Motorsport Weekend Wrap: Pulling clinches F1 Academy title; Verstappen wins Qatar GP

Paul Aron came out on top of a dramatic Lusail feature race after on-track race winner Gabriel Bortoleto was handed a five-second time penalty.

2024 F1 Academy Champion Abbi Pulling of Great Britain and Rodin Motorsport (9) celebrates in parc ferme during race one of F1 Academy Round 6 at Lusail International Circuit on November 30, 2024 in Lusail City, Qatar. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

This weekend, Abbi Pulling was crowned the 2024 F1 Academy Champion. The Formula 2 title fight heads to the final round as the gap between Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar is reduced to 0.5 points.

Max Verstappen, the 2024 F1 World Champion, won the Qatar Grand Prix while the constructors’ championship battle between McLaren and Ferrari heads to the finale.

F1 Academy: Pulling crowned 2024 champion after second place in Qatar Race 1

Abbi Pulling secured the 2024 F1 ACADEMY title in Qatar, despite finishing in second behind Mercedes’ Doriane Pin’s dominant victory from pole position in Race 1. This was the second season of the F1 Academy, a female-only, junior-level single-seater racing championship founded by Formula One.

Pin topped every session before leading from lights to flag in an attempt to keep her title hopes alive. However, it wasn’t enough to stop Pulling from ensuring her spot on top and being out of reach with two races remaining - Race 2 of the weekend was cancelled due to extended barrier repairs at the Lusail International Circuit.

READ MORE | Martinator reigns supreme; ascends to 2024 MotoGP World Championship throne

There was a battle for second place between Maya Weug and P3-starter Pulling but the Alpine racer managed to find a space past the Ferrari. By the start of the third lap, Pin had pulled out a 1.5 second gap to Pulling and continued to extend it while Weug dropped further off the Briton’s tail in third.

F2: Bearman wins sprint, Aron takes feature race victory in Qatar

Paul Aron came out on top of a dramatic Lusail feature race after on-track race winner Gabriel Bortoleto was handed a five-second time penalty. The Hitech Pulse-Eight driver lost the lead at the start but kept his race clean to take his first F2 victory.

Isack Hadjar, who initially finished third, also benefitted from Bortleto’s penalty – which dropped the Brazilian to third – allowing him to close the gap to just 0.5 points in the title battle heading to Yas Marina.

Oliver Bearman of Great Britain and PREMA Racing (3) drives on track during the Round 13 Lusail Feature race of the Formula 2 Championship at Lusail International Circuit on December 01, 2024 in Lusail City, Qatar. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Oliver Bearman completed a late pass on Hadjar to take his third sprint race win of the season. The PREMA Racing driver was in second for the majority of the race before passing the championship contender.

Hadjar further dropped to fourth after a spin in the closing stage. DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford finished second, and Richard Verschoor rounded out the podium in his first race since returning to MP Motorsport.

F1: Verstappen wins in Qatar; McLaren-Ferrari battle heads to finale

Max Verstappen, the 2024 champion, took the lead in the first lap and did what he does best to win his ninth race of the season. Despite claiming pole position, a one-race penalty for impeding George Russell in qualifying meant he swapped position with the latter, who eventually finished outside the podium.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ensured his team stayed in the hunt for its first World Constructors’ Championship (WCC) in 16 years after crossing the finish line in second while Oscar Piastri completed the podium. His teammate Lando Norris looked the favourite to finish behind Verstappen, or even challenge him, but was hit with a 10-second stop-go penalty.

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing prepares to drive on the grid prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Lusail International Circuit on December 01, 2024 in Lusail City, Qatar. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

He managed to navigate through the pack quickly to steal the final points-scoring place along with an extra point for the fastest lap. While Ferrari outperformed McLaren 35 to 32 at the Lusail International Circuit, thanks to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finishing in sixth, the latter leads by 21 points as the teams head to Abu Dhabi for the finale.

Pierre Gasly continued to perform in the Alpine, taking fifth place, while Fernando Alonso, Guanyu Zhou and Kevin Magnussen scored some much-needed points for their teams. Zhou, who leaves Kick Sauber at the end of the season, scored the team its first points.