Next stop… Qatar: F1 Academy Round 6 Preview
- Amy Fletcher
- Nov 29, 2024
- 2 min read
This weekend, F1 Academy will race on the tarmac at the Lusail International Circuit, Qatar.
Qatar is the penultimate stop on the 2024 F1 Academy season and is yet another debut track for the Championship. Just a few weeks ago, all drivers were in Qatar for their final test of the season - getting to grips with the track which they’ll soon battle it out on.
For this weekend, the drivers will have two practice sessions across Friday, which leaves Qualifying and the eagerly anticipated races to Saturday and Sunday.
Like Barcelona, the drivers will follow F2 on track, and their schedule is as follows (in local track time):
Friday 29th November:
Free Practice 1 - 13:00 - 13:40
Free Practice 2 - 18:00 - 18:40
Saturday 30th November:
Qualifying - 15:15 - 15:45
Race 1 - 23:05 - 23:35
Sunday 1st December:
Race 2 - 14:00 - 14:30
Fast. That is how to describe the Lusail International Circuit.
The track was originally built for MotoGP and was designed with motorcycling in mind, but what does that mean for our drivers? It means there are plenty of high-speed corners waiting. For these trailblazers, sixteen corners and one long straight are ahead of them, with plenty of opportunity for overtaking.
As we head into the penultimate weekend, all is to play for in the Drivers and Teams Championships. Currently Abbi Pulling leads the Championship with a 95-point lead over Doriane Pin. If all goes well for Abbi this weekend, the Championship and fully-funded seat in GB3 for 2025, is hers.
For P2 to P6 the fight is on. Ferrari Driver Academy member Maya Weug is hunting down a top-class finish following her two podiums in Singapore, as she looks to overtake Mercedes-AMG driver, Doriane.
Other drivers including Chloe Chambers and Nerea Marti will be focused on keeping at the top of the points in this weekend’s races with the all important top-three positions still unclaimed.
After a successful weekend in Singapore, PREMA lead the Teams’ classification but there are only eight points between them and Rodin Motorsport. Campos are trailing with 52 points between them and P2.
The Wild Card entry for this week is Alisha Palmowski. Fresh from her Vice-Champion title in GB4 Championship, Alisha completes the grid for the Qatar weekend. Following her impressive single-seater debut this year, the young trailblazer will be hoping to end her year on a high - fighting for points around the Lusail International Circuit.
At Females in Motorsport, we’ll be covering all the track action across our social channels so be sure to follow along!
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