Gademan tops mixed-weather and red flag disrupted practice as F1 Academy returns at Zandvoort

Nina Gademan made an early impression on home soil as F1 Academy returned from its summer break at Zandvoort, topping a disrupted and mixed-weather sole practice session to lead Rafaela Ferreira and Alba Larsen ahead of Saturday's qualifying session.

Photo credits: F1 Academy Ltd

Nina Gademan made an early impression on home soil as F1 Academy returned from its summer break at Zandvoort, topping a disrupted and mixed-weather sole practice session to lead Rafaela Ferreira and Alba Larsen ahead of Saturday's qualifying session.

The Dutch Grand Prix represents the second and final European leg of the 2026 F1 Academy season and marks the series' return to action following the summer break. Zandvoort has featured on the F1 Academy calendar in every season since the championship's inception and has already produced some memorable home victories, with Maya Weug and Gademan both standing on the top step last year. Gademan's success in the reverse-grid race in 2025 was particularly significant, giving the Dutch racer her maiden F1 Academy victory.

Twelve months later, Gademan returns to Zandvoort grid with another home driver joining her in the field: Esmee Kosterman, who made her F1 Academy debut as a Zandvoort wildcard last year, is now contesting her first full season in the championship.

The weekend sees another wildcard driver make her F1 Academy debut. Romanian racer Zoe Florescu Potolea joins the field in the #15 Hitech-run car, carrying support from Unilever, following Chiara Battig's highly impressive wildcard appearance at Silverstone. Battig became the youngest-ever F1 Academy pole-sitter on her debut and delivered a series of strong performances, raising expectations for another promising newcomer at Zandvoort.

Championship leader Alisha Palmowski, meanwhile, begins the second half of the season as the driver to beat.

The 40-minute practice session began under cloudy skies, with the field immediately faced with the challenge presented by Zandvoort's fast, flowing and technically demanding layout. With overtaking notoriously difficult around the Dutch circuit, qualifying will be particularly important, making the limited practice session an important opportunity to find the optimum set-up.

Ella Lloyd was the first driver to establish a representative benchmark, initially recording a 1:41.043 before lowering the time to 1:40.879. Emma Felbermayr was among the early challengers, with the Austrian continuing to demonstrate the pace that has made her a regular contender for podium finishes throughout the 2026 campaign. Felbermayr was also the first driver to break into the 1:40s before the benchmark continued to fall rapidly.

Lisa Billard subsequently moved to the top with a 1:39.3, before the improving track conditions allowed Alba Larsen to become the first driver under the 1:39 barrier.

The session was then interrupted for the first time when Ava Dobson ran wide on the entry to Turn 9 and ended up in the barriers. Dobson was okay, although the incident caused front-left suspension damage to her car and brought out the red flags.

With the clock continuing to run while the cars waited in pit lane, the conditions then took another turn as rain began falling around the circuit. That development was particularly significant for Palmowski, who had yet to set a representative time when the session was stopped with around 20 minutes remaining.

When practice eventually resumed with approximately 13 minutes left, the track was already wet enough. Nevertheless, all of the drivers headed back onto the circuit on slick tyres, attempting to take advantage of the remaining grip before conditions deteriorated further.

Rafaela Ferreira produced an excellent lap of 1:38.840 to move ahead of Larsen by less than a tenth of a second, but the benchmark continued to fall despite the increasingly difficult conditions.

Gademan then produced the best lap of the session; the Dutch driver stopped the clocks at 1:38.729, edging Ferreira to take first place and demonstrating good confidence in increasingly slippery conditions around her home circuit.

The conditions were visibly deteriorating, with several drivers beginning to slide through the corners while continuing to push on slick tyres. The session was ultimately brought to another halt when Jade Jacquet spun and came to a stop in the gravel. Billard was forced to take evasive action and subsequently ended up in the gravel at Turn 7, bringing out another red flag.

With no further running possible, Gademan was confirmed at the top of the timesheets.

Gademan's 1:38.729 gave her a margin of just under a tenth of a second over Ferreira, while Larsen completed the top three. Lloyd finished fourth, while Natalia Granada produced an encouraging performance to take fifth.

Felbermayr ended the session sixth, followed by Billard and Rachel Robertson, with Mathilda Paatz ninth. Palmowski completed only a handful of laps before the second red flag but still ended the session inside the top ten, classified tenth fastest.

The new wildcard Florescu Potolea made an encouraging start to her first F1 Academy weekend, ending practice 11th fastest, just 0.07 seconds away from the top ten. Kosterman was 12th fastest, ahead of Payton Westcott and Ella Stevens, while Megan Bruce was 15th. The TAG Heuer-supported car was the first entry more than a second away from Gademan's benchmark.

Kaylee Countryman ended the session 16th, with Jacquet and Dobson completing the classified order after their respective incidents.

With the practice session affected by the mixed weather, the competitive picture remains difficult to establish. The weather could once again become a factor on Saturday, when qualifying is scheduled for 9:20 local time; the first race of the Zandvoort weekend will then follow at 14:35, setting the stage for another potentially unpredictable battle around the Dutch circuit.

Photo credits: F1 Academy Ltd