Double pole position for Doriane Pin, with PREMA teammates Maya Weug in second place behind the Mercedes driver. Here are the results from the F1 Academy qualifying session in Qatar!
The second day of the F1 Academy event in Qatar kicked off at the Lusail International Circuit, where qualifying sessions were held to determine the pole-woman for Race 1 and Race 2. Yesterday’s free practice sessions had provided some interesting insights ahead of today’s qualifying. The wild card for the Qatar event, 18-year-old Alisha Palmowski, posted the third-best time in FP2, while Doriane Pin was the fastest in both practice sessions.
In the qualifying session in Qatar, Doriane Pin secured pole positions for both Race 1 and Race 2. She will start from the front row alongside PREMA’s Maya Weug, who drives a Ferrari-liveried car. Meanwhile, it continues to be a challenging weekend for champion Abbi Pulling (+0.270), who will start from the second row alongside Lia Block (+0.608). Hamda Al Qubaisi will share the third row with wild card Alisha Palmowski, while Nerea Marti, Bianca Bustamante, Aurelia Nobels, and Jessica Edgar rounded out the top ten times.
Session Report
The F1 Academy qualifying session in Qatar started a few minutes late, reducing the duration to 23 minutes instead of the usual 30. The drivers worked hard from the beginning to warm up their tires, before heading to the pits for a fresh set of rubber with which they would attempt their best times during the remaining time.
Doriane Pin was the first to set a lap, posting a time of 1:55.988. Maya Weug was about three-tenths slower, while Abbi Pulling sat behind the two PREMA drivers. Alisha Palmowski, the wild card, posted the fourth-best time, 0.410 seconds behind Pin.
A red flag came out for Ferrari Driver Academy’s Maya Weug, who managed to improve her time to 1:55.779, putting her ahead of Pin and Palmowski, creating a close battle between the top two. However, Doriane Pin, the standout of the weekend, responded by improving her time further, setting a 1:55.557 with a 0.222-second advantage over Weug.
With less than ten minutes remaining in the session, Hamda Al Qubaisi, Amna Al Qubaisi, and Chloe Chambers had not yet posted times. In their first attempts, the Al Qubaisi sisters placed 4th and 12th, respectively. The battle for positions heated up in the final minutes of qualifying, which ultimately impacted Abbi Pulling’s performance. After returning to the pits for a third set of tires, Pulling moved up to third in the standings. Meanwhile, Lola Lovinfosse, in last place, was 2.294 seconds behind the leading time set by Doriane Pin.
After the Sprint Race and Formula 1 qualifying at 15:00 (CET) and 19:00 (CET), as well as Formula 2’s feature race at 17:20 (CET), the F1 Academy will be back at 21:05 (CET) for the first race of the weekend!
Photos: F1 Academy.