McLaren‘s Ella Lloyd took her first F1 Academy race victory with a strong defensive drive in Saudi Arabia at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Taking the holeshot from the front row, Lloyd saw an early race lead neutralised by a Safety Car and did well to defend from Ferrari’s Maya Weug and Red Bull’s Alisha Palmowski, who completed the podium.
Sauber’s Emma Felbermayr lined up on pole position for this reverse grid race, which saw the top eight from qualifying flipped, meaning Red Bull’s Chloe Chambers would start eighth.
Joining Felbermayr on the front row was Lloyd, ahead 13 laps where fewer points were on offer, just 10 for the winner as a result of the reverse grid format.
It was Lloyd who made a better start from the front row to snatch the holeshot from Felbermayer.
Palmowski launched from fifth to third, followed by Tommy Hilfiger’s Alba Larsen and Weug.
Aston Martin’s Tina Hausmann was the big loser at the start, slipping from third to sixth.
Lloyd led the field at the end of Lap 1 as Palmowski sought to challenge Felbermayr, who was the bottleneck in a train of cars stretching back through the top-10.
Palmowski took second from Felbermayr through the final corner at the end of Lap 2 and was followed by the hard-charging Weug into Lap 3.
Lloyd was enjoying the clear air, and the gap to the battle behind was 2.7s by Lap 3, but could Palmowski and Weug catch her?
The battles weren’t cooling off behind Lloyd, with Weug heading to the Turn 1 run-off on Lap 4 after a failed move on Palmowkski as Larsen, Felbermayr and Mercedes’ Doriane Pin scrapped through the opening chicane behind.
But the race was neutralised on the same lap by the Safety Car, with Chloe Chong’s damaged Charlotte Tilbury car stranded on the side of the circuit.
Chong was an innocent bystander caught up in an incident at the back of the field that also saw Williams’ Lia Block turned around, although the American continued.
The call from race control to end the Safety Car period came on Lap 7, with Lloyd set to lead the pack back to green.
Lloyd held the pack up on the approach to the final corner, putting pedal to the metal on exit to lead Palmowski through Turn 1, with the Red Bull driver keeping Weug at bay.
Meanwhile, Pin rose to fifth and Hausmann to sixth as Felbermayr fell further back.
Pin was then all over the back of Larsen, keen to progress before the top three stretched too far out in front.
Larsen was unrelenting, as was Palmowski further ahead in defence of Weug.
Chambers, meanwhile, swept around the outside of Felbermayr at Turn 1 on Lap 9.
Pin finally made her move to take fourth down the inside of the final corner and held onto the position down the start/finish straight with four laps remaining.
As Pin closed in on the top three, Palmowski closed right up to race leader Lloyd, with Weug dropping back just a touch.
But Weug used the draft down the main straight to get back in touch with the leading duo, and the top three were separated by just seven-tenths as Lap 11 commenced.
Pin was setting purple sectors behind them, hopeful that a battle could let her into the fight.
But Palmpowski couldn’t make an impression on the race leader, and instead finally succumbed to Weug at the start of Lap 12 as Pin set back-to-back fastest laps, bringing her into the podium battle.
As the final lap came, the leading quartet split into two pairs as Weug ran up to the back of Lloyd, and Palmowski felt pressure from Pin.
Weug closed in at the final corner, tucked into the draft of Lloyd and it was a drag race to the line but the Welsh McLaren driver held on to take her first victory.
Palmowski held onto third to complete the podium as Pin crossed the line in a close fourth.
Larsen rounded out the top five with Hausmann, Chambers and Gademan rounding out the top eight and the points-paying positions in Race 1.
READ MORE – Red Bull’s Chloe Chambers takes maiden F1 Academy pole in Saudi Arabia
