F1 Academy Race 2 at the Miami International Autodrome was called off as heavy rain made its presence felt.
After a series of formation laps and a postponed start, the decision was ultimately made to call things off rather than run a wet race.
Poised to start the race that never was from pole was Chloe Chambers, after the American topped Saturday’s qualifying session, and she was joined on the front row by her Red Bull team-mate Alisha Palmowski.
Race 1 winner, Doriane Pin lined up third with Ferrari’s Maya Weug set to start from 10th once again due to her qualifying disaster.
As the field set off for a formation lap, more rain hammered down around the Hard Rock Stadium, making conditions even trickier for the 18 competitors.
One of them got caught out ahead of lights out, and that was Sauber’s Emma Felbermayr, unsighted by the spray into Turn 17 and heading to the run-off, as did McLaren’s Ella Lloyd.
With visibility a key concern, one formation lap wasn’t enough and Amex’s Nicole Havrda was another driver enduring a spin.
The conditions kept getting worse as a third formation lap commenced, with rain continuing, spray cascading and the 18 F1 Academy cars wading through a sodden circuit.
As the formation laps continued along with the rain, Palmowski came onto the radio to say, “I’m all up for a wet race, and I really like racing in the rain, but I think there’s too much here.”
Concerning words from a racer who made their single-seater career debut on home soil in Britain.
Several formation laps later, Chambers was told “it’s still going to get heavier than this.”
Shortly afterwards, the Red Flag was waved and a restart was declared for 13:31 local time, approximately 26 minutes after initial proceedings kicked off, with rain expected to cease for good.
But the race wasn’t to be as the organisers cancelled proceedings, much to the frustration of the drivers who were keen to face the challenge Miami was set to provide.
Weug was a big benefactor though, maintaining her one point lead in the Drivers’ standings over Pin.
F1 Academy will resume in Montreal, Canada, on June 13-15.
READ MORE – Doriane Pin holds off Red Bull rivals to take F1 Academy Race 1 victory in Miami
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