Interview
‘I have the chance to finish in the top three’ – Hamda Al Qubaisi on her season so far and ending her F1 ACADEMY journey on a high
Hamda Al Qubaisi says she needs to master her Qualifying performances if she is to finish her F1 ACADEMY story with a longed-for victory.
After finishing third last year with four wins to her name, Al Qubaisi’s follow-up campaign has struggled to reach the same heights. The Red Bull Racing star is only driver outside the leading duo of Abbi Pulling and Doriane Pin to have achieved points in every race, yet has only scored one podium.
Sitting sixth in the Standings on 87 points, only 33 points separate her from third-placed Maya Weug. With the battle for the top three well and truly on, Al Qubaisi reflected on her season so far during in-season testing at Abu Dhabi last month.
“At the beginning, I wasn’t too happy with how things were going,” she admitted. “But we’ve progressed a lot since then and I think this is what it’s all about. I felt like we’ve been improving. The team has done a great job to give me a car that is suitable and I felt like we’ve been doing really good results recently, so I’m happy about it.
“Now with the runs that we’ve had here, we’ve gotten to try different things and it was a chance for us to experiment. I’m happy that we found something that could work and for the last two rounds, we’re going to aim for the top three.”
A chequered run of performances throughout the season began when the Emirati driver opened her 2024 account with P9 and P5 results in Jeddah. Improvements in Miami saw her qualify inside the top four for both races but she dropped back slightly in the races to finish off the podium.
Barcelona saw a welcome return to the podium with a third-place finish in Race 2. Al Qubaisi followed this up with a P8 and P4 result in Zandvoort, whilst her consistency in Singapore has kept her within touching distance of the pack ahead, ending up sixth twice.
From her point of view, Al Qubaisi believes that her one-lap pace this year has hampered her ability to move further up the order — qualifying inside the top five on just four out of the 10 occasions.
“For sure, I feel like I have the chance to finish in the top three,” she asserted. “I just need to put everything together, I have a good car under me. I need to put everything together in Quali, make sure we execute it well. Once we do that, when I’m in front, I feel like I can really fight.
“It’s really difficult when I have a bad Qualifying and I’m not able to fight for the front. It’s all about the Qualifying position, making sure we’re up there to begin with from the beginning of the weekend and from there, we can fight.”
The final two rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will be Al Qubaisi’s swansong in F1 ACADEMY, as she bids farewell to the series after completing her maximum two-season stint.
Already well-acquainted with her home venue of the Yas Marina Circuit, the Red Bull Racing driver secured five top-three times across in-season testing.
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With cause to be optimistic about her potential there, Al Qubaisi says nothing would mean more to her than a fairytale ending to the season — sealing the win that has eluded her this time around in front of her compatriots.
“It would mean a lot to me, especially because we’re ending it at my home track,” she said. “I really want a win! I did get a podium, but I still didn’t get a win and I really want that before I finish my season here in F1 ACADEMY.”