second for her first podium of 2025, while Gademan had a 2.116s gap ahead.

Lloyd finished fourth, holding off Chambers’ turn 11 attack on lap 12 and surviving turn nine contact a lap later, and Pin did not have to worry about Palmowski behind after she lost time with an off exiting turn three.

ART GP’s Aurelia Nobels made several diving moves as she rose from 17th to ninth, while Rodin’s Chloe Chong punctured early and finished 15th and Alba Hurup Larsen had a pitstop and got a 10s penalty following a clash.

Race results (17 laps)

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Leo Robinson has dropped out of his British Formula 4 campaign with Hitech GP, with Nina Gademan taking over his car for the next round at Zandvoort.

Halfway through the 10-round season, Robinson sits ninth in the standings with a win, a second place and two other top-five finishes from 15 races. He finished ninth in both races of the non-championship round at Silverstone earlier this month.

The British-Algerian driver was also a winner in British F4 last season when driving for JHR Developments, and in that campaign he had three victories, three other podiums and came sixth in the points table.

Robinson is in his third year of single-seater racing. He started off in Danish F4 in 2023, making the podium in every race he contested and coming fourth in the standings, and earlier this year starred in Iberia’s Formula Winter Series with Hitech.

Across 12 races he took three wins and four second places, enough to make him runner-up in the title fight.

Gademan was 18th in British F4 last year as a part-timer with Fortec Motorsports, and cameoed in the all-female F1 Academy. She is now racing full-time in that series with Prema, and sits eighth in the points with two podiums so far.

The Dutch 21-year-old has also been active with rival Hitech. She did the FWinter Series, coming 15th in the standings despite missing a round, then drove for the team in British F4’s non-championship round.

Two of F1 Academy’s remaining three rounds clash with British F4 dates, meaning Hitech would need to find another replacement driver later this year.

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Alpine has selected Nina Gademan as the driver it will support in F1 Academy next year.

Gademan, who raced mainly in British Formula 4 this year, will take over from long-time Alpine junior Abbi Pulling, who was crowned F1 Academy champion in Qatar last weekend.

With a background primarily in touring car racing and esports, Gademan made her single-seater debut in British F4 this season with Fortec Motorsports and scored a best finish of 11th.

She was also awarded the Prema-run wildcard drive for her home F1 Academy round at Zandvoort and finished fourth and 10th in the two races.

Hitech GP had already announced that Gademan would be part of its line-up for the Formula Winter Series at the start of next year. Alpine has not announced which team will run Gademan’s car in F1 Academy.

Similar is true for the majority of the drivers announced so far for next year, including recent addition Alba Hurup Larsen. The Danish driver, who won the FIA’s Girls on Track Rising Stars senior competition last year and made her single-seater debut in Indian F4 this year, will compete in the colours of series sponsor Tommy Hilfiger – which this year have been seen on the Campos Racing-run car of Nerea Marti.

Haas took the opportunity of the Las Vegas Grand Prix to announce that Courtney Crone will race with its backing for ART Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old raced the wildcard entry in Miami earlier this year, taking a best finish of 11th, and has otherwise been racing in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America. By linking up with Haas she takes the place of Chloe Chambers, who is fifth in this year’s standings and will switch to a Red Bull-Ford-backed entry for 2025.

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