After a two-month break from racing, F1 Academy returned for round 4 of the 2026 season for a final run at the Zandvoort circuit.
Coming off success at Silverstone, with Nina securing a P2 finish in race 2 to end the previous round P3 in the drivers' championship, MP Motorsport started the weekend P4 in the teams' championship.
With three rounds remaining, the team was in a good position and motivated to optimise the final stretch of races for points.
On Friday, the sole free practice session of the weekend took place. This enabled the drivers to get a feel for the circuit conditions ahead of the qualifying session the following day.
Following rain earlier in the day, free practice took place on a cooler and wet track.
That did not hold the MP Motorsport drivers back from producing great performances out of the bat for the start of the weekend.
Free practice started strong for Nina, who, despite two red flags intervening in the session, came out the fastest with a time of 1:38.729, setting a positive tone for the weekend ahead.
Following, not too far off her teammate, Alba came out of the session in P3 with a fastest time completed of 1:38.858, only 0.129 seconds slower than Nina.
Finally, in a solid position for the session, Esmee came out in P12 with a time of 1:39.477. She also completed a total of 10 laps, having completed more laps of the track than her teammates.
Free Practice Results:
After a promising Free Practice session on Friday, the drivers took to the track in cloudy and wet track conditions on Saturday for qualifying to determine their starting grid positions for the reverse race and feature race grid.
Alba and Nina from the start topped the timesheets with consistently fast lap times, and after two red flags, MP Motorsport came out of the session in good positions for the races ahead.
For most of the session, Alba set the pace and sat in P1 for the bulk of the session, only knocked down to P2 after the second restart.
Overall, Alba was the fastest of the team and qualified in P2 with a fastest lap time of 1:41.775.
Nina was a handful of tenths slower and qualified in P5 with a fastest time of 1:42.340.
Finally, with a solid time of 1:44.582, Esmee qualified in P11, putting herself in a good position for the reverse grid race.
Qualifying Results:
Taking place later in the day after qualifying on Saturday at the Zandvoort track, the drivers raced for the first time of the weekend.
For the reverse grid race, Nina started P4, Alba P7 and Esmee P10.
On the first lap, Nina made a great move at T1 on Robertson to rocket up to P3 immediately. On that same lap, continuing her momentum, Nina ended up on the back of Bruce and began pushing and applying immense pressure on the Campos Racing driver. This pressure proved successful, with Nina overtaking Bruce around the outside at the start of lap 2 and taking P2.
After a Safety car on lap 2, the race went green again, and Nina began to put pressure on the provisional pole sitter, Westcott.
Alba's race started slow, maintaining her grid position on the starting launch and not making up a position to P6 until Granada crashed out on lap 2. However, once the safety car came in and racing started up again on lap 3, it emerged that Alba had been playing a waiting game. On the restart, Felbermayr and Bruce battled amongst each other ahead; when the opportunity arose, Alba overtook Bruce and snatched up P5.
Furthermore, after a couple of laps went by, Alba eventually overtook Felbermayr to take P4. Alba’s momentum persisted, with the Danish driver snatching up P3 after overtaking Robertson around the outside of T1 on lap 8. This brought her onto the back of her teammate.
The following lap saw Alba and Nina momentarily battle for the second spot on the podium, although the battle was cut short by a yellow flag and safety car, which came out for a crash involving Jacquet. However, once the safety car came into the pits on lap 11, racing returned, and so did the battle between the two teammates.
Nina was under immediate pressure from Alba, who came out victorious with an overtake around the inside, after which she immediately locked up but managed to hold on to her obtained position of P2.
The two drivers maintained their position to the flags with both on the podium, with Alba in P2 and Nina in P3.
In a race of her own, Esmee had a great race herself. On the first lap, she was able to make up two positions ahead of Lloyd and Jacquet to take P8 and, at the time, sit just behind Alba, who was P7 at the time. After Granada's incident on lap 2, Esmee was promoted to P7.
Following the battle between Alba, Bruce and Felbermayr on lap 3, Esmee made a move on Bruce and took P6, where she remained for the bulk of the race.
On lap 12, many cars were condensed and clustered together, battling amongst each other for positions. Esmee managed to stay out of the chaos and launched through the pack to climb to P4, where she crossed the flags to sit just outside the podium at the first race of the weekend.
Reverse Grid Race Results:
The final race went ahead on a sunny Saturday for the last time at the Zandvoort circuit for the foreseeable future.
The MP Motorsport drivers all started within the top ten with Alba in P2, Nina in P5, and Esmee in P10.
In an incredible start off the line, after making some minor changes to the car and her driving from the previous race, Nina started the race with great pace, having launched herself from P5 to take P3 and sit just behind her teammate Alba in P2.
On lap 1, Esmee dropped behind Lloyd in the Rodin Racing car and ended up in P11. However, after Jacquet fell back on lap 2, Esmee was back up to P10.
The second lap saw Alba on the rear of the race leader, Palmowski and attempted the outside but unfortunately could not reach and snatch the lead.
Alba, throughout the race, was pushing for fastest laps in attempts to take the lead but unfortunately could not make it to the top step of the podium and finished the race in P2.
Nina’s race after the midway point consisted of her sitting in a race of her own, too far of a gap to challenge for the lead but also too fast to be challenged for her podium position.
Nina unfortunately did not have the pace in the end to reach Alba and Palmowski in the lead, and finished 8.7 seconds behind her teammate, but she maximised her points in the end with a P3 finish, having pulled away enough from Granada in P4, to finish with a 3.5-second gap.
In a great finish to the weekend, Alba and Nina took their second podium of the weekend, while Esmee finished in the points for the feature race in P10.
Race 2 Results:
In a final hoorah at the Zandvoort Circuit for F1 Academy, the MP Motorsport team made the most out of the home race weekend and could not stay off the podium.
With great pace throughout the weekend, the drivers qualified well and were clean and consistent in their driving across both the Reverse Grid Race and the Feature Race.
Alba had a fantastic weekend with two P2 finishes, and coming out of round 4 scoring the most points out of any other driver on the Zandvoort weekend with a total of 26 points. A highlight of performance from Alba was her move up five places from P7 to P2 during the reverse grid race.
Nina, having taken her maiden win in F1 Academy at the Zandvoort Reverse Grid Race in 2025, had great previous success at her home circuit. She delivered a fantastic performance with two P3 finishes, with her launch in the feature race from P5 to P3 as a significant highlight of her performance throughout the weekend.
Finally, although outside the podium, Esmee exhibited great improvement at her home race. Her pace was consistent throughout the weekend, with a solid qualifying of P10 setting herself up for a points-scoring position. A significant display of her performance from the weekend was her climb from P10 to P4 in the Reverse Grid Race, maneuvering around clustered battles of cars to secure solid points for the weekend.
The team left Zandvoort for the final time on a high note, with great promise for the final two race weekends of the season.
With another small break, racing will return for round 5 in Austin, Texas, in October.
Driver Standings After Round 4:
Team Standings After Round 4:
