F1 Academy returned this weekend for Round 6, which saw Race 1 crown the 2024 champion in an inaugural race in Qatar.

With only two rounds left of the 2024 season, F1 Academy returned for a weekend in Qatar, marking the championship’s first time at the Lusail International Circuit. Over the weekend, the 15 F1 Academy drivers, plus Wild Card entry Alisha Palmowski, took to the track for two practice sessions ahead of Qualifying.

Doriane Pin, backed by Mercedes, was the fastest in all three of those sessions. The French driver achieved pole position for both Race 1 and Race 2. However, all eyes were on the championship leader, Abbi Pulling.

Pulling has been dominant all season long and had a 95-point gap to Pin ahead of Qatar. To win the championship, all she needed to do was finish Race 1 with 16 points. In an interview on Sky Sports F1, Pulling admitted that she’s feeling “quite relaxed” because of the “nice gap” in points to her rival.

But in Qualifying, Pulling only went fast enough for third on the starting grid for Race 1, meaning she had Maya Weug and Pin ahead of her. The rest of the grid was as follows:

Your Race 1 lineup is here ?

Sponsored by American Express. #F1Academy #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/WsCATh68xV

— F1 Academy (@f1academy) November 30, 2024

With three days of testing at Qatar completed a couple of weeks ago, and the grid set, let’s get into what happened in Race 1 of F1 Academy that saw Pin take victory and Pulling win the championship.

Lights Out

When the lights went out, it was Pin who maintained the lead into Turn 1. Weug almost came alongside Pin, whilst Pulling was on the back of the top two. Going through the first few corners of the track, Pulling then overtook Weug for P2. This marked the first overtake Pulling completed this season.

Hamda Al Qubaisi had a good start, overtaking Lia Block and moving up into fourth. Block fell back to sixth with Palmowski also moving up, much like Chloe Chambers, who moved up into 10th.

With the back of the field all within one second of the car in front, Pin had pulled out a 1.667 second gap to Pulling by the end of the second lap.

Unfortunately for Chambers, with five laps completed, she was noted for a false start. Tina Hausmann was also noted for a false start too. It was then confirmed that both drivers would receive a five-second penalty.

Both Tina Hausmann and Chloe Chambers have received five-second time penalties for a false start #F1Academy #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/0ujZJwUOf4

— F1 Academy (@f1academy) November 30, 2024

The gaps between drivers remained constant but on lap five, Chambers dived down the inside of Aurelia Nobels. The Haas-backed driver attempted to overtake Nobels for 10th place, having fallen back a position.

This battle between Chambers and Nobels lasted a couple of laps, however, more cars joined the fight, including Carrie Schreiner, Emely de Heus and Amna Al Qubaisi for the final points position.

On lap eight, Chambers finally managed to get past Nobels and into 10th. But for Nobels, Schreiner was eager to replicate Chambers’ move. Unfortunately for the Sauber-backed driver, de Heus benefitted and got ahead of Schreiner. However, Nobels stayed ahead of both of them.

Final few laps

With only five laps to go, Pin’s lead to Pulling had increased to just under five seconds. The championship leader was comfortably in P2, ahead of Weug.

The Alpine-backed driver was told to just “bring it home” by her race engineer whilst Bianca Bustamante spun and went off track. However, the McLaren junior re-joined the track and kept going.

Race Results and the Championship Winner

Race 1 of F1 Academy in Qatar saw Abbi Pulling finish P2, clinching the 2024 F1 Academy title.

The British driver has rivalled Pin all season long, but has been far more dominant with seven race wins and nine podiums to her name.

ABBI PULLING IS 2024 F1 ACADEMY CHAMPION!

She's scored a podium in every. Single. Race. And with P2, she clinches the 2024 @f1academy crown with three races to go! ?#F1Academy #QatarGP @AbbiPulling pic.twitter.com/bX754HzQwp

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 30, 2024

And with Pulling being crowned the 2024 champion, the top 10 of Race 1 were as follows:

1 – Doriane Pin

2 – Abbi Pulling

3 – Maya Weug

4 – Hamda Al Qubaisi

5 – Alisha Palmowski

6 – Lia Block

7 – Chloe Chambers

8 – Jessica Edgar

9 – Nerea Martí

10 – Aurelia Nobels

Headline image: X @F1Academy