Pole hat-trick confirms Pulling as F1 Academy champion

Abbi Pulling has been confirmed as the F1 Academy champion after a disastrous qualifying session for her Mercedes-backed rival Doriane Pin in Abu Dhabi.

The Alpine junior had been crowned on Saturday in Qatar last weekend, but the cancellation of race two due to barrier repairs and the subsequent introduction of a third race in Abu Dhabi meant the job was not quite done.

This was because although race two had not happened, the pole position points are awarded when the final grid is distributed, meaning Pin kept her two points for that outing.

The addition of a third race for the current weekend meant that 84 points were now still up for grabs, with Pulling’s lead only 83.

To deny the British driver her crown, Pin needed to therefore achieve the maximum haul and hope for a miracle that would see the most unlikely of nil scores for Pulling.

Given that Pulling has finished on the podium in every race of the season and has only been outside of the top two places once, there was more than a mountain to climb for Pin – and this task became insurmountable after the Mercedes protege saw her first three times in Friday’s qualifying session deleted for track limits offences at Turn 1.

Although she did put together a string of laps towards the end with her best time putting her fifth for the first two races, Pulling secured all three pole positions and the subsequent six points.

Abbi Pulling, Rodin Motorsport

Photo by: Joe Portlock / Motorsport Images

“I wanted that so bad,” said Pulling on team radio on her cool-down lap, putting her on 10 poles for the year.

En route to the title, Pulling has so far taken seven wins from 10 races, with the first an inherited success after Pin bizarrely continued for an extra lap after taking the chequered flag in the second Jeddah race.