RACE 1: Gademan executes flawless drive to deliver maiden victory on home soil in Zandvoort

Reverse polesitter Nina Gademan drove a faultless Race 1 in Zandvoort to secure an emotional maiden F1 ACADEMY victory in front of her home crowd.

It was a perfect race for the Alpine driver as she managed to on her 22nd birthday. Leading every lap and mastering a Safety Car restart to control the race, Gademan got her redemption for the penultimate lap heartbreak she suffered at the season opener in Shanghai.

Lia Block defended with everything she had to hold on to her first F1 ACADEMY podium in second and a storming drive from Maya Weug from eighth was rewarded with her fifth podium of the season.

At lights out, Gademan executed an incredible launch to charge away from the pack straight away. But disaster struck for title contender Chloe Chambers, who lost multiple positions after running wide onto the grass during a tense contest with Doriane Pin, dropping down to P8 by the end of the first lap.

Williams’ Lia Block caught up to the Alpine driver quickly to challenge for the race lead, but the closer battle was between Ella Lloyd and Weug as they gained from Chambers’ misfortune to improve to P5 and P6 respectively.

Meanwhile, Aston Martin driver Tina Hausmann lost her best opportunity of the season so far to secure a maiden podium. After starting on the front row, she crashed through a board and into the barriers, resulting in the Safety Car coming out to neutralise the field.

On the restart, Gademan confidently held onto the lead of her home race, but Pin made an error and drifted wide over the track limits. This allowed Lloyd to charge past, improving up to P3 while the Mercedes driver was forced to defend from Race 2 polesitter Weug.

The latter eventually sailed past on Lap 7 to demote Pin to fifth place, and she was not finished yet as she quickly mounted an attack on Lloyd who was just two-tenths up the road. The two battled side by side through the first few corners of Lap 9, but it was the Ferrari-backed racer who came out on top and found herself just under four seconds adrift of Gademan.

Further back, Alba Larsen had Chloe Chong made contact earlier in the race. Shown the black and white flag, the Tommy Hilfiger driver was forced into to the pits to fix the damage she sustained to her front wing. She dropped from ninth to the back of the field and was subsequently handed a 10-second time penalty for the incident.

With five laps remaining, Chambers closed down the gap to Lloyd and attempted to pass for P4, making minor contact with the McLaren driver’s car and backing off in order to avoid any further collision.

While Gademan held onto first place 1.8s clear of Block, Weug was determined to gain another position and spent the final lap challenging the American driver, but was unable to overtake and settled for P3.

Lloyd came home in fourth place ahead of Chambers and Pin. Red Bull Racing’s Alisha Palmowski crossed the line in the same position she started the race, with Kick Sauber’s Emma Felbermayr taking the final point of Race 1.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Weug will be hoping to continue the strong form she has shown so far in Zandvoort as she starts from pole position for Race 2, which is scheduled to get underway at 10:40 local time on Sunday.