F1 ACADEMY: Pin storms to lights-to-flag win on debut

Doriane Pin had the measure of her rivals in Race 1 to claim her maiden F1 Academy victory on her first attempt in Saudi Arabia.

Lining up on pole, the Mercedes driver kept her composure. Nailing her getaway, Pin quickly pulled away from Alpine’s Abbi Pulling and Ferrari’s Maya Weug behind. Overcoming a Safety Car restart on Lap 5, following contact between Amna Al Qubaisi and Reema Juffali, the Frenchwoman took the win by over eight tenths.

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Second-placed Pulling fended off Weug’s advances early on and managed to deny Pin a clean sweep on the penultimate lap, sealing the bonus point for the fastest lap by 0.039s.

Haas driver Chloe Chambers picked off those ahead and stayed clear of the fray, making up four places for P4. Lola Lovinfosse took advantage of a strong start to move up to fifth but made contact with Tommy Hilfiger’s Nerea Marti as she tried for a move into Turn 1 on the final lap.

Despite a suspected puncture in the opening phase, Bianca Bustamante got points on the board in sixth. It was an unfortunate day for her ART Grand Prix teammate Lia Block. The Williams driver had looked set for a top eight finish but bounced over the kerb into a spin on the penultimate lap.

Aston Martin’s Tina Hausmann fought hard to bring home debut points in P7 ahead of PUMA’s Aurelia Nobels. Hamda Al Qubaisi climbed her way up the order, going from P13 to P9 in the #9 Red Bull Racing car operated by MP Motorsport. Carrie Schreiner was the biggest beneficiary of the incidents across the final two laps, with the Kick Sauber driver taking the final point in tenth.

Pin will have a chance to go for back-to-back victories as she lines up on pole for Race 2, which gets underway at 15:05 local time.

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