PRACTICE: Doriane Pin sets the pace in opening Jeddah session

Doriane Pin quickly got up to speed around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, topping the timesheets in the opening Free Practice session of the 2024 F1 Academy season. The Mercedes driver remained the driver to beat for most of the 40-minute of running, setting one final late effort of a 2:04.889 to solidify her hold on the top spot.

Keeping pace with the #28 PREMA Racing car, Alpine’s Abbi Pulling secured second, only two tenths behind. Williams driver Lia Block made the most out of her final effort for ART Grand Prix, leaping up to P3 at the chequered flag.

Once the lights went green to signal the start of Round 1, the 16-car field ventured out on the medium tyres. Pin set the initial benchmark with her first exploration of a 2:09.664.

Times quickly tumbled with both Maya Weug and Bianca Bustamante going to the top of the leaderboard before Pin once again went fastest with a 2:06.050. The #28 showed no signs of slowing, breaking into the 2:05s with 24 minutes left on the clock.

Pushing it to the limit, track evolution meant there was plenty of pace still to be found. Pulling went over a tenth ahead of Pin, but the French driver quickly regained the time to beat, becoming the only drive inside the 2:04s, finishing 0.212s clear of Pulling.

A flurry of late personal bests promoted Block to third ahead of Nerea Martí in the Tommy Hilfiger car. Ferrari driver Maya enjoyed a fine start to her campaign in fifth, ahead of Lola Lovinfosse. Campos Racing teammates Chloe Chambers and Carrie Schreiner finished close at hand in P7 and P8, whilst Aston Martin driver Tina Hausmann and Jessica Edgar rounded out the top 10.

Qualifying to set the grids for Races 1 and 2 is set to get underway at 21:30 local time.