F1 Academy – RND 5 Day 1

Practice-

Alpine’s Abbi Pulling started as she means to go around the Marina Bay Street Circuit, ending Free Practice fastest of all.
The only driver to set a time inside the 2:03s, the standings leader kept building a gap over the pack.

The 16 drivers made the most out of every second of the 30 minute session as they began acclimatising to both the track and humidity.

Doriane Pin set the early benchmark with a 2:11.332 whilst Wild Card Ella Lloyd brought out a brief yellow flag after stopping momentarily on track.

As the track rubbered in, times continued to tumble. Pin went fastest once more, but only momentarily as PREMA Racing teammate Maya Weug utilised the tow to pull out an advantage of over one second.
The trio traded personal best efforts and Weug responded quickly.

Drivers were all finding the limit and discovering how the Singaporean streets punish mistakes. A spin from Jessica Edgar saw the American Express driver tap the barrier at Turn 8.

Inside the final 12 minutes, Pulling became the first driver to go below the 2:04s mark, going over four tenths faster than Weug.

Track evolution allowed the field to push until the end, as purple and green sectors littered the timing screens. As Pulling went fastest again on a 2:04.648, Marti climbed up into second.

Pin returned to the top spot in the final minute, but it would be Pulling who’d take the chequered flag first and leapfrog the Mercedes driver into P1, setting a 2:03.993.

Qualifying-

Abbi Pulling overcame a three-way fight with Maya Weug and Doriane Pin to seize both pole positions on offer around the Singaporean streets.

The trio traded personal bests throughout the session, but it was the Alpine driver who emerged triumphant, posting an unbeatable 2:03.631 with five minutes left on the clock.

Nerea Marti opened qualifying on a 2:06.806 but the Tommy Hilfiger driver’s initial exploration was swiftly beaten by Pulling.

The Brit’s pace continued to build, as her second flying lap of a 2:04.662 launched her almost five tenths clear.
Weug and Pin each demoted her in turn, before Pulling responded with a 2:04.335 to go top by 0.040s.

As the Campos Racing and ART trio led the field peeling into the pits, there was a nervous moment for Amna Al Qubaisi as the RB driver span over the run-off in Sector 1.

Fining more grip on their second set of tyres, personal bests flooded in inside the final five minutes. Pulling re-emerged out in front posting a 2:03.631, whilst Weug became her nearest competitor.

Pulling couldn’t improve on her final attempts, but nobody could answer her previous attempt as Weug and Pin had to settle for second and third, 0.238s and 0.256s back, respectively.

A storming last gasp effort for Lia Block promoted her to fourth, her best qualifying result of the season so far!

The full top 10 are- Pole: Pulling, P2: Weug, P3: Pin, P4: Block, P5: H Al Qubaisi, P6: Chambers, P7: Marti, P8: Lloyd, P9: Bustamante and P10: Schreiner.

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