F1 Academy: Doriane Pin claims championship lead after chaotic first race at Montreal

Doriane Pin secured her third victory of the F1 Academy season in an action-packed opening race in Montreal, taking the lead on lap two after Campos Racing teammates Alisha Palmowski and Chloe Chambers clashed at the first turn.

Photo credits: F1 Academy Ltd

Doriane Pin secured her third victory of the F1 Academy season in an action-packed opening race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The Mercedes-supported driver took the lead on lap two after Campos Racing teammates Alisha Palmowski and Chloe Chambers clashed at the first turn. Maya Weug’s technical issues continued as the Dutch racer failed to score for the first time this year.

Rodin Motorsport driver Ella Lloyd claimed a superb second podium ahead of Emma Felbermayr who stood on the podium for the first time in her F1 Academy career. Nina Gademan and Lia Block completed the top-5, with a fantastic charge through the field seeing Alba Larsen score valuable points in sixth. 

The second half of the race featured two safety car periods – the first for Mathilda Paatz after the wild card driver hit the barrier at the final turn. The second neutralisation ended the race after Rafaela Ferreira rejoined the circuit into the path of Chloe Chong, while Courtney Crone and Joanne Ciconte were caught out after Chong slowed with damage. 

After a thrilling qualifying session on Friday afternoon in which Chambers claimed pole position after an excellent performance from the Campos Racing team, the American driver was looking to continue this momentum in race one on Saturday morning.

This additional race was added to the schedule following the postponement of race two in Miami due to inclement weather and therefore the grid was based upon the qualifying results from the previous round.

Coincidentally, the first four positions were identical to that in qualifying at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with Chambers on pole from teammate Palmowski with Pin in third position and Ella Lloyd in fourth. However, Lloyd had to serve a three-place grid penalty and therefore Lia Block started from fourth with her ART Grand Prix stablemate Aurelia Nobels just behind. 

Championship leader Weug, who was plagued by technical issues in yesterday’s qualifying session, lost out in changing weather conditions in Miami so the Ferrari-supported driver started from tenth position.

As the lights went out, it was an even start for the top-3 drivers who quickly broke clear of the field with Chambers holding the lead. Unfortunately for Weug, the technical issues which hindered her progress on Friday persisted and the Dutch driver had quickly fallen to the rear of the field before bringing her car to the attention of her MP Motorsport team. Nobels was also forced to pit at the end of the first lap after her front wing was damaged, however the ART Grand Prix driver was able to rejoin on the lead lap.

It was a contrasting opening lap for Alba Larsen and Mathilda Paatz as the two drivers which started from the final row of the grid were now both on the fringes of the top-10. This was a particularly impressive start for Paatz who was allowed to start race one from the rear of the field despite missing the previous round in Miami. 

Campos Racing teammates Chambers and Palmowski continued to battle into the final chicane at the end of lap one, before running side-by-side into the first turn on lap two. Contact was made between Chambers and Palmowski with the latter attempting to make a move to the inside. Palmowski was fighting oversteer and her car drifted into Chambers’ machine, damaging the American’s front wing. Despite the damage, Chambers initially held the lead with Palmowski falling outside the top-10 after spinning on the exit of the corner. 

Pin was now right on the tail of the race leader but Chambers was determined to fight back in spite of her front wing damage. Pin briefly moved ahead and claimed the race lead, however with Chambers just a car length behind, the fight for the victory remained intense. This battle allowed Lloyd to close in as the Welsh racer set the fastest lap while in third position as she hunted her second podium finish of the season.

On lap four, Chambers re-took the lead with a stunning move before her front wing damage significantly impaired her progress. With the balance of her car now negatively affected, Pin was able to take the race lead away once again with Lloyd following through into second. Chambers was now also shown the black/orange mechanical warning flag and was required to pit to change her front wing. 

Gademan’s strong race continued as she set the overall fastest lap with Chong also excelling as the Rodin Motorsport driver was up to tenth. She was followed closely by Paatz with Palmowski up to 11th as she continued her recovery drive. Chambers rejoined just behind Nobels with both drivers now having new front wings fitted, while the duo were hoping for a safety car interruption to catch the rear of the field.

The race then settled down into a rhythm with Pin leading Lloyd by just over a second. Gademan was now applying pressure to Felbermayr for third, while Palmowski claimed tenth position away from Paatz. On lap seven, Larsen’s race improved further as she overtook Tina Hausmann for seventh while snatching the fastest lap away from Gademan.

Now on a recovery drive of her own, Chambers lowered the fastest lap benchmark on lap eight while teammate Palmowski was working hard to pass Chong. The Rodin Motorsport driver was putting up a stout defence and Palmowski was now getting frustrated as she lost touch with the drivers ahead.

At the halfway point of the race, Pin continued to lead with Lloyd in second and Felbermayr in third.

Gademan was right behind in fourth with Block in fifth and Ferreira in sixth. Larsen, Hausmann, Chong and Palmowski completed the top-10. Next came Paatz with Crone, Anagnostiadis, Ciconte and Havrda inside the top-15. Nobels and Chambers ran 16th and 17th respectively with Weug an unfortunate retirement following her persistent technical issues. 

On lap 10, Palmowski finally overtook Chong with a superb move at the hairpin before the Rodin Motorsport driver fought back at the final chicane. Chong was briefly ahead before out-braking herself and therefore Palmowski reclaimed the position. Directly behind them Paatz hit the wall at the final turn and this incident resulted in the safety car being deployed.

This was a good break for both Chambers and Nobels who were able to catch the rear of the field with the race resuming for a final three laps. Pin made a brilliant restart at the head of the order as she maintained the lead over Lloyd and Felbermayr, with the Rodin Motorsport drivers running nose-to-tail.

Both Chambers and Ciconte were quickly on the move at the restart, while Ferreira was coming under pressure from Larsen and Hausmann. Ferreira out-braked herself at turn eight and when rejoining the track, she made contact with Chong. This caused significant damage to Chong’s car and as she slowed on approach to the hairpin, Ciconte and Crone also made contact while avoiding the damaged cars.

Chong and Ciconte immediately retired from the race with Ferreira pulling off the circuit under the safety car which was deployed for a second time. Crone was able to rejoin, although the Haas-supported driver had fallen to the rear of the field.

The race ended behind the safety car and this allowed Pin to claim her third victory of the season ahead of Lloyd with Felbermayr securing her first podium finish in third. Gademan was classified in fourth with Block fifth and Larsen sixth. Hausmann took the chequered flag in seventh with Palmowski and Chambers recovering to eighth and ninth positions respectively, the latter claiming the fastest lap of the race. 

Anagnostiadis rounded out the top-10 in a clean race for the rookie driver with the classified finishers completed by Nobels, Havrda and Crone. Five drivers retired from the race with Ferreira, Ciconte, Chong, Paatz and Weug looking to bounce back in race two.

The F1 Academy drivers will be back out on track for race two of the weekend at 14:50 local time with Chloe Chong starting on pole position courtesy of the top-8 qualifying positions being reversed.