Mercedes’ Doriane Pin took F1 Academy Race 1 victory in Miami on Saturday amid the backdrop of the Hard Rock Stadium.
The Frenchwoman fended off the charges of Red Bull’s Alisha Palmowski and Red Bull Ford’s Chloe Chambers to take the win and close within one point of Championship leader Maya Weug.
Qualifying for the reverse grid Race 1 placed Sauber’s Emma Felbermayr lined up on pole, sharing the front row with Racing Bulls’ Rafaela Ferreira.
Conditions were dry after rain had interrupted qualifying and the F1 Sprint.
Felbermayr started strongly at lights out, but behind there was chaos as McLaren’s Ella Lloyd made an error, locking up into Turn 1 and collecting Ferreira (who was luckily able to continue) and forcing Williams’ Lia Block to take evasive action.
Pin had a mightily impressive start from sixth and was challenging for the lead halfway around Lap 1 of 13 before the Safety Car was called due to the stricken Lloyd.
Puma’s Aurelia Nobels was third at this point, and Chambers found herself in fourth having climbed four places on the opening lap.
Palmowski found herself in fifth, with Ferrari’s Weug in sixth, who started 10th after the rain dashed her chances in qualifying.
The race returned to green flag running at the end of Lap 2 and Felbermayr pulled the pin going into Turn 17 to retain her lead well.
But a lap later, Pin took the lead going into Turn 17, having successfully drafted Felbermayr down the back straight.
Not to be outdone, Felbermayr retook the lead going into Turn 1 to start Lap 4.
There was movement further back as Palmowski passed her Red Bull team-mate Chambers through the twisty Turn 12/13 complex.
Pin challenged Felbermayr at Turn 1 on Lap 5, as the Suaber driver locked up, running deep and losing the lead through the following corners.
The leading pack was tight, and ruthless, and Felbermayr found herself losing ground to Nobels and Palmowski through the first sector.
Chambers and Weug also found their way past Felbermayr who saw damage to her dampner cover hinder her efforts even further.
In clear air, Pin began working on building a lead, stretching her gap to Nobels to eight-tenths midway through Lap 6.
Palmowski then drafted Nobels down to Turn 11, holding the outside line, which then became the inside line into Turn 12, helping the Briton pinch second.
This battle helped Pin stretch the lead to 1.2s by the start of Lap 7, as the race crossed the halfway point.
Further back, three into one didn’t go on the approach to Turn 11, and Joanne Ciconte was the victim, getting tagged by Chloe Chong and damaging her F1 Academy-liveried machine.
This called the Safety Car into action for the second time, with six laps remaining.
Chong, like Ciconte, was forced to retire with the steering on her Charlotte Tilbury machine damaged.
This bunched up the field, led by Pin, followed by Palmowski, Nobels, Chambers, Weug and Felbermayr, who received the black and orange flag on Lap 9 due to her damaged Sauber machine.
Felbermayr pitted, had her machine fixed and returned to the fold at the back of the field in 15th.
The Safety Car came in at the end of Lap 9, setting the stage for a four-lap sprint to the chequered flag.
Pin pulled away at the exit of Turn 17 to retain her lead at the restart, and the order behind her remained the same.
That was until Turn 11/12 when Chambers pulled the same move on Nobels, that her team-mate Palmowski managed a few laps earlier, to take third.
It was a timely move as Palmowski started to pile the pressure on the race leader.
Weug, not to be outdone by the front three, went to the outside, then switched back to the inside to pass Nobels into Turn 11 on Lap 11, to clinch fourth place.
Block passed Nobels at Turn 12 a lap later, but potentially did so outside of track limits to take a dubious fight place.
Coming onto the final tour, Pin led by just over half a second from Palmowski, who enjoyed a 1.6s gap to her Red Bull team-mate Chambers as Weug settled into a lonely fourth.
Palmowski worked hard to get onto the rear wing of Pin going on the run down to Turn 11, but wasn’t close enough to make a move.
There was one chance left, the run down the back straight towards the Turn 17 hairpin, but Palmowski couldn’t get close enough.
This allowed Pin to cross the line and take victory, a hard-fought one ahead of Palmowski, with Chambers rounding out the podium at her home race.
Weug took fourth, with Block crossing the line in fifth, but the Williams driver was demoted to 10th with a five-second penalty thanks to her dubious move on Nobels.
That promoted Alpine’s Nina Gademan to fifth and Nobels to sixth, leaving Aston Martin’s Tina Hausmann and Ferreira to complete the points-scoring positions in Race 1.
READ MORE – Chloe Chambers tops rain-affected F1 Academy qualifying in Miami
