© Getty ImagesHamda storms to a double points finish in rain-hit ZandvoortRed Bull Racing’s Hamda Al-Qubaisi grabbed a double points finish in Zandvoort to further cement her into sixth place in the standings as the F1 Academy season reached the halfway mark.
WithHamdaaddingmorepointstoherseasontally,itwasadisappointingweekendontheshoresoftheNorthSeaforRedBullFord’sEmelyDeHeusandVCARB’sAmnaAlQubaisi,withbothmissingoutonthepointsonatough,weather-affectedweekendintheNetherlands.
After a tricky wet qualifying session on Saturday morning, the late afternoon opening race had to be postponed when torrential rain and high winds made the track undriveable. The action was therefore compressed into a two-hour burst on Sunday morning, with the shortened opening race taking place in bright sunshine.
And for Hamda, starting from P9, Race 1 quickly turned into a race-long, cat-and-mouse battle with Williams driver Lia Block.
With Block defending hard into the first corner at the start, Hamda was forced to tuck in behind the American, and from there it was a case of staying close, probing and pressing, and trying to force the Williams racer into a mistake.
Cat-and-mouse battle with Williams© Getty Images
And on the last of the 13 laps, Hamda’s diligent work was rewarded. Closing up to Block on the final corner of the penultimate tour, the Red Bull driver used the slipstream to slingshot down the inside of the Williams-supported car. Block squeezed Hamda towards the wall, but the Red Bull Racing driver braved it out to steal eighth place as they rounded Tarzan.
Further back, there was little reward for Emely or Amna. With both starting from the rear of the grid and with overtaking tricky around the sweeping turns of Zandvoort, progress proved hard to come by, and when Amna was also handed a time penalty for a jump start, the Red Bull drivers’ race was run. Ahead, the race was won by championship leader Abbi Pulling, with Tommy Hilfiger-supported Narea Martin second ahead of Ferrari’s Maya Weug.
If Race One saw Hamda having to bide her time as she searched for a single exploitable opportunity, the final race of the weekend saw her go on a relentless charge that took her from eighth on the grid to a superb fourth at the flag.
Hamda storms to a double points finish© Getty Images
Once again alongside Block on the grid, Hamda avoided any possibility of a long tussle by powering past the American at the start and climbing to P6 by the end of the first lap.
However, having uncorked one bottle, she then found herself stuck behind another in the shape of fourth-placed Aurélia Nobels, who was holding up wildcard driver Nina Gademan.
Despite pressuring Gademan into a series of lock-ups, there seemed no way past, but then, on lap 9, the Dutch driver made a lunge to pass the slower Nobels. There was contact, and when Nobels bounced through the gravel trap, Hamda slipped through to take fifth place. And when Gademan was handed a 10-second penalty for causing the collision, Hamda tucked in and jumped to fourth at the flag as the Dutch racer slid back to 10th.
As with the opening race, there was little joy for De Heus or Amna Al Quabaisi in the weekend closer. Both again started at the back of the grid, with Emely picking up a single place at the flag and Amna crossing the line in P14. At the front, Mercedes’ Doriane Pin dominated the race to win ahead of Weug and Pulling.
Hamda’s 16-point Zandvoort haul means she consolidates her sixth place in the Drivers’ Standings. With 71 points on the board, she is now 14 points clear of McLaren driver Bianca Bustamante and just 13 behind fifth-placed Weug with three rounds and six races remaining.
