Gademan expecting to fight for top-three in Miami Qualifying as she overcomes injury setbacks

Nina Gademan’s performance in Free Practice 2 might have been an unexpected surprise, but the Alpine driver says it’s raised her hopes of putting herself in top-three contention in Qualifying.

Still on the road to recovery after her high-impact crash during Jeddah in-season testing, Gademan knew that getting up to pace in Miami was going to be a challenge. Nevertheless, she benefited from the additional Practice session, clocking in a P3-worthy time in the latter stages.

Although lacking some pace on her first runs, Gademan was satisfied with her efforts even if she believes more was still left to be unlocked.

“I think it was a decent start,” she said. “We were starting on used tyres, still missing a little bit so trying out some different stuff in Sector 1. Then we found the right bits on the last lap, so the used tyres were not too bad, but still missing a little bit.

“Then we put the new tyres on and I just put everything together (from) what I’d tested before earlier in the run. Not a clean lap because I feel like there’s still some time in there. I’m happy to be P3, even with the pain still going on (…) A really solid session, I didn’t expect to be P3 as I still felt like there was some time in there from my side.”

Competing in her rookie F1 ACADEMY campaign, Gademan is one of 11 first timers around the Miami International Autodrome. Relishing the chance to test out her skills across the demanding track, the Alpine driver is expecting it to become even more testing as the track evolves across the weekend.

“I really like the track,” she said. “I liked Jeddah as well, they’ve got their own specific things. Jeddah was really high-speed and this track has got high-speed, hard braking zones, the really technical section with the chicane and long straights, which are good for overtaking. It’s been a really enjoyable track to drive on so far.”

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She added: “F1 Sprint Qualifying is now, so there’ll be a lot of grip, but then it takes a little bit of time if we’re on it tomorrow morning. There’s a bit of time in between, but I expect the track will be even quicker tomorrow morning, so we’ll have to find some time in there as well.”

Buoyed by her performance, Gademan is now setting her sights high ahead of tomorrow morning’s Qualifying session to put herself in podium contention.

“Surprisingly being P3, which I didn’t expect, definitely top-three for tomorrow is the aim,” the Dutch driver asserted. “Even though with the injury going on and it hurting my performance, still performing like this makes me quite confident, not only mentally as well, that I can do this.”