Wildcard Battig scores stunning Silverstone pole position in F1 Academy

Photo: F1 Academy

Wildcard debutant Chiara Battig claimed a stunning F1 Academy pole position at Silverstone, the 16-year-old becoming the championship’s youngest ever polesitter.

Battig led Alisha Palmowski and Lisa Billard at the chequered flag.

Nina Gademan set the early pace with a 2m03.348s but quickly found herself falling down the order as Palmowski moved her Red Bull-liveried car to the front with a 2m03.035s.

Megan Bruce tucked in behind with a 2m03.262s before she fell to third as Gademan returned to the front with a 2m02.792s.

Buoyed by her phenomenal practice form, Battig moved to within 0.080s of Gademan with a 2m02.872s seeing her fall fractionally short. The Swiss driver looked set to toppled Gademan on her second trip around the track but a mistake in the middle sector caused her to abort her lap.

With half the session completed, Gademan remained fractionally ahead of Battig ahead of the duo’s second fast laps with Felbermayr and Billard in close pursuit behind.

Ten minutes remained of the session when Billard set three purple sectors on her way to the top of the timesheets, a 2m02.180s putting her 0.612s clear of Gademan behind.

Battig, though, continued her phenomenal form, dipping into the 2m01s with a 2m01.929s making her fastest by 0.251s. Behind her, Ella Lloyd found pace to move into third before being demoted out of the top three by Felbermayer, the Audi-backed driver 0.530s adrift of the front.

Battig driver strengthened her grasp on pole, moving 0.405s clear of Billard behind with a 2m01.775s. Palmowski was Battig’s closest competitor, 0.249s behind, while Rachel Robertson moved into the top five with a 2m02.387s placing her fourth.

With less than a minute remaining Battig returned to pit lane, confident that her time would not be beaten. Yellow flags in the closing stages meant very few drivers improved on their previous bests. Lloyd found pace to move up to fifth, a 2m02.429s the best the McLaren-backed driver could achieve.

Palmowski moved to within 0.177s of Battig, a 2m01.952s the best she could manage meaning Battig was able to cruise home to a maiden pole position on her guest appearance at Silverstone.

Battig becomes the first wildcard entrant to ever claim pole on an F1 Academy weekend, comfortably leading championship leader Palmowski.

Billard claimed the final top-three position while Ava Dobson snatched fourth place away from Robertson in the dying stages of the session.

Qualifying results