RACE 1: Pulling drives off into the distance to claim victory in Miami

Abbi Pulling put together the perfect performance in the opening Miami race to stand on the top step in F1 ACADEMY for the first time.

Controlling the race from pole, the Alpine driver led every lap and never looked back, taking the chequered flag with a 5-second advantage over second-placed Doriane Pin. Chloe Chambers gave her home crowd something to celebrate, battling hard to go from P7 to her first podium in the series.

Acing her getaway at lights out, Pulling kept Pin at bay into Turn 1 and immediately set out creating a 1-second buffer to the Mercedes driver in the space of a lap. However, disaster struck for Bianca Bustamante who stalled on the grid, dropping the McLaren driver from fourth to the back of the pack.

At the tail end of the top 10, Tina Hausmann’s race came to an early end after contact with Aurelia Nobels sent the Aston Martin driver off into the wall at Turn 12. Nobels would later be handed a 10-second penalty for the incident.

A three-car battle for fourth saw Weug forced to go on the defensive heading into Lap 3, as Nerea Martí attempted a move around the outside of Turn 1. Just behind, Chambers sat patiently, waiting to pounce when the opportunity arrived one lap later. Sandwiching Weug between the Campos Racing cars, the Haas driver dispatched both cars in one move up the inside.

Martí also found her way past Weug on Lap 6, but a mistake undid all her work and allowed the Ferrari driver and Nobels to slip through momentarily. Benefitting from the slipstream overspeed, the Tommy Hilfiger driver regained sixth from Nobels.

Bustamante continued to make up lost ground, diving to the inside of the final corner with a move on Amna Al Qubaisi. Going side-by-side with the RB driver, Bustamante managed to eke out ahead, but received a 5-second penalty for going off track and gaining an advantage a few laps earlier.

Chambers had the podium in her sights entering the final three laps as she was all over the back of Hamda Al Qubaisi. Opting to stick a move to the left, the American driver left a gap for Weug to sneak through on both her and the Red Bull Racing driver. However, the #64 PREMA Racing car overshot the corner, allowing Chambers to breeze past both and up into third.

Out front, Pulling’s mirrors were clear as she crossed the line to win by 5.2s to Pin and Chambers. Weug took the chequered flag in fourth, but dropped down to P6 after a 5-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, promoting Martí and Hamda Al Qubaisi up two places.

American Express driver Jessica Edgar secured six points in seventh, whilst Amna Al Qubaisi rocketed up six places to go from P14 to P8. Bustamante’s penalty dropped her from seventh to ninth, with Lola Lovinfosse claiming the final point in P10 after Nobels’ penalty demoted her to P13.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Pulling will have the chance to go for glory once more when she starts on pole for Race 2. Lights go out for Sunday’s race at 13:05 local time.