RACE 2: Pin goes two-for-two to complete the Jeddah double

Doriane Pin closed her first F1 Academy weekend in perfect fashion, bringing home her second consecutive victory on the streets of Jeddah. Abbi Pulling kept the Mercedes driver in check, but ultimately had to settle for back-to-back P2 finishes for Alpine, with Ferrari’s Maya Weug completing the podium.

Pin immediately pulled to the left at lights out to cover off Pulling, who kept close within her tow. Just behind, Nerea Martí was on the attack, slipping past Lola Lovinfosse into Turn 2.

The Charlotte Tilbury driver instantly had to go in the defensive as her and Chloe Chambers went side-by-side through Turns 6, 7 and 8. The Haas driver emerged out in front after going over the run-off and earned a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Lovinfosse repaid the favour two laps later, gliding past with the slipstream. However, Chambers locked up into the first corner, knocking the French driver into a spin. Unable to avoid, Lia Block made contact with the #3, necessitating a Safety Car. The Williams driver was able to continue after a nosecone change, with Lovinfosse retiring.

With the field bunched together on the restart, Pulling attempted to find her way through on Pin on the short-lived return to Green Flag racing. Fighting over the final point, Carrie Schreiner was sent into a spin whilst battling with Emely de Heus. Forced to take avoiding action, Reema Juffali found the barriers, requiring another Safety Car intervention.

Pulling was waiting to pounce on the Lap 10 restart. Despite Pin going early into the final corner, the Alpine driver caught on and stayed with her down the main straight. Weug found herself vulnerable to Martí, as the Tommy Hilfiger driver risked a move, but couldn’t make the corner.

Amna Al Qubaisi had already climbed up the order from 14th on the grid to eighth but had Bianca Bustamante close on her tail. In her defence at Turn 1, the RB driver bounced over the kerb and clipped the rear wing of Aurelia Nobels ahead, forcing the PUMA driver to retire with damage.

Recovering from her earlier contact, Block found herself back within the points in seventh. Sandwiched between the Al Qubaisi sisters, the #57 ART Grand Prix car lost out to Amna but kept Hamda at bay.

Out front, Pin set out to earn the grand slam she was denied in Race 1, taking the fastest lap away from Pulling on her final attempt. The PREMA Racing driver took the chequered flag by 1.9s ahead of the Briton and Weug.

Martí got her first points of the season on the board in fourth, whilst Jessica Edgar kept out of trouble for fifth. Amna Al Qubaisi will be satisfied with P6 ahead of Hamda Al Qubaisi. Bustamante dropped one place to eighth after receiving a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Schreiner recovered to ninth for Kick Sauber, as Chambers took the final point in P10, demoted from P6 due to a second penalty of 10 seconds for causing a collision with Lovinfosse. Block fell out of the points from P9 to P11 after two five-second penalties for a false start and speeding in the pitlane.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The field will be raring to go, as the 2024 grid head to the Miami International Autodrome for Round 2, which gets underway from May 3-5.