F1 Academy in Jeddah: Exciting start into the season for Carrie Schreiner

The F1 Academy for women started its second season on the fastest street circuit in Formula 1. At high speed along the walls, the 16 female drivers from 11 countries faced a big challenge. Every mistake usually ended in the concrete wall! Carrie Schreiner is the only German driver at the start again this year, this time as a Sauber F1 Junior with the Campos Racing team.

 

The driver from the Saarland had a promising start with position 8 in the only free practice session. Unfortunately, her team decided on the wrong tactics in the night qualifying and only drove with one new set of tyres, while most of the competitors put on a second fresh set about halfway through the session. As a result, Carrie was on P7 for a long time, but after the tyre changes, she was pushed down to P12 for the fastest lap and P11 for the second fastest lap. "That was a shame, of course, as we had no experience with the new qualifying format. We will do better next time in Miami!" said the disappointed racing amazon.

 

Consequently, she started the first of the two races from P12. After a good start, the Sauber F1 Junior driver drove too cautiously in the first few laps and was unable to make up any positions. It was only towards the middle of the race that she got faster, gained two more positions and finished among the top 10.

 

Race 2 was probably the most spectacular of the series so far. Starting from P11, Carrie was turned around by a rival in the early stages and ended up at the back of the field. After a short safety car phase, things went from bad to worse. Numerous overtaking manoeuvres, contacts and spins happened at every lap! Carrie Schreiner drove a clever race, made no mistakes, and crossed the finish line unharmed. From being in last position at one point, she even managed to finish on P7, just two tenths of a second behind P6.

 

Thus, Carrie was also very satisfied with her performance in the second run. "Many of my competitors were very over-motivated today. Firstly, I was turned around and then later almost pushed off the track again. But the race organisers have now taken action and imposed some penalties. That's why I hope that we'll see clean racing again next time. A TOP 5 finish would have been possible with a better qualifying, but I was in the TOP 10 twice and take some points home with me to the championship. I could well have ended up in the wall and then I would have flown home empty-handed. That's why I'm quite satisfied with the start of the season. I'm already looking forward to the next F1 event in Miami. Another street circuit, but with completely different characteristics. Finally, I would like to thank Sauber F1 and the F1 Academy once again for selecting me for this series. It's a great privilege to be able to race against the best women in the Formula 1 support programme!"