Photo: Getty Images

Maya Weug passed Doriane Pin in the wet, with slick tyres, to win F1 Academy’s second race in Singapore.

The title rivals shared the grid’s front row and Pin made the stronger start on the inside to take the lead into turn one despite locking up.

Ella Lloyd got alongside Chloe Chambers for third, and they ran side-by-side through to the straight following turn five where Lloyd moved ahead. Emma Felbernayr, who had cleared Lisa Billard, attacked Chambers under braking for turn seven but she held on. Weug locked up late in the lap and Pin pulled away, with even more clear track between her and Lloyd.

Pin set successive fastest laps as she grew her lead, which stood at 1.9 seconds after six laps. Weug snatched the fastest lap from her, but Pin responded by going quickest again to pull 2.29s clear. At this point rain started to fall at turn 13, and while it became heavier it did not initially spread out around the track.

The safety was called out on lap 11 of 14 when Nicole Havrda crashed out, turning the race into more of a strategic fight.

Lloyd and Chambers had only been 0.9s behind Weug after lap six, but after Chambers tried passing into turn one they lost over three seconds in one lap and the rain made the gap grow even more.

The first to pit for wet tyres did so on lap nine, and most were already outside of the points positions. After Chambers’ next attempts to pass Lloyd on lap 10 led to her going off, she pitted but had a lengthy stop. Billard and Aurelia Nobels also gave up their places in the points to switch tyres, and the group returned to track over 45s behind the last non-pitter.

Their efforts to recover places were not helped by the safety car picking up Chambers rather than Pin, and when racing resumed on lap 14 the top 10 had only just bunched together and Chambers still had two seconds to make up on Rafaela Ferreira in 10th.

During the safety car period, Pin missed the call from her team to pit and Weug feinted an entry into the pitlane on the next lap to see if the leader would react.

Ferrari evaded Chambers on the final lap, instead passing Courtney Crone for ninth as the slick-shod runners fought for position in the dry.

Weug went down Pin’s inside on the run to turn seven and reclaimed the lead, as Nina Gademan passed Alba Hurup Larsen for fifth. Once they reached the rain, Larsen had a go at Felbermayr.

Victory for Weug puts her nine points behind Pin with one round remaining.

Palmowski, championship leader earlier in the year, had her first points-free weekend. From the back she rose to 13th in three laps but a turn one off undid some progress. She made her way up to 10th as the rain arrived, but was then first to pit and headed for the wrong box. The time loss consigned her to 15th.

Race results (14 laps)

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ART Grand Prix’s Lia Block has ended her wait for a first F1 Academy victory on the streets of Singapore.

There were two changes to Hitech GP’s line-up for the event, with Aiva Anagnostiadis being replaced by Megan Bruce while Lisa Billard was called up to drive the wildcard entry.

Anagnostiadis was unable to take part due to fracturing her left foot, and Bruce has missed a round of her GB4 campaign to debut in F1 Academy. She is currently 16th in the GB4 standings with a best finish of fourth.

Billard raced part-time in French Formula 4 in 2024, then came 19th in the championship this year.

Free practice in Singapore took place during daylight hours, and Doriane Pin set a 2m03.944s to lead Maya Weug by 0.022 seconds and Alisha Palmowski by 0.051s. Chloe Chambers trailed by 0.516s, and Ella Lloyd was the only other driver within a second of the pace.

There was cooler conditions for qualifying on Friday evening, and Weug posted a 2m03.453s to pip Pin to pole by 0.042s.

Chambers improved to be just 0.189s behind, Lloyd was 0.731s off, then Billard was 0.9s slower than Weug and Emma Felbermayr was 0.924s back in sixth. Title outsider Palmowski qualified last.

A reversed grid was used for race one on Saturday afternoon, putting Lia Block on pole ahead of Aurelia Nobels and Felbermayr.

The start was delayed by 23 minutes, and on the opening lap the top two, Lloyd and Nina Gademan cut the first corners entirely then the safety car was summoned as Nicole Havrda crashed out.

Racing resumed on lap three and Block nailed the restart. Chambers tried passing Felbermayr around the outside at turn one for third but was forced off, and after rejoining the track got ahead at turn five.

Chambers went off later in the lap and lost out to Weug, then forced Felbermayr off and she lost out to Lloyd. Billard was spun around at turn one so fell down the order. Block began to pull away, and was 1.9s clear by the end of lap six.

Weug had tried passing Nobels at turn 14 on that lap then got alongside again at the next corner. The move was completed by having the inside line for turn 16, and right behind Chambers locked up while trying to hold off Lloyd. They touched wheels after turn 17, and held their positions.

The safety car returned on lap seven as Billard stopped with a smoking car and Palmowski’s charge came to an end. She had gone from 14th to 10th on lap three, then repeatedly set fastest laps.

Palmowski overtook Chloe Chong at turn one on lap six, then on lap seven her front-right wheel locked up and it sent her into the barriers and then the run-off with damage to her car’s rear.

The next restart was on lap 10 of 14, and Nobels got defensive down the pit straight but ended up carrying too much speed into turn one and went off. She rejoined behind Chambers and Lloyd, as Pin overtook Felbermayr for sixth.

Pin’s next target was Nobels, and cleared her early in lap 11. But she got back past, then gained a place as Lloyd got a five-second penalty for gaining an unfair advantage with her lap one off.

The top three broke clear, with Chambers playing around with her brake bias to keep up the pace, and Pin was unable to attack Nobels again but did steal the fastest lap.

Rafaela Ferreira stopped on track three times, and retired in the pits after being shown the black-and-orange flag. The last classified finisher was Alba Hurup Larsen, who had a 10s penalty for causing a collision and after that had another clash with Joanna Ciconte.

Race results (14 laps)

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Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Rodin Motorsport’s Abbi Pulling turned pole into her seventh F1 Academy win of 2024 in the second Singapore race.

Doriane Pin had wheelspin in the second stage of the launch and that allowed Prema team-mate Maya Weug to pass her before turn one, but by hugging the inside line Pin was able to keep her nose level with the rear of Weug’s car.

Down to turn five she also tried to get back alongside, but Weug maintained the advantage and soon ART Grand Prix’s Lia Block was applying pressure on Pin.

Pulling was quicker to build a gap up front than in race one, and was 1.18 seconds clear of Weug by the end of lap two. A lap later they were running nose-to-tail again though, as the safety car was called out.

Its summoning appeared to be as a result of ART GP’s Bianca Bustamante spinning down to last from 10th place at turn seven, but she got going again straight away and was at the back of the back for when racing resumed on lap five.

Pulling was faultless again up front, while Block was caught out by the restart timing and immediately gapped by the top three. A new fastest lap put Pulling 0.7s clear of Weug by the end of the lap, and she continued to pull away over the rest of the 12-lap race.

The hot conditions and difficulties of running in the dirty air of the cars in front, with overheating rear tyres a particularly tricky challenge, meant the field spread out in the points positions. Weug and Pin were isolated in second and third by the finish, with Pin actually backing off on the penultimate lap to get clean air so she could go for fastest lap, Block was fourth and Campos Racing’s Nerea Marti was fifth.

MP Motorsport’s Hamda Al Qubaisi resisted early pressure from Prema’s Ella Lloyd to finish sixth, and Campos’s Chloe Chambers made a great overtake to finish eighth.

On lap two she had pulled off a diving move on Bustamante at turn seven, then after the restart was attacking team-mate Carrie Schreiner who was under investigation for cutting turn two. Entering turn seven on lap 10 she was all over the rear of Shreiner, being far more confident on the brakes and filling her mirrors on both sides as she looked for space.

She almost got squeezed into the wall after turn 13, but was still able to get a switchback move done at turn 14 and once ahead rapidly pulled away.

Bustamante’s race went from bad to worse as she collided at turn one with Prema’s Tina Hausmann halfway through the race, which sent her car airborne and copped Hausmann a 10s penalty. Hausmann later spun at the same corner, meaning she finished last.

Despite brushing the turn seven wall on lap two, ART GP’s Aurelia Nobels had a strong race and came home 12th.

Race result (12 laps)

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Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Rodin Motorsport’s Abbi Pulling took a light-to-flag victory in F1 Academy’s first race in Singapore.

The race got shortened from 12 to 11 laps after ART Grand Prix’s Bianca Bustamante drove past her grid box at the end of the formation lap, and that also led to her being handed a 10-second stop-go penalty.

Pulling and Prema’s Maya Weug started strongly from the front row, with Prema’s Doriane Pin and ART GP’s Lia Block holding third and fourth after Block tried to brake late on the inside at turn one.

MP Motorsport’s Hamda Al Qubaisi cut turn two and dropped from fifth to seventh, behind Campos Racing’s Chloe Chambers and Prema’s debuting Ella Lloyd.

Pulling set fastest laps on each of the first four tours, but was only 1.1 seconds ahead of Weug as she began lap five. There were similar gaps between most of the drivers, with Lloyd initially pressuring Chambers but then having to give more attention to Al Qubaisi and Campos’s Nerea Marti behind.

MP’s Emely de Heus spun off at turn one on lap six when trying to pass ART GP’s Aurelia Nobels, but since she was at the back and able to get going again the yellow flags that then waved at the corner did not interrupt the racing action.

Pulling set another fastest lap on that tour, pulling 1.3s clear, and made her biggest gains on Weug the next two laps as her lead grew by a further 0.3s each time. Weug revealed afterwards that she had pushed her tyres too hard early on, and she finished NN behind.

The battle for sixth ran all race, with Al Qubaisi attempting a move on lap nine but not having enough room to risk a late-braking manouevre around the outside of Lloyd.

It was ultimately determined by race control as they handed Lloyd a five-second penalty for jumping the start, with the same offence by Pin copping her an identical penalty. She had enough of a gap to stay in third, helped by snatching the fastest lap from Pulling as she took the chequered flag.

Race result (11 laps)

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Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Only two circuits from F1 Academy’s inaugural season will be raced on by the all-female Formula 4 series again in 2024.

Formula 1 announced the seven-round calendar for its new support series’ second season on Tuesday, and it features races on three different continents after a 2023 schedule that was primarily based in Europe.

Six of this year’s seven rounds are on F1 tracks, but only this weekend’s races at Circuit of the Americas – the first to take place outside of Europe – are actually supporting the world championship. Previous rounds have been on the support bill of the DTM, the NASCAR Euro Series and the World Endurance Championship.

The decision to make it a full-time F1 support series for 2024 was made this March, before an F1 Academy race had even taken place, and F1 announced its own calendar for next year in July.

No pre-season test dates have been announced, but F1 Academy claims that “the race calendar will be supplemented by an extensive official testing calendar that will be announced in due course”.

The 2024 season starts on March 7-9 in Jeddah, joining Formula 2 on the support bill of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Womens’ rights in Saudi Arabia is a topic that is often under international scrutiny, and the country has invested in womens’ sports in recent years.

Round two is at Miami International Autodrome on May 3-5, then the two returning venues Barcelona and Zandvoort are visited on June 21-23 and August 23-25 respectively.

Support races at the Singapore Grand Prix on September 20-22 mean three of the seven rounds take place on temporary circuits, and the last two rounds are at Losail (November 29-December 1) and Yas Marina Circuit (December 6-8). The F1 and F2 seasons also wrap up there.

“I am delighted to announce our seven-round season for 2024. This calendar cements our ambition to become a truly global series, expanding our reach and improving visibility for our mission,” said F1 Academy’s managing director Susie Wolff.

“We want to inspire young girls and women across the globe and show them that there’s a place for them in our sport, and racing alongside F1 will help us achieve this.”

Heading into the 2023 F1 Academy finale, Prema’s Marta Garcia holds a lead of 48 points over ART Grand Prix’s Sauber junior Lena Buhler. MP Motorsport’s Hamda Al Qubaisi is also in title contention with three races to go.

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Photo: W Series

Beitske Visser resisted attacks from Alice Powell to claim the victory in W Series’ race in Singapore as Jamie Chadwick crashed out.

Visser, Powell and Abbi Pulling remain in the championship fight due to points leader Chadwick crash, with her advantage over second-classified Visser reduced to 50 points and with 75 up for grabs in the remaining three races of the season.

Starting in second place, Visser took the lead of the race from polesitter Marta Garcia as the lights went out. Also a rocketing getaway allowed Chadwick to go from eighth to sixth place ahead of the first corner.

Juju Noda was forced to retire with a broken front-right suspension after both she and Chloe Chambers made contact at the exit of turn seven on the opening lap.

Visser built a small lead in the early stages of the race as Garcia struggled in second place, and after several laps of trying, Powell overtook Garcia at turn 18. She soon closed the distance to Visser, which had been two-and-a-half seconds.

Belen Garcia attempted a move on Marta Garcia for the last podium spot after the latter had lost second place, but she was kept at bay by her more experienced countrywoman.

Having endured a difficult first half, Marta Garcia eventually found her pace and left Belen Garcia behind to run comfortably in third place.

The safety car was out with under four minutes left of the race as Chadwick found the wall at the exit of turn seven in an attempt to pass Jessica Hawkins, having spent the whole race stuck behind her and Belen Garcia.

Chadwick missed her braking point and ran over the kerb placed at the exit of the corner, which sent her into the barrier.

There was time for one last lap of racing after the safety car period, and Visser started pushing again at turn 19 on the restart so as to avoid Powell being within overtaking distance in sector one on the final lap, and it worked out for her. Powell came very close to Visser in the last sector, but she had to settle for second place as there was no space to make a move.

Marta Garcia claimed the last podium spot after fending Belen Garcia off again at the restart.

Race result

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Marta Garcia took her first W Series pole of 2022 in a flooded qualifying session in Singapore.

Qualifying was red flagged twice due to the torrential conditions and eventually abandoned with just over five minutes still left on the clock.

Championship leader Jamie Chadwick could only manage eighth quickest, and was two seconds off the pace set by Garcia.

It was already raining when the session started, with conditions worsening throughout qualifying. Alice Powell topped the times after the first laps, with Garcia slotting into second.

An improvement from former Renault Formula 1 junior Garcia put her at 2m30.762s, and that laptime would not be bettered as weather conditions did not improve.

A spin for Belen Garcia was the first sign the standing water was getting too much for the field. She was able to get going again and avoided the barriers, but qualifying was red flagged shortly afterwards.

After a short delay, the session was resumed, but the light at the end of the pitlane remained red for an extra five minutes. The clock had ticked down to 10 minutes before the cars were allowed back on track.

Nobody was able to find improvements in qualifying’s second half, though the field continued to push. Both Abbi Pulling and Bruna Tomaselli ended up going down escape roads, prompting yellow flags which quickly were replaced by reds.

Qualifying was not resumed, and Garcia claimed her first pole since the 2019 Norisring round.

Beitske Visser had gone second fastest before the first red flag, just 0.087s behind Garcia, dropping Powell down to third and half a second back.

Despite her spin, Belen Garcia qualified fourth, ahead of Jessica Hawkings, Pulling and Sarah Moore.

Chadwick will start the Singapore race from eighth, while Fabienne Wohlwend and Emma Kimilainen completed the top 10.

Juju Noda and Bianca Bustamante failed to lap within 110% of the pole time, meaning they will require dispensation from the stewards to race. Both were far closer to the pace in the dry free practice session, and therefore are likely to race on Sunday.

Qualifying results

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Photo: W Series

W Series’ runaway points leader Jamie Chadwick topped free practice in Singapore, as the series’ financial position worsened.

The build up of debt by W Series in 2021 was revealed via its latest financial documents earlier this month, and then in the days prior to the Singapore round there were reports of how that situation has evolved in 2022 and that the rest of the season may be under threat with cash issues and late payments to those working with the series.

It is similar to the series’ inaugural season in 2019, when late payments contributed to key partners leaving before the series’ second season in 2021. But there have been further departures since, and as Singapore is a flyaway round the on-the-ground team has been reduced for sustainability.

Formula Scout understands that there are no payment concerns for the operational team, Fine Moments, who run all 18 cars in the centrally-run series.

Free practice took place on Friday afternoon under sunlight, with Jessica Hawkins first to set a lap.

She topped the times through the first 10 minutes as Alice Powell had a last-corner spin and then Chloe Chambers caused a red flag stoppage.

Powell jumped to first place when action resumed, setting a 2m14.298s lap that put her over a second clear of Fabienne Wohlwend in second place.

Chadwick was in third, but was then demoted by Sarah Moore before everyone returned to the pits. At the very end she set a 1m13.529s to go fastest, 0.568s quicker than Abbi Pulling.

Powell’s earlier lap left her in third place, ahead of late improvers Belen Garcia, Beitske Visser and Nerea Marti.

Free practice results

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Photo: Diederick van der Laan / DPPA

Tereza Babickova will miss the next W Series round in Singapore and also her FIA Formula 3 test debut after injuring her back last weekend.

The single-seater rookie was making her Formula Regional European Championship debut at the Red Bull Ring with G4 Racing, but her first weekend in the series ended early as she got injured in Saturday’s race.

Wet conditions meant the race started with several laps behind the safety car, and she spun out and crashed into the barriers just after completing the first lap. Doctors reccomended she skip Sunday’s race, and after flying home to the Czech Republic she was diagnosed with a spinal injury that rules her out of racing until further notice.

Babickova’s next outing was supposed to be a private FIA F3 test at Magny-Cours this week that had been organised specifically by the Formula 1 support series for Babickova and three fellow female FRegional racers.

Her next race appearance was then to be the seventh race of the W Series season in Singapore on October 2. That has now been ruled out, and she is unlikely to appear in FREC two weeks later at Barcelona as the focus will be on making her race fit for W Series’ Circuit of the Americas round on October 22.

“I am glad that Tereza is in good spirits and receiving excellent medical treatment for her injury,” W Series’ racing director Dave Ryan said.

“For now, she is focusing on her recovery which W Series will support her in fully to ensure it is as quick as possible. We send her our best and wish her a strong and speedy return to racing in due course.”

Taking Babickova’s place in the FIA F3 test will be Nerea Marti, who is currently sixth in the W Series standings with two podiums.

“First of all, I hope Tereza has a speedy recovery and I look forward to seeing her back on track as soon as possible,” she said.

“I’m super excited to be taking part to this week’s F3 tests. I was offered the same opportunity last year, and it was a really positive day during which I learned a lot. It will be really good to see my progression from last year and of course gain more experience with the F3 car. I really appreciate this great opportunity, and I want to thank Bruno Michel and his team.”

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Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

W Series has announced that it has removed its race at Suzuka from its 2022 calendar, and its Asian debut will take place in Singapore instead.

The Formula Regional-spec championship had been supposed to race at Suzuka on October 8, and using the cars from New Zealand’s Toyota Series so its usual fleet of cars can be shipped to the USA for the race at Circuit of the Americas on October 22.

Now W Series will instead head to Asia one week earlier, joining the support bill of the Singapore Grand Prix on September 30-October 2. It has not been announced whether W Series will run its sessions in the day or night at the event.

• Feature: When the Singapore GP was run for junior single-seaters

“Since we announced our 2022 race calendar in January, the global landscape has changed considerably,” said W Series’ CEO Catherine Bond Muir, who announced what was the final calendar for the 2022 season in March of this year.

“It’s with regret that we will not be racing in Japan this year, where we have strong support, but the challenges involved in doing so have increased significantly in the past six months, meaning that for a young business like ours it is sadly no longer possible to hold a race there.

“Given the giant strides we have made, it is easy to forget that W Series launched less than four years ago. Every step we have taken has been with the long-term interests of the series in mind as we aim to grow in the most sustainable way possible.

“Our 2022 season promised to be a landmark one as we staged more races (10) in a single season than ever before, including a first-ever race in Asia, which is a key market for us. I’d like to thank both Formula 1 and the team at Singapore GP for helping us to deliver that.

“The Marina Bay Street Circuit has built a fantastic reputation for great racing and we’re sure the atmosphere will be incredible as racing returns there after a break.”

This year’s Singapore GP, which was the first night race in F1, will be the first edition held since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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