For those who subscribe to F1 TV Pro (we’re an affiliate partner), you’ve probably seen F1 Academy pop up on your content. For those that don’t subscribe to F1 TV Pro, you really should and it’s totally worth the money. F1 Academy made its debut in 2023 and was not televised outside of the finale at Circuit of the Americas. That changed in 2024 and we can now see the full sessions of F1 Academy on the F1/F2 weekends. Today in this post, we’re going to look at the background of F1 Academy and introduce you to this rapidly growing part of motorsports.
About F1 TV Pro
Before getting into the F1 Academy, F1 TV Pro is the best way to watch Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3 and the F1 Academy. With in car camera views during the races, in depth pre and post race shows, technical content, and access to historical races will keep you busy with Formula 1 all year. This provides way more access and depth to the sport you love compared to watching on live TV. In 2024 a full season subscription is only $84.99. You can learn more about it here in our previous review.
About F1 Academy
F1 Academy is a program for women between the ages of 16 and 25 to compete at a high level using some of the same courses as the Formula 1 and Formula 2 teams. I’m not shocking anyone by saying that there are very few opportunities for women in motorsports and this gives them a high profile opportunity to transition between karting and F2. Drivers are only allowed to compete in the series for two years.
Only a handful of women have participated to some extent In Formula 1 and only two have made race starts with Lella Lombardi being the most recent in 1976. She is the only female driver to ever score points in a Formula 1 race. Tatiana Calderón most recently started in Formula 2 back in 2018.
There is clearly a gap for women to compete and Susie Wolff has taken on the role of building out and developing the league.
F1 Academy Car
The car for 2024 has a Chassis manufactured by Tatuus. For those not familiar with that name, you may know them from the USF 2000 series in the United States (part of the Road to Indy Series) and some versions of the Formula 4 series. The engines are supplied from Autotecnica from Italy. The engine ia a 165 HP turbo charged 4-cylinder engine. The car has a top speed of 240 km/h (about 149 mph).
F1 Academy Teams
Some of the team names you may recognize, but most of them you may not. The drivers do have a “Supported by” backer which is why you see drivers in fire suits that like the ten teams in Formula 1. The remaining drivers are backed by sponsors including Puma, Charlotte Tilbury, American Express, and Tommy Hilfiger.
The actual teams are Rodin Motorsport, Campos Racing, MP Motorsport, ART Grand Prix, and PREMA Racing. Much like Formula 1/Formula 2 the drivers compete for individual points and also team points. The difference is the teams are made of three drivers each for a total of 15 drivers on the circuit.
F1 Academy Drivers
As mentioned above, the drivers are some of the best of the best women coming up the ranks including for 2024:
- 3 – Lola Lovinfoose (France)
- 7 – Emely De Heus (Netherlands)
- 8 – Hamda Al Qubaisi (UAE)
- 9 – Abbi Pulling (UK)
- 14 – Chloe Chambers (USA)
- 15 – Carrie Schreiner (Germany)
- 16 – Bianca Bustamente (Philippines)
- 17 – Jessica Edgar (UK)
- 19 – Tina Hausmann (Switzerland)
- 22 – Aurelia Nobiles (Brazil)
- 28 – Doriane Pin (France)
- 30 – Nerea Martí (Spain)
- 57 – Lia Block (USA)
- 64 – Maya Weug (Netherlands)
- 88 – Amna Al Qubaisi (UAE)
To answer your question, yes the Anna Al Qubaisi and Haida Al Qubaisi are sisters.
Schedule & In Conclusion
F1 Academy runs a seven race schedule between March and December that lines up with the Formula 1/Formula 2 weekend including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Singapore, Miami, Zandvoort, and Barcelona. Check out the schedule at F1 Academy website.
Disclaimer: We are affiliate partners with F1 TV Pro. By you clicking our special link and subscribing to F1 TV or F1 TV Pro we get a small commission. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps go a long way to funding our work here at F-R Racing.
