The 15-car grid for the new F1 Academy series is complete as W Series race-winner Marta Garcia has joined Prema.
Launched by Formula 1 and run jointly by Formula 2 promoter Bruno Michel and former Formula E team principal Susie Wolff, the Formula 4-spec series caters exclusively to women. It has been created following the demise of another women-only championship, W Series.Garcia spent one-and-a-half seasons in Spanish F4 at the start of her car racing career, when she was a Renault F1 junior. Over three campaigns in the Formula Regional-spec W Series she claimed two pole positions, a race win and three other podiums.
She is the third signing for Prema, one of the five teams that will enter cars in F1 Academy.
“I’m super happy to be racing for Prema in F1 Academy,” said Garcia. “I think this is a great opportunity for me to show what I am capable of and it’s great to do it with Prema, which is one of the best operations in motorsport. I’m looking forward to working with them and putting their colours at the front in this new series.”
Eight of the 15 drivers in F1 Academy will be stepping down from, or already have experience in, Formula Regional. Five are already racing in F4 and one will switch across from GT racing. Only one driver, Garcia’s team-mate Chloe Chong, arrives with no single-seater racing experience.
“We are looking forward to racing together with Garcia as she had some impressive showings in the past,” Prema’s team principal Rene Rosin said. “We think she can be a leading competitor in the F1 Academy field so to join forces was really natural. She also has a good amount of experience which is a bonus asset for the whole team.”
The opening round of the F1 Academy championship takes place at the Red Bull Ring on April 28th and 29th.
| Team | Drivers | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| ART Grand Prix | Lena Buhler | Chloe Grant | Carrie Schreiner |
| Campos Racing | Maite Caceres | Lola Lovinfosse | Nerea Marti |
| MP Motorsport | Amna Al Qubaisi | Hamda Al Qubaisi | Emely de Heus |
| Prema | Bianca Bustamante | Chloe Chong | Marta Garcia |
| Rodin Carlin | Jessica Edgar | Megan Gilkes | Abbi Pulling |
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Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
21st March 2023, 12:42
Now that the field of the initial “F1” academy is complete, what are the chances any of these drivers make it to, let’s not be greedy here, Formula 2?
neiana
22nd March 2023, 8:51
To be completely honest, only the children have any chance. There are a couple who could walk over to the US with model lifestyles, though. At least three of them could be Danica Patrick.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
22nd March 2023, 11:23
@proesterchen F1 Academy is more like F4, so F3 would be the reasonable target I guess.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
21st March 2023, 14:57
Many of these drivers are already quite old for F3 standards, and the jump to F2 from any other series other than MAYBE Indy Nxt is unreasonable (and it’s something we never see anyways). The best bets are probably Edgar and Pulling. In fact, those three, along with Nerea Marti and Megan Gilkes, seem like the only drivers with a legit shot at F3 on anything close to merit, and those last two are already over 20. Marta Garcia is probably the best driver, but to give you an idea, she’s older than Sophia Floersch. I have to add that I don’t know much about Lola Lovinfosse and Maite Caceres, other than what you can find on their Wiki page. It’s not super inspiring, but they’re quite young.
MaddMe (@maddme)
21st March 2023, 15:55
Given the lack of WSeries news and the drivers moved over from WSeries, I’d say that F1 Academy is now the only Womens series running.
Elgsdyr
22nd March 2023, 8:46
I’m curious if they are going to make the same mistake as W Series to only make it viewable via old-school flow-TV (my only option was to pay €60/month for 99.99% content I had no interest in) or if they will be more modern and provide a proper streaming option.
neiana
22nd March 2023, 8:53
The official link is next to F3 (and F2 and F1) on the F1 website as well as F1 TV. They do have F3 on F1TV so I am optimistic.
Jamie
22nd March 2023, 10:45
Abbi Pulling was competing at the front in F4 before her budget ran out, won 2 British Karting Champs in Jnr TKM and was instantly on the pace on W Series. My bet to win the series and hopefully move up the ladder. She’s clearly really talented despite working her way from karting upwards with a tiny budget compared to her rivals at every level.