In recent days in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, pre-season tests were also held for the new category, only two years old, F1 Academy. Like any self-respecting car series, the Academy has also sent the 15 cars that will compete for the 2024 season onto the track. In addition, the sixteenth on the track is the pilot Reema Juffali who will join the women's category for the opening race.
Test times for the 2024 riders
After the first tests carried out at Barcelona, the time has also come for those to Jeddah before the imminent start season right in Saudi Arabia over the weekend 7 9-March.
To Barcelona Dorianne Pin, chosen by Mercedes, proved to be the fastest together with Maya weug, chosen by Ferrari. Tina Hausmann, with Aston Martin and Prema, reached third position.
These last few days, however, seem to somewhat reconfirm what we saw in Barcelona, but at the same time see other female riders achieving the best times.
Regarding these F1 Academy tests - unlike the other categories - little or nothing is known, but seeing the afternoon session of February 21st we can see how Nerea Martì both at the top with 36 laps and a time of 2'05”536”'. Driver number 30 is also the last to be announced, completing the grid of 15 drivers. It will race with the sponsor's livery Tommy Hilfiger and she will be the third driver for Campos Racing.
Reema Juffali, the sixteenth driver to enter the race with the Wild Card, took the last position with a total of 27 laps. There Wild Card it is one of the novelties of 2024 together with the Super License. It consists of calling an additional driver in each race, with the only condition that she is of the nationality of the country in which it takes place. The reigning champion team, in this case Prema Racing, can do this.
On the last day of testing, February 22nd, we find Abbi Pulling at the top who races with Alpine in the Rodin Motorsport team. He collected a total of 176 laps to reach the best time of 2'04 "990" '. Just below the top 10, Carrie Schreiner racing in the Sauber livery, the same green as her colleagues in Formula 1.
What to expect in the 2024 season
As in Formula 1, testing is always incomprehensible in terms of expectations for the season. These data include only the pilots and the engineering team. We can only comment on them. Therefore, we should expect a good season for Prema having Pin, Weug and Hausmann in the team.
Abbi Pulling will also be able to have her beautiful season together with Bianca Bustamante. A question mark, however, for the Ferrari driver academy taken by sponsor Puma and who will race with Art Grand Prix.
Lola Lovinfosse is in the top 10, second Rodin driver together with Abbi.
We just have to wait for the start of the season to see in concrete terms how much the F1 Academy drivers have to offer us and demonstrate.
