Well I came back from a GP that was more difficult than I thought. And a heatwave in a country that doesn't have A/C everywhere made it tougher.
F1, F2, F3, and F1 Academy all in a day sounds fun until you have to wake up at 5:40 to get a bus (that never came in time) to the train station in Milton Keynes for the shuttle that started at 6:30 and try to make it to the track by 7:45 AM to catch the first session (F1 Academy practice). Made it like 10 minutes late but was seated.
I had inner track for all days and the fan forecourt, where the drivers park their cars, can be a gigantic disaster. People push a lot and drivers really just want to get the hell out of there asap but sign a couple things just to make it seem like they were there a lot for social media then leave. In the afternoon their cars get moved to the front of the paddock gate so they don't have to bother signing to the sides or the barriers across the paddock.
I will say, the shuttles aren't stuck in forever traffic, which was surprising. As for the racing, the only F1 session I watched was the race and was nice to finally see another Leclerc win. F2 was great as well with Nikola winning both. F3 with Ugo winning on 4th of July and the feature having a disastrous final lap with the real result coming out like 8 hours later.
I did get to talk to several F2 drivers and the sentiment is that Abu Dhabi might not take place. Asked them about how Miami went since it was the first time for F2 there and seems like everyone would have preferred racing in Imola lol.
My highlight was 100% Chiara Battig. She was the first female karter to get a pole in the FIA championship in the senior category last year and later in the fall she got signed to the Red Bull Junior Team.
She showed up to F1 Academy and topped the practice and quali in a single lap. She finished second on Sunday as it seems her weakness are the starts, she misses her starts in British F4 as well. Her first F4 races were last October in F4 Saudi so she is still pretty new so not too concerned.
That being said when a 16 year old shows up for one weekend and is faster than a bunch of girls that have been doing this for 2-3 years already speaks levels about F1A lol. It does give me hope that the future female that are in karting right now like Julia Angelaard will have the same racing level by the time the are old enough to jump into single seaters.
A reason why she isn't in F1A this year is likely because Shanghai took place in March and you have to be 16 years old to participate in this series and her birthday is in late March. But after this weekend I hope she doesn't do F1 Academy and just does British F4 again, along with Italian F4 before jumping to GB3 or FRECA. If they make her do F1 Academy, then a dual F1A and British F4 campaign would be good so she can get track time and be more prepared for FRECA or GB3. She would 100% go to those series with the prize money from F1A.