F1 ACADEMY returned in Shanghai, with Mathilda Paatz competing in Aston Martin Racing Green for the very first time.
A weekend of new experiences, lessons to learn, and positives to take.
Look beyond Mathilda's position in the final classification of the first F1 ACADEMY races of the season, and there's plenty for her and the team to take forward from the opening round.
Here's what to know from Mathilda's maiden race weekend in Aston Martin Racing Green as she reflects on the start to the campaign and we round up her weekend in Shanghai…
1 | Pace evident from the off
Mathilda wasted little time settling in at Shanghai International Circuit, quickly getting up to speed and also adapting to the change in track conditions since pre-season testing at the same venue a few weeks ago.
A P6 finish in Free Practice, just 0.6 seconds off the fastest time, showed she had the speed to challenge towards the top five or six from the outset.
2 | Qualifying proves decisive
A combination of a red flag and a gear-shift fault prevented Mathilda from completing a second flying lap in Qualifying on fresh tyres, leaving her down the field.
She qualified 16th on the grid for both races – a tough position to recover from, particularly in a one-make series such as F1 ACADEMY.
3 | Resilience in Race One
The opening race began with a stall at lights out, dropping Mathilda to the back of the pack.
She recovered quickly, but contact with wildcard driver Shi Wei then forced an early pit stop for a new front wing.
Despite the setbacks, Mathilda recovered to P14, making the most of a late Safety Car restart to gain positions.
4 | Racecraft to the fore in Race Two
A cleaner second race allowed Mathilda to better demonstrate her race pace. After a solid start, she worked her way up to finish P11.
With overtaking difficult under green flag conditions, many moves came around the Safety Car restarts across both races – opportunities she capitalised on where possible.
5 | Valuable lessons for the season ahead
The F1 ACADEMY format, where Qualifying sets the grid for both races and only the top eight is reversed for Race One, puts huge emphasis on getting on the front few rows to set up the rest of the weekend.
With encouraging pace already apparent, the focus now shifts to applying what Mathilda has learned at the next round in Montréal, 22-24 May.
Mathilda's take:
"I'm really motivated to learn from this weekend and also take the positives from it.
"We're going to work hard and review everything as a team, and I'm also going to reflect on the areas I want to work on in terms of my driving. This first weekend has provided plenty of learnings for us to collectively work on, and positive signs which we can make progress with.
"Ultimately, the main limiting factor for us was the mechanical fault we had in Qualifying, which left us towards the back of the field for both races. It's never easy to recover from that sort of position, but we did our best, and we showed in Race Two particularly that we could gain position and make some overtakes. I think we showed then, and in Free Practice, we had the pace to be challenging the top five or six cars so that's positive, and it's just about making sure we execute the entire weekend well.
"I'm looking forward to working with Aston Martin Aramco, PREMA, and my own coaches to build on this weekend. I can't wait to get back in the car."
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Go behind the scenes of Mathilda's first day with the team as she explored the AMR Technology Campus and met Driver Ambassador and Head of F1 ACADEMY Jessica Hawkins.
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