RACE 2: Pulling reigns triumphant with Singapore clean sweep

Abbi Pulling once again delivered the goods around the Marina Bay Street Circuit to put one hand on the 2024 F1 ACADEMY title.

Driving her own race, the Alpine driver held firm despite an early Safety Car restart and kept up the pace to take her fourth Grand Chelem of the season — securing pole, the victory and the fastest lap of the race.

Ferrari’s Maya Weug got the better of her PREMA Racing teammate off the line to seal second, as Mercedes driver Doriane Pin had to settle for third.

Pulling put together another solid start to pull ahead off the line, likewise for third-placed Weug. The Dutch driver immediately went on the attack, trying to sweep around the outside of Pin into Turn 1. The pair went wheel-to-wheel through the opening corners, but by the time they reached the inside of Turn 5, Weug had emerged ahead in second.

Block tried to capitalise on the Pin/Weug battle but couldn’t find a gap past the French driver. Further back, Wild Card Ella Lloyd was another opening lap improver, beating Carrie Schriener off the line for seventh and pressuring Red Bull Racing’s Hamda Al Qubaisi.

Just behind them, Chambers, who had lost out to Bianca Bustamante, snuck up the inside of the McLaren driver to retake ninth.

By Lap 3, Pulling had extended her lead over Weug to over a second, but that lead was wiped away one lap later. The Safety Car was called upon after Bustamante went too wide over the kerb at Turn 7 and spun but was able to rejoin the race.

It was up to Pulling to get the field back up to racing speed heading into Lap 5. Bunching the field up, the Rodin Motorsport driver gambled on going early on the restart and built a sizeable gap over Weug through Turns 17, 18 and 19.

Block gave it all she had to keep Nerea Martí behind once Green Flag conditions resumed, darting over the top of the kerbs to hold on to fourth. At the rear of the field, contact between Aston Martin’s Tina Hausmann and Bustamante sent the McLaren driver bouncing across the run-off, and Hausmann was later awarded a 10-second time penalty for the incident.

At the head of the field, Pulling repeated her Race 1 routine, laying down fastest lap after fastest lap to have a comfortable 1.4s buffer to Weug behind. Meanwhile, third-placed Pin had closed to within a half second of the Ferrari driver.

By Lap 6, Chambers was losing time as she struggled to get past her Campos Racing teammate Schreiner. With the tyres steadily falling away, the Haas driver pounced on Lap 10. Trying to get the switchback and confident on the brakes through Turn 8, Chambers launched herself up the inside of the Kick Sauber driver to wrestle P8 away.

Extending her advantage out front, it was double delight for Pulling as she crossed the line with a 3.2s gap to Weug in second. Pin’s attempts at catching up to her teammate faded away, losing over a second in the final two tours of the track.

Block got 12 more points on the board with her second consecutive fourth-placed finish ahead of Martí and Hamda Al Qubaisi. Lloyd went two-for-two with another points-scoring appearance on her debut F1 ACADEMY weekend, finishing seventh.

Chambers finished in eighth followed by Schreiner and Red Bull Ford’s Emely De Heus who took the final point in P10.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Pulling enters the penultimate round of the 2024 season on the edge of glory, holding a 95-point margin over Pin, on 245 points. Weug’s double P2 finishes have promoted her to third on 120, as Chambers drops to fourth on 103, two points ahead of Martí.

The Teams’ title battle is going to go down to the wire as reigning Champions PREMA Racing regain the top spot on 287, seven points ahead of Rodin Motorsport, whilst Campos Racing sit third on 228.

F1 ACADEMY will have two in-season tests ahead of Round 6, firstly heading to the Yas Marina Circuit, UAE from October 18-20 and then the Lusail International Circuit on November 12-14. Racing will return in Qatar from November 29 – December 1.