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2023 Rewind: Hamda Al Qubaisi supreme in Zandvoort as Schreiner seals maiden F1 ACADEMY victory
Next weekend, the Circuit Zandvoort will hear the roar of race cars as the F1 ACADEMY season resumes following the summer break. Once again marking Round 4 of the campaign, the Dutch track’s return sees the series pass its halfway point.
Last year, it was Hamda Al Qubaisi who ran the show, going two-for-two from pole to victory. As the battle to be crowned the 2024 Champion heats up, we look back on how events unfolded in 2023 when the MP Motorsport driver slashed Marta García’s 41-point advantage down to five.
STRAIGHT TO WORK
With the sunshine greeting the drivers as they first took to the track, Dutch squad MP were immediately at home around Zandvoort. Emely De Heus set the early pace, before Hamda Al Qubaisi set the Free Practice 1 benchmark on a 1:37.758, two tenths ahead of Rodin Carlin’s Abbi Pulling.
However, it would be title challenger Léna Bühler who finished the day fastest as the only driver to break into the 1:36s in FP2, ahead of Jessica Edgar and Nerea Martí.
DOING THE DOUBLE
Building on her FP2-topping pace, Bühler was quick out of the box in the first Qualifying session. However, it would be Hamda Al Qubaisi’s time of a 1:37.134 that would put her top before a Red Flag interrupted running after ART Grand Prix’s Chloe Grant beached herself in the gravel.
It was a race against time when the session resumed, with only five minutes left on the clock. With just two shots at a flying lap remaining, the Emirati racer went purple in the first two sectors. Clocking in a 1:36.572, she eclipsed Bühler’s lap by just 0.098, with Martí in third, a further 0.159s back.
There was still plenty of performance for Hamda Al Qubaisi to find in Qualifying 2, setting a 1:36.584 before Bühler pushed into the 1:35s. Yet despite her best efforts, the Sauber Academy driver couldn’t hold on to the top spot, as Hamda Al Qubaisi pushed on to seal back-to-back pole positions by 0.036s, with a 1:35.926.
DRIVING OFF INTO THE DISTANCE
Leading the field away with a textbook rolling start, Hamda Al Qubaisi did exactly what she needed to do as she established a clear gap between herself and second-place Bühler. Spotting an opportunity up the inside of Turn 1, Standings leader García pounced on fellow Spaniard Martí to move into third.
Slipping her away through the first chicane, Jessica Edgar was able to make a move past home favourite De Heus for fifth as her teammate Abbi Pulling tried to claw her way up into the top 10, having started in P12.
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Back at the front, it was a two-car battle for the win as Hamda Al Qubaisi and Bühler pulled away from the pack behind, whilst the MP driver stretched her lead to over two seconds as she benefitted from fresher rubber. Initially only 1.5s adrift of Bühler, García’s quest to extend her four-race podium streak began to unravel on Lap 9, with the PREMA Racing driver dropping back with an issue and eventually retiring from the race.
This left Martí and Edgar to battle over the final podium spot, with the two going side-by-side around Turn 1. Holding the inside line, the Campos Racing driver managed to keep hold of third and put some distance between her and the Briton.
Securing her second victory of the 2023 campaign, Hamda Al Qubaisi took the chequered flag a comfortable five seconds clear of Bühler, followed by Martí. Crucially for her title fight hopes, her victory with the fastest lap and García’s retirement saw her slice her deficit down to just 13 points.
Speaking after the race, the Emirati driver said: “It feels great! I’m happy to win in basically my home track, now that I’m with MP. It’s really nice to win here, it’s a good feeling already — double pole, couldn’t be a better start to the day and now a win. I’m really happy about it.
“We saved our tyres. Everybody used theirs for Free Practice 2 yesterday and I think I had an advantage with that, so I had half-new. It was really good, I had good grip around Sector 2, which is a very technical part and requires a lot of grip. So, I was able to drive away from Léna.”
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Edgar had to settle for fourth ahead of De Heus and Carrie Schreiner. Pulling made moves stick to finish seventh ahead of Amna Al Qubaisi, Lola Lovinfosse and Bianca Bustamante, who earned the final point in 10th.
SCHREINER MAKES HER DREAMS COME TRUE
The Al Qubaisi name was once again on pole, but this time it would be Amna Al Qubaisi who assumed the reverse grid P1 spot for Race 2, after setting the eighth-fastest time of the first Qualifying session.
It was a perfect start from the #6 car, as second-place Schreiner had to opt for a more defensive line. Behind De Heus, Edgar and García went three-wide around Turn 1, with the PREMA driver dispatching both through the opening sequence of corners. Meanwhile, Race 1 winner Hamda Al Qubaisi had a challenging Lap 1, slipping down to P11.
Although Zandvoort is known for being notoriously difficult to overtake on, Turn 1 proved to be a prime spot as Bühler’s gamble on a move up the inside of Martí paid off.
Amna Al Qubaisi’s hold on the lead was short-lived, as she found the wall at Turn 8 and spun off into the gravel. With the Safety Car deployed, Schreiner inherited the lead for the restart on Lap 4.
The pressure was on with title challenger García on her tail. Slowing the pack down, the German driver floored it along the banking through the final corner to keep her nearest rival at a distance. Edgar took full advantage of the restart, slipping past De Heus up the inside of Turn 1 for third.
As Schreiner held her nerve at the head of the field, Bühler steadily closed in on the leading duo, dispatching De Heus for fourth on Lap 6 and Edgar a lap later.
García attempted a move into Turn 3, but found the door firmly shut by Schreiner. However, this allowed her ART teammate Bühler and Edgar to enter the fray. Only five seconds separated the 15-car field on the final lap, but nobody could stop Schreiner from bringing home her first F1 ACADEMY victory.
“I’m so happy, I didn’t expect it at all,” Schreiner explained. “Before, I would have been happy with a podium and now it’s a win, it’s amazing. I had a really good race and I’m just happy (…) I can’t describe it. I was wishing for it the whole season, but sometimes it was difficult. Now I’ve finally made it, it’s unbelievable.
“I had a really good restart that of course made my life easier. I know my strong points and my weak points and I knew that I could drive away at some points of the track and at some parts I’m not-so good, but in the end, I managed it because the car was also really consistent. ART gave me a really good car, so just a very good race.”
García took crucial points in second, whilst Bühler made it seven podiums in 11 races. Edgar finished fourth, with De Heus in fifth and Martí in sixth. Megan Gilkes and Bustamante took the final points on offer in seventh and eighth, respectively.
FROM LIGHTS TO FLAG
Delivering another electric getaway from pole, Hamda Al Qubaisi quickly distanced herself from Bühler in second, who had De Heus and García looming large in her wing mirrors. At the tail end of the field, contact with Grant’s rear right wheel sent Gilkes off into the gravel and ultimately, into retirement with damage.
Left with nowhere to go, Lovinfosse and Pulling had to take avoiding action, with the Campos driver following Gilkes through the gravel trap. Pulling immediately tried to make up lost ground, getting ahead of Chloe Chong but couldn’t find her way past Schreiner, leaving her vulnerable to Lovinfosse behind. The French racer dived up the inside of the Rodin and the pair collided at the apex, spinning them both off into the gravel and necessitating a Safety Car.
Green Flag conditions resumed on Lap 12 and two of the MP cars delivered textbook restarts. As Hamda Al Qubaisi pulled comfortably clear out front, home hero De Heus pounced on Bühler to wrestle second place away from the Sauber Academy junior.
Disaster soon struck once again for Rodin. Whilst battling for fourth, Edgar went wide, bouncing over the kerbs through Turn 8 and tumbling her out of the points.
For Hamda Al Qubaisi, races don’t get much better than this as she secured her second maximum points haul of the weekend, with pole, victory and the fastest lap. De Heus rounded out MP’s home weekend in style, completing a 1-2 finish for the team and Bühler earned her third podium of Round 4.
Recapping her strongest weekend so far, she noted: “It’s been a really tough start to the season and I’m really happy I’m able to show my potential here in Zandvoort, our home track. It’s really special for us, getting a 1-2 with Emely, it’s also her proper home track. It’s really nice to have both the cars on top in a podium. All of us have had a podium and a win so far, so we’re working really well as a team and I’m really happy.
García was the highest-finishing PREMA driver in fourth ahead of teammate Bustamante. Martí finished sixth, with ART’s Grant and Schreiner in seventh and eighth, respectively. Amna Al Qubaisi was ninth, whilst Campos’ Maite Cáceres achieved her first point of the season in 10th.
Hamda Al Qubaisi left the sandy Dutch shore knowing a shot at the title was within reach. Only five points adrift of leader García, her tally sat at 150 points to the Spaniard’s 155, whilst Bühler cemented her hold on P3 on 122.
Meanwhile, MP Motorsport became the first team to break the 300-point mark on 301, putting them 66 points clear of PREMA Racing as their battles moved on to Monza’s Temple of Speed.
