After the Free Practice session earlier today, the F1 Academy grid goes into the last Qualifying of the year in Abu Dhabi. The final round will feature three races instead of the usual two, as Race 2 of the Qatar Grand Prix was cancelled. This makes the following half hour on the Yas Marina Circuit even more important for all the drivers. Because it will, of course, decide their starting positions for all the races with the first, second and third-fastest times.
Start of the F1 Academy Abu Dhabi Qualifying
The lights go out, and all drivers immediately go out – they have to get at least three fast laps in. There’s no time to lose!
After a lap, as usual, half of the drivers come back into the pits to heat up their cold tyres, while others choose to remain on the track.
Bianca Bustamante is the first one to get a fast lap in, though she locks up in the last sector. Others quickly follow with setting their first times on the board.
Hamda Al Qubaisi locks up as well in Turn 9, while more drivers go into the pits.
20 minutes to go
Abbi Pulling also faces some trouble, going too deep into Turn 6 and struggling with the middle sector. The championship leader manages to go P2 and if it weren’t for these mistakes, she could challenge Bustamante in P1. The McLaren driver is currently leading with a time of 1:56.894.
Pulling corrects herself and does so in the next lap with 1:56.439. She doesn’t stay at the top for long though, as Chloe Chambers gets the provisional pole with 1.56.413, also topping the second-fastest time.
It seems to be a fight between the Alpine and Haas driver as Pulling takes P1 once again, this time with 1:56.340. Chamber’s engineer encourages her through the radio.
Doriane Pin has a strong lap, but only manages to go to P11 with it as her car seems to be dancing in the underbraking.
10 minutes left
Unexpectedly, Aurelia Nobles takes P1 with an incredible 1:55.379 —, however, unfortunately, the lap is quickly deleted due to the Puma driver cutting Turn 6 and 7.
The risk of going out late could haunt Pin. Her P2 time gets deleted, and she needs to put in three fast laps with less than 8 minutes remaining. She spent around half of the session in the pit lane, and while it could help the tyres, the strategy doesn’t seem to be going her way. The Frenchwoman also complains about dirty air over the radio.
Pulling is on top of her game, maximizing all three fastest laps. Behind her, Chambers and Bustamante also seem to have a great Qualifying. Nerea Martí in P4 and Maya Weug in P5 are also looking to improve their times.
Pin finally puts it together for at least one good time that puts her in P4 for Race 1.
There’s less than one tenth between the top three – Pulling, Chambers and Bustamante. However, Hamda Al Qubaisi took the provisional pole position with 1:56.229. That is taken away from her by Pulling again, who retakes her favorite position with a time of 1:56.120.
As Pin tries hard to do her last fast lap, Pulling takes all three fastest times for herself as she crosses the checkered flag.
As some would expect, Pulling takes all three pole positions. She will be leading all three races at the start, which makes her securing the championship title almost a certainty.
