The F1 Academy schedule does not resume until the end of August, at the Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort.
But that does not mean the grid is silent this week.
Zandvoort is also the site of this week’s second in-season testing session, following three days of testing at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia. Over two days at the site of the Dutch Grand Prix, the F1 Academy drivers will put their machines, and themselves, through the paces.
Red Bull Racing’s Alisha Palmowski topped the timing sheets on Tuesday’s first day of testing, posting a lap time of 1:38.074 in the closing minutes of the afternoon session to edge out Ferrari’s Maya Weug.
The morning session began quietly, and Tommy Hilfiger driver Alba Larsen set a time to beat of 1:43.420 in the second hour. Weug nipped that time shortly thereafter, with a lap of 1:40.939. The morning session ended with a duel between Chloe Chambers and Weug, with the Ferrari driver nipping a 1:39.713 lap from Chambers by just 0.002 seconds. But Chambers responded in the final ten minutes, posting a lap time of 1:39.364 to go to the top of the board.
The afternoon session saw Mercedes driver Doriane Pin become the first to go faster than 1:30, as she posted a 1:38.708 early in the session that stayed atop the timing board for nearly a full hour. But following a pair of Red Flag incidents, first from Aurelia Nobels and later from Courtney Crone, Weug and Chambers resumed their duel at the top. Weug posted a lap of 1:38.567, only to be nipped by Chambers as the pair traded personal best lap times.
But in the final ten minutes, Palmowski delivered a thunderous lap of 1:38.074, which rocketed her to the top of the timing sheets for the day.
Weug finished second, 0.087 seconds behind Palmowski. Chambers, Lloyd, and Rafaela Ferreira completed the top five.
“It’s been a great day overall,” said Palmowski after the session. “First time here at Zandvoort, so it’s an extremely technical circuit. It’s one of the most physically demanding circuits on the calendar as well too.
“I’ve done hundreds of laps already on the simulator in preparation, both at Red Bull and Campos to try and give us the best opportunity here on these two test days to maximise the chance that we’ve got.”
The Red Bull Racing driver noted that after a snap in Turn 9 in the afternoon session, she responded with her best lap of the day, and the best lap from the entire grid.
“We had a difficult day this morning. We struggled a lot with the balance in the car, had a lot of snap oversteer and we didn’t really know what was wrong. But as soon as we bolted the new tires on, it was just perfect. The balance was amazing, I gained loads of confidence in the car and managed to put a relatively good lap towards the end,” added Palmowski. “There’s still a lot more time for me, which is positive because we know tomorrow then there’s more for us to gain.”
Looking ahead to Wednesday’s session, which could see some rain, the Red Bull Racing driver noted that she was hoping for wet conditions to get a chance to run in a different environment.
“Throughout this year, there’s been lots of things to get used to,” Palmowski said. “New tracks, new team, new environment and a new car as well. It’s been a process for me learning the car and how to manipulate and adapt your driving in order to whatever balance you have in the car.
“That could change from session to session. You might have understeer one session, oversteer next session, track temperature change and then you have to be able to adapt your driving to suit that condition. That’s been something that I might have been a little bit slow at in the past, whereas now it’s coming a lot quicker.
“It’s the adaptability that I’m still working on and I’d like some wet weather actually! I do want it to rain tomorrow because we’ve not had any wet running at all this year apart from Miami. I’d like to have some wet weather driving in this car because it’s something that I haven’t really done.
“It rains every year in Zandvoort, doesn’t it at some point. I’m obviously a fan of the rain. I come from England, so it rains all the time, so I miss the rain. It’s time we get on track with some wet weather driving.”
The second day of F1 Academy testing concludes today at Zandvoort.
