F1 Academy - Introducing some of the best female drivers in the world

  • Abbi Pulling

    Abbi Pulling is the absolute boss of F1 Academy at the moment, having just won the 2024 driver’s championship. Abbi raced in 2024 for Rodin Motorsport and is supported by the Alpine F1 team.

  • Ella Lloyd

    Ella has just been signed up by McLaren as their driver for the 2025 season and will be racing for Rodin Motorsport. In 2024 season Ella was the Wild Card at Singapore and has also raced in F4 and Formula E.

  • Bianca Bustamante

    Bianca Bustamante represented McLaren for the 2024 season and its just been announced that Bianca will join GB3 Championship in the 2025 season with Elite Motorsport.

  • Chloe Chambers

    During the 2024 season Chloe raced for Campos Racing (supported by Haas) but in 2025 will be moving to the Red Bull Academy Programme. Chloe is one of the most experienced racers in the programme having competed in the F4 US Championship, Oceania Regional Championship, US W Series, F3 and Formula E.

  • Jessica Edgar

    Jessica has been racing in Karting since 2010 and then moved into the GB4 Championship in 2022. After this in 2023, Jessica switched to F1 Academy, racing for Rodin Motorsports throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

  • Lola Lovinfosse

    Lola is a French racing driver who drove for Campos Racing in the 2023 season and then moved to Rodin Motorsport for 2024. Lola was supported in 2024 by cosmetics company Charlotte Tilbury.

F1 Academy FAQs

How old do I have to be to drive in F1 Academy?

All drivers in F1 Academy must be women and should be aged 25 or younger, and 16 years of age or older when entering their first race event of the season.

Drivers can only compete in two seasons of F1 Academy and must also hold something called a Grade B, C or D International FIA Licence in order to be eligible.

How many cars will there be on the grid in 2025?

Since it began in 2022, F1 Academy has grown and 2025 will be the busiest yet with 18 cars on the grid for each race.

What is a Wildcard driver?

“Wild Cards” were introduced at the start of the 2024 season in order to give more opportunities to talented young drivers and give them the chance to get some solid race experience. The Wild Card idea will be used at all seven races in the 2025 season.

There were 6 Wild Cards during 2024, and 3 of them so far (Ella Lloyd, Courtney Crone and Nina Gademan) have been given seats for 2025.

How man teams are there in F1 Academy?

The number of teams in F1 Academy has also grown this year with the introduction of Hitech Grand Prix which was announced in December 2024. For the new season, the line up currently looks like this:

  • ART Grand Prix

  • Campos Racing

  • Rodin Motorsport

  • MP Motorsport

  • PREMA Racing

  • Hitech Grand Prix

What is the schedule for a race weekend?

Each weekend starts off with a Practice session lasting 40 minutes (sometimes there will be 2 Practice sessions depending on the circuit).

This is followed up by the Qualifying session which last 30 minutes. This single qualifying session decides the starting positions for both of the 2 races that will follow. The driver’s fastest lap will set the grid for Race 1 and their 2nd fastest lap will decide where they start for Race 2.

After qualifying is complete, Races 1 and 2 will line up and will consist of 30 minutes each.

How Come the F1 constructors don’t compete in f1 academy ?

Actually, they kind of do - the more familiar F1 teams support F1 Academy in a slightly different way. Suzie Wolff (who is the mastermind behind F1 Academy) did a great job enlisting support from all 10 Formula 1 teams, who each provide financial support, mentoring, driver experience, training and career support.

This is why many of the F1 Academy cars also display the liveries of the supporting F1 team.

How fast are F1 Academy cars?

  • The cars are all identical and have a top speed of 240 kph.

  • They also have incredible acceleration, going from Acceleration 0 – 100 kph in 3.6 seconds and up to 200 kph in 12.5 seconds.

Where can I watch F1 Academy races if I can’t actually go to one of the races?

All F1 Academy sessions and races are broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 in the UK.