2024 F1 Academy season



The 2024 F1 Academy is a motor racing championship that is the second season of the F1 Academy, an all-female, Formula 4-level racing series founded and organized under the management of Formula Motorsport Limited. All seven rounds will support the 2024 Formula One World Championship, with 10 of the 15 drivers' cars sporting liveries sponsored by the 10 teams currently competing in Formula One.

Prema Racing enter the season as defending champions, having won the title last year with inaugural drivers' champion Marta García.

Entries
F1 Academy is a spec series; all teams competing with an identical Tatuus F4-T-421 chassis and tyre compounds developed by Pirelli. Each car is powered by a 165-horsepower turbocharged 4-cylinder engine developed by Autotecnica.

For the 2024 season, all 10 Formula One teams support one driver and have their livery on that driver's car. The remaining five drivers in the series are supported by other partners.

Team changes

 * Rodin Carlin was rebranded as Rodin Motorsport, after the Carlin family departed the team and Rodin Cars took full ownership.

Driver changes

 * Prema Racing fielded an all new line-up following the departure of Marta García, who progressed to the Formula Regional European Championship; Chloe Chong, who joined JHR Developments in British F4; and Bianca Bustamante, who switched to ART Grand Prix.  The team's new drivers are Aston Martin representative Tina Hausmann, Mercedes Junior Team driver Doriane Pin, and Ferrari Driver Academy member Maya Weug.
 * Megan Gilkes left Rodin Motorsport and retired from professional racing, as Lola Lovinfosse joined from Campos Racing.
 * ART Grand Prix promoted Léna Bühler to the Formula Regional European Championship and saw both Carrie Schreiner and Chloe Grant leave the team. Bianca Bustamante moved over from Prema Racing, representing the McLaren Driver Development Programme. She is partnered by new Williams Driver Academy member Lia Block, making her open-wheel racing debut. Ferrari Driver Academy member Aurelia Nobels completed the lineup.
 * Campos Racing signed Sauber Academy member Carrie Schreiner from ART Grand Prix. The team also fielded Haas young driver Chloe Chambers. They replaced Lola Lovinfosse, who switched to Rodin Motorsport, and Maite Cáceres, who returned to F4 United States.

Wildcard entries
Wildcard entries were added for the 2024 season. Selected drivers will be offered a drive operated by Prema Racing (in addition to their three permanent entries) for a single weekend in select rounds and will be eligible to score points in the Drivers' Championship. Susie Wolff stated the goals of the wildcard entries are to "promote regional talent, engage with local communities, and increase the talent pool in the regions in which we race".


 * Saudi Arabian GT driver Reema Juffali was the wildcard entry for the first round of the season in Jeddah.
 * American LMP3 and GT driver Courtney Crone was confirmed as a wildcard entry for the second round of the season in Miami.

Calendar
The calendar for the 2024 season was announced in October 2023, reducing to two races a weekend instead of three and having a singular qualifying session. All seven rounds will support the 2024 Formula One World Championship.

Calendar changes
The Red Bull Ring, Monza Circuit, Circuit Paul Ricard, Circuit Ricardo Tormo, and Circuit of the Americas were all removed due to the series becoming a full-time part of the Formula One support program. The Jeddah Street Circuit hosted the opening round. At the same time, the Miami International Autodrome, Marina Bay Street Circuit, Losail International Circuit, and the Yas Marina Circuit became new additions to the calendar.

Round 1: Jeddah
The season started off at the Jeddah Street Circuit. Doriane Pin took pole by nearly eight tenths from Abbi Pulling and Maya Weug. During the first race, wildcard driver Reema Juffali collided with Amna Al Qubaisi on lap two, while Jessica Edgar sustained a puncture midway after contact with Tina Hausmann. Pin won the race from Pulling and Weug.

In the second race, Chloe Chambers tagged Lola Lovinfosse into a spin on lap three. Lovinfosse re-entered the track directly in the path of Lia Block, which earned her a five-place grid penalty for the next race. The sole safety car period happened after Juffali crashed out on lap six. Pin crossed the finish line first, but was unaware that the race ended and took the chequered flag twice. She was investigated and later penalised for the mistake. Pulling inherited the win ahead of Weug and Nerea Martí, with Pin moving down to ninth. Pulling left Jeddah as the championship leader, with Weug in second and Pin in third.

Round 2: Miami
Pulling took pole in the next round at the Miami International Autodrome. In the first race, Bianca Bustamante stalled from fourth on the grid and could only recover to ninth with the fastest lap. Lap one contact from Aurelia Nobels spun Hausmann into the wall, which caused her retirement and a 10-second time penalty for Nobels. Block spun on lap seven, but remained in the race. Pulling took a comfortable victory from Pin, while Chambers achieved her first podium in the series from Weug, who eventually fell to sixth after a penalty.

Pulling started again from pole in the second race. Lovinfosse locked up in the first corner and tagged Hausmann, who was forced to retire for the second race in a row. On lap eight Lovinfosse locked up again, this time hitting Nobels. Both were able to rejoin the race, with Lovinfosse earning two 10-second time penalties for her collisions. Edgar spun on lap eleven but was able to rejoin the race. Pulling once again crossed the finish line in first, but this time it was Bustamante who would finish second ahead of Pin.

Round 3: Barcelona
Pulling claimed her third and fourth pole positions in a row as the series began its European leg, with title rival Pin only fourth as she recovered from fractured ribs sustained in the break between events. Pin's problems were compounded when she stalled at the start of Race 1, and fought back to only seventh as Pulling claimed her fourth race win in a row. A safety car was called after Weug and Amna Al Qubaisi collided. Martí and Chloe Chambers survived minor first-corner contact to finish second and third respectively.

Chambers dominated the second race of the weekend, jumping Pulling at the start and taking a lights-to-flag win. The win allowed Chambers to draw level with Pin for second in the championship, both of whom sat 66 points behind Pulling.

Scoring system
Two points will be awarded to the driver(s) who start Race 1 and Race 2 from pole position. Fastest lap points are also handed out in each race to the driver and team who achieved the fastest valid lap time and classified inside the top 10. No points are given to the driver who clocked in the fastest lap time but finished outside the top 10 or if the leader has completed less than 50% of the scheduled race distance.