Mathilda Paatz was the big winner of the second race of the F1 Academy at the Canadian GP. This Saturday (23), Rafaela Ferreira crossed the finish line in first place, but a penalty dropped her to tenth, promoting the Aston Martin driver to first.
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Alba Larsen received the checkered flag in second place, while Kaylee Countryman completed the podium positions in Montreal. Championship leader Alisha Palmowski was only 12th.
The F1 Academy drivers return to the track on Sunday, 23, for race 3 of the Canadian GP at 11:45 Brasília time.
Find out how the second race of the F1 Academy Canadian GP went:
For this second race of the weekend, held with a reversed grid, Kaylee Countryman was the one who lined up on pole position, with Brazilian Rafa Ferreira completing the front row.
Lights out in Montreal and the Brazilian from Racing Bulls took the lead of the pack. Meanwhile, another good start was made by Mathilda Paatz, who jumped to third place.
More in the middle of the pack, Emma Felbermayr has been having a difficult weekend. After a tough race 1, in this second race she spun after contact with Alba Larsen and fell to the back of the pack – the Audi representative arrived in Canada as the leader but has already lost the top of the points table.
On the second lap, then, a safety car was necessary due to an accident involving Rachel Robertson, who had her car stopped in the middle of the main straight. Also, in the replay, an accident involving Ava Dobson at the start showed the driver stopped against the wall.
In a very busy start in Canada, wildcard Autumn Fisher also had to make a pit stop.
A debate that was happening was a possible jump start by Rafa. While her team came on the radio saying everything was fine, Countryman’s team said they were checking the case.
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Finally, on lap 7 the race was restarted at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Ferreira maintained first place and had already opened a 0.5s gap, while further back, championship leader Alisha Palmowski had contact with Larsen.
Then, the race direction announced that they ‘noticed’ the possible jump start by the Brazilian and it was put under investigation. Also, Ella Stevens received a 10-second penalty for an infraction during the safety car period.
With 11 of 17 laps remaining in the F1 Academy Canadian GP, Ferreira was in first place, with Countryman and Paatz completing the podium. Payton Westcott and Larsen closed the top 5 at the moment.
Two laps later and more bad luck for Palmowski. The Red Bull competitor was hit by Megan Bruce, spun and went off track, while Nina Gademan also went off and stopped, causing another safety car.
The race resumed with one lap to the checkered flag. And at this restart, the race direction indicated the penalty for Ferreira: 5 seconds for jump start.
At this restart, Rafa kept first position with Paatz and Larsen, in a great move, taking third place.
In the end, Rafa crossed the finish line in first place, but with the penalty dropped to tenth – in the reversed grid, only the top eight score points. Therefore, Paatz took the victory, with Larsen and Countryman completing the podium positions.
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