After leaving the first round in Shanghai, Nina Gademan snatched up first place in the first race of the season. MP Motorsport enter Round 2 in Montreal, Canada, sitting comfortably in 3rd of the team championship. Alba Larsen and Esmée Kosterman showed promise in the opening weekend, enabling Montreal to have a great opportunity to score more points and land on the podium.
Free Practice started the weekend well for the drivers, with Nina and Alba both putting in lap times in the top ten. Alba’s fastest lap time scored her sixth in the session with a 1:40.078, with Nina not too far behind in tenth with her fastest lap time of 1:40.370. With room for improvement in future sessions, Esmee was the slowest in the session on the 18th, with her fastest lap being 1:41.852.
Free Practice Results:
Coming into qualifying, many of the MP Motorsport drivers maintained their pace from the prior practice session. Alba, with a +0.6 gap to Alisha Palmowski, put in a good fastest lap time of 1:39.152, locking in P6. Improving upon free practice, Nina pushed herself to P9 and put in a fastest lap time of 1:39.304. Unfortunately, Esmee was unable to push for a faster lap time and finished the qualifying session in P18 with a fastest 1:40.431.
Q1 Results:
Race 1 for the Formula 1 Academy started well for the MP Motorsport drivers, with Nina on the starting launch propelling from tenth place to eighth. Esmee, also with a good start, moved from 15th to 12th by the end of lap 1. Alba, by the time lap 2 finished, pushed herself into the top five.
A third way through the race, after some front wing damage to Lisa Billard's car required the driver to pit, Nina was able to move up to seventh, close behind her teammate Alba Larsen, who was in sixth.
Unfortunately, on lap 6, Esmee, who had made up good places, experienced a puncture and a broken front wing, requiring her to pit for replacements, which pushed her to the back of the field. Continuing upon her misfortune, Esmee ended up receiving a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which was put into place after she crossed the finish line, resulting in the driver finishing at the back of the grid in P18.
On lap 9, one of the front contenders, Payton Westcott, ran wide, falling down the grid. Nina, in a great launch on lap 11, pushed and overtook Westcott, propelling herself into P6. Unfortunately, Nina received a five-second penalty for cutting a corner on lap 10, which resulted in her falling to P9, post-race, when penalties were given.
Alba had a strong race, coming home with a solid P5 finish.
Race 1 Results:
The second reverse grid race saw Alba on the second row, starting in P3 and Nina in the midfield, starting in P9, with Esmee at the back of the grid, starting in P18.
Nina had a great launch in the first sector of lap 1, propelling herself up two places to P7, before losing out at the start of lap 2 to Megan Bruce. Nina was able to hold and defend her position for much of the race, displaying good potential to push forward into more points.
Unfortunately, a contact between Alisha Palmowski and Megan Bruce on lap 13 impacted Nina's drive outside of her control, resulting in her ending up against the wall in the closing laps of the race.
Esmee had a good race, starting from the back. She was able to slowly make her way up the grid, keep a cool head and stay out of the chaos on track. She was able to climb up to P12 by the lap 13 Safety Car and finished in P11.
Alba, on the first launch, lost her P3 position to Mathilda Paatz, and as a result of an on-track battle with Emma Felbermayr, which resulted in Felbermayr spinning out, allowed Payton Westcott to fly into P4, pushing Alba back to P5, where she stayed for the majority of the race. As a result of the lap 13 contact, a Safety Car was released, and Alba was promoted to P4.
On the Safety Car’s release, there was one lap of hard racing to go. Alba exhibited an extraordinary drive, putting pressure and battling hard back and forth with Kaylee Countryman, before eventually overtaking her, pushing into P3. As a result of the race-leader receiving a penalty for a false start, Alba finished the race in P2, a great comeback drive from the start of her race. Although, unfortunately, after post-race penalties, Alba was penalised for her contact with Emma Felbermayr.
Race 2 Results:
In different conditions, the final race took place on a cold, wet track. Alba started in P6, Nina in P9, and Esmee in P18. Good on the launch, both Alba and Esmee were able to make up places, with Nina to eighth and Esmee to 15th.
In an impressive overtake on lap 2, Nina overtook Rafaela Ferreira for P7, which brought her to the back of her teammate. Nina and Alba battled on track, fighting for P6. On lap 6, Nina overtook on the inside, snatching P6 from her teammate, Alba went wide, falling to P9.
Many back-and-forths of battles occurred, at the end of lap 6, Alba initially overtook for 7th during a squabble between Rafaela Ferreira and Ella Lloyd. With good wheel-to-wheel battling with Ella Lloyd, Alba went wide, falling back to P9. Not long after, both Ella Lloyd and Rafaela Ferreira fell back, promoting Alba to P7, right behind Nina.
Alba and Nina battled amongst each other, with Alba procuring an overtake on turns 1 and 2 to overtake for 6th.
Esmee made her way significantly up the field to P11. Unfortunately, as a result of a contact on turn 13 of lap 12 that occurred earlier in the race with Robertson, Esmée was given a 5-second penalty, resulting in a P13 finish.
Nina and Alba both finished in the top ten, with Nina finishing in P7, and Alba coming home with P6 and the fastest lap on lap 16 of 1:48.724.
Feature Race Results:
Montreal saw Nina Gademan and Alba Larsen execute some excellent drives. Alba procured an excellent recovery drive in the Reverse Grid Race, finishing in P2, only offset by a post-race penalty. And Nina pushed herself with some excellent on-track battles and overtakes, which she can take into the next races. Esmée displayed great progress in her race performance, although set back by penalties, she did make movement up the grid. With the team sitting in P4 in the championship, there are positive attitudes and motivation to improve and push coming into the next race weekend later in the year in Great Britain at the Silverstone Circuit.
Team Standings After Round 2:
Driver Standings After Round 2:
