WEUG FINISHED THIRD IN BOTH RACES OF THE OPENING ROUND OF THE F1 ACADEMY IN SAUDI ARABIA. AURELIA NOBELS WAS IN THE POINTS IN RACE-1
The Jeddah Corniche circuit got the ball rolling for this year’s F1 Academy series. 16 girls tackled the 6.174 kilometres of the Saudi track, with a major novelty for this year, in sporting the livery of the ten Formula 1 teams. Maya Weug is carrying the Scuderia colours with support from partners Santander, Puma and Richard Mille, while fellow Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member Aurelia Nobels is flying the flag for Puma. Weug picked up a lot of points thanks to twice finishing third, which also puts her third in the standings.
Qualifying. The qualifying session was very busy on this tricky Jeddah circuit. Maya was always a front runner, qualifying third for both races, based on system where the grid for the first race is decided according to a driver’s fastest lap time and for the second race, from a driver’s second fastest time. Aurelia qualified ninth for Race-1 and eighth for Race-2, a respectable performance considering her lack of experience compared to many on the grid.
Race-1. Many Formula 1 folk made a point of watching the start of the first race of the season, with many team principals spotted on the grid on Friday. Race-1 got underway after two formation laps following a problem with the lights and Weug was third going into the first corner, pulling away from the field. The Safety Car then bunched up the field and, at the restart, Maya tried to pass Abbi Pulling, but couldn’t quite manage it. After that, there were no position changes, so that Weug was third at the chequered flag. Nobels finished in the points in eighth place after doing well to move up the order in the middle part of the race, enjoying some lively battles in the top ten.
Race-2. The second race took place early on Saturday afternoon and followed a pretty similar pattern to the first one. Weug started third and held that position to the chequered flag, doing a good job of managing her race over the 13 laps. Nobels was unlucky, starting eighth and immediately having to fight hard. The Safety Car came out for two laps and immediately after the restart, the Brazilian was involved in a collision at turn 1 with Amna Al Qubaisi and had to retire.
Next stop Miami. There’s a long break now before the F1 Academy season resumes with Round 2 in Miami on 4 and 5 May. All seven rounds take place on the same race card as the Formula 1 World Championship.