PRACTICE: Bättig starts her Silverstone debut weekend on top

Chiara Bättig made a strong first impression on her debut F1 ACADEMY weekend, going fastest in Free Practice at Silverstone.

The first Wild Card driver to top a session, Bättig completed a 2:02.640 to go two tenths clear of Red Bull Racing’s Alisha Palmowski and Nina Gademan for Alpine.

As the first cars out on track for the 40-minute session, the drivers began with a run of installation laps. Esmee Kosterman briefly stopped at the entry to the National Pit Straight, but the LEGO Racing driver was able to continue on.

After 10 minutes, Ella Lloyd got the series’ first appearance at the British track underway, setting the opening benchmark at 2:05.240. The McLaren driver improved on her next lap, moving firmly into the 2:04s.

Testing the limits around Silverstone, a spin for Lisa Billard through Abbey momentarily brought out the yellow flags. Emma Felbermayr was next to set the pace out front on a 2:04.369, before breaking eight tenths clear of Lloyd with a 2:03.369.

Only the Hitech trio and Standings leader Palmowski were yet to set a lap at the halfway mark. Gademan then sliced Felbermayr’s gap out front down to 0.070s, going on to assume the P1 spot on a 2:03.189, 0.180s quicker than the Audi driver.

Completing her first laps in F1 ACADEMY, Bättig became the first driver to break into the 2:02s. The Wild Card driver put the Wella car to the top of the timesheets with a 2:02.881, three tenths ahead of Gademan. The Swiss racer found another two tenths around the 5.891km circuit, logging a 2:02.640.

Palmowski logged her first representative lap soon after, moving into second. The Briton’s next improvement saw her go within 0.208s of Bättig’s effort, which remained unbeaten to the chequered flag.

Gademan leapfrogged Felbermayr for third in the final minute of running, 0.241s off the fastest time. Ella Stevens completed the top five ahead of Ava Dobson and Rachel Robertson. Mercedes driver Payton Westcott followed in eighth ahead of Billard, with Lloyd rounding out the top 10 times.

The drivers will be back on track for Qualifying this evening at 18:00 local time, but who will take our first-ever pole position at Silverstone?