F1 Academy is back for its third race weekend in just four weeks, with its sights set on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for this weekend’s action.
Spread across Friday, Saturday and Sunday once again, the three-race weekend is set to be a brilliant spectacle with plenty to be excited about.
After six races held in the all-women series so far, four different winners have been produced -
Marta Garcia (three wins), Amna Al Qubaisi (one win), Hamda Al Qubaisi (one win) and Bianca Bustamante (one win).
Additionally, eight out of the 15 women competing in the brand-new category have stood on the podium.
Marta García
The Spaniard has had a stellar start to her inaugural F1 Academy campaign, claiming three victories to date. She’s a race-win points haul clear of her rivals at the top of the championship table, scoring points in all six races. As one of only three competitors to do so, the campaign has started in the best possible way for the PREMA driver.
Hamda Al Qubaisi
In addition to her remarkable win, taken just 75 days after her broken arm, Hamda scored a further P2 in Race 3 at the Red Bull Ring. As a result, she sits second in the overall standings, 26 points behind Marta.
Bianca Bustamante
The Filipino driver, also competing for Italian outfit PREMA, has stood on the podium three times, with a win, second and third place. With a couple of non-points scorers, Bianca is sixth in the standings ahead of this weekend’s action.
Nerea Martí
Nerea is one to watch in F1 Academy, having claimed podiums in Valencia in Races 1 and 3. Her efforts put her third in the standings, 18 points behind Hamda.
Lena Bühler
Lena took her first F1 Academy silverware last time out and has scored big points in all bar one race (the season-opener).
Jess Edgar
Jess took a podium in the season-opening race at the Red Bull Ring. Despite her trip to the rostrum, the other five races have proved more challenging for the Rodin Carlin driver.
Amna Al Qubaisi
Amna has also had a strong start to her F1 Academy season, scoring points in all six races. Despite not featuring on the podium in Valencia, her P3 at Spielberg helps her to sit fifth in the standings on 49 points.
Abbi Pulling
You may be surprised to see that Abbi hasn’t claimed a podium in this series yet - after all, she was frequently visiting the rostrum in British Formula 4 and, more recently, W Series. Her fortune finally changed in Race 3 in Valencia and she was able to put her first points of the weekend on the board. We hope the recent success will spur Abbi on over the coming rounds.
So, what’s on the cards for this weekend?
The track this week is 4.675 km, the longest they’ve had to tackle yet in race conditions by over half a kilometre.
You can expect the Spanish drivers to be strong at this circuit. Marta has raced there in single-seaters three times previously - twice in Formula 4 machinery. Nerea has also visited this circuit twice before for competition - the same as Lena.
The weather could throw a spanner in the works, with a high probability of precipitation across both Saturday and Sunday. This would make for an exciting twist at the circuit’s third race venue of the year.
Session times are still displaying as TBC on the F1 Academy website but, as soon as we have confirmation, we will share them with you!
As always, you can keep up to date with the racing action via our social media pages. The series continues to NOT be broadcast live, but a 15-minute highlights show will be available following the conclusion of the weekend.
Images are all courtesy of F1 Academy.