After two relatively calm races, Abbi Pulling took both victories this weekend in Singapore. Maya Weug and Doriane Pin completed an identical podium from one race to the next.
At the start of this meeting, Abbi Pulling had 71 points more than her pursuer Doriane Pin. In a very specific context, the British driver could already have won the title. To do so, she only needed to score 41 points more than the Frenchwoman. A mission that began perfectly on Friday, thanks to a double pole position won at the end of the Qualifying Rounds.
Abbi Pulling wins on Saturday…
The sky is low, the air is hot and humid, and so it is Abbi Pulling, the championship leader, who starts from pole position. Maya Weug completes the front row while Doriane Pin and Lia Block line up their cars behind. To see Lola Lovinfosse, the other Frenchwoman, you have to go back to 12th place.
The drivers set off for the formation lap, position themselves on the grid, and as the green flag was waved at the back of the grid, Bianca Bustamante waved her hands to signal a problem. It turned out that the Filipino driver had simply not stopped in her spot, and had let her car roll too far. A second formation lap was then started, and Bianca Bustamante this time stopped her single-seater on the grid, in the right place. However, it was from the pit lane that the single-seater dressed in McLaren colours should have started… A second error that would see her receive a Stop&Go penalty on the second lap. When the lights went out, it was Abbi Pulling who got off to the best start, which allowed her to negotiate the first sequence without difficulty. The top 4 was unchanged, while behind them the positions were swapped much more before the ranking stabilised at the start of the second sector.
The gaps quickly widened, and at the dawn of the 5th loop marking (already) the halfway point, the drivers in the top 6 were all distancing themselves by about a second and a half. Behind them, the gaps were barely reduced, with the single-seaters being spaced on average by one second. This was due to a technical, urban track that left little room for offensive maneuvers. Especially since at this time of the race, the drivers were generally in the middle of managing their tires. We can also see graining already present on the tires of some cars, mainly on the front left. Because as short as the races in F1 Academy may be, the tires wear out, especially on a demanding track like Singapore. Knowing that the drivers are only allocated 14 dry tires per meeting (i.e. 3 complete sets and two additional tires), which requires them to pay particular attention to them throughout the weekend.
In the dead calm of this first race, the stewards opened an investigation into possible stolen starts by Doriane Pin and Ella Lloyd. After study, the sanction fell, and the two drivers were ordered to add 5 seconds to their respective times under the checkered flag. It was also Abbi Pulling who was the first to cross the said flag, followed by Maya Weug, and Doriane Pin who managed to save her podium after increasing the pace on the last two laps, also pocketing the best time of the race. Lia Block, Chloé Chambers, Hamda Al Qubaisi, Nerea Martí, Carrie Schreiner, Tina Hausmann, and Ella Lloyd, sent back to 10th position despite finishing in 6th place, scored the remaining points. Lola Lovinfosse finished just outside the points.
…and Sunday
For the first time this weekend, a bright sun is lighting up the Singapore sky. On the ground, it’s a repeat of the day before, as Abbi Pulling once again stops her single-seater on the first position of the starting grid. Next to her, this time, is Doriane Pin, with Maya Weug relegated to 3rd position. Lia Block still completes this second row, and Lola Lovinfosse is positioned on the last row, in 15th place.
The lights come on one after the other, and the red gives way to green to allow the drivers to take off. An expression taken literally by Abbi Pulling who stays in the lead and who very quickly creates a gap with her pursuers. Behind Maya Weug takes a better start than Doriane Pin, and at the passage of the 4th turn, she is in front of the Frenchwoman. In the pack, the drivers exchange a few positions before everything stabilizes, as in the first race. No trouble during this first lap, although Aurelia Nobbels reports on the radio having touched the wall, but fortunately for the Brazilian, her car does not seem damaged.
On lap 4, Bianca Bustamante climbed a little too much on the kerb on the outside of turn 7, which caused her to spin. Immobilized on the track, Race Direction brought out the first Safety Car of the weekend. An intervention more as a precaution than anything else, since the Filipino driver managed to restart her single-seater and rejoin the line. This at least had the merit of bringing all the cars together, where significant gaps had already been created.
The halfway point saw Abbi Pulling comfortably in the lead. Maya Weug and Doriane Pin followed her, and Lia Block held on perfectly in 4th position. Tina Hausmann returned to the pits after contact with Bianca Bustamante on the restart. A few laps later, she would be given a 10-second penalty for the same contact.
The second part of the race was much calmer, and the main attraction revolved around Chloe Chambers, in Carrie Schreiner’s diffuser for several laps before finding the opening in the penultimate loop. The American driver supported by Haas was also the one who distinguished herself the most this weekend in the art of overtaking. At the end of the 12 laps of the race, it was logically on Abbi Pulling that the checkered flag fell. Maya Weug and Doriane Pin finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. Lia Block had her best weekend of the season here with a new solid 4th place. Nerea Marti, Hamda Al Qubaisi, Ella Lloyd, Chloe Chambers, Carrie Schreiner and Emely De Heus completed the top 10. Slight comeback by Lola Lovinfosse who crossed the line in 13th position.
A meeting that was dominated head and shoulders by Abbi Pulling, the British driver opening up a gap of more than 20 points with her pursuer. Doriane Pin, for her part, was a notch below this weekend, not necessarily on a fast lap, but on the duration of a race and on the consistency lap after lap. With now nearly 100 points behind and two meetings remaining, or a total of 112 points to collect, it seems almost certain that the title will not come back to her. Abbi Pulling could have been crowned as early as Singapore if the planets aligned perfectly in her favor, this was not the case. Now, only these same planets will be able to prevent her from being crowned in Qatar if this time they decide to align in favor of Doriane Pin.
