Last Updated 25 May 2023, Written by Tabitha Peterson
We've all been intrigued since the announcement of the new official F1 Academy, a female only single seater racing championship initiated by the Formula 1 group beginning in 2023, so lets dive in to the schedule of these races and what to expect.
2023 F1 Academy Grid
The females-only sport revolved around 5 teams (ART Grand Prix, Campos Racing, Rodin Carlin, MP Motorsport and Prema Racing), all with experience within F2 and 3 to form a 15 driver grid to compete in a series of races across the globe. The sport was created to ease the transition of karting to single seater racing, particularly for women, who are less acknowledged within the sport - the F1 grid as of 2023 consists of all males, without a female racer participating in over 40 years. With races in 7 destinations, the championship will hopefully gain popularity and expand, under the leadership of managing director Susie Wolff.
7 races, Austria, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, France and the USA, with 3 races per location, 15 girls compete to win the championship. Surmounting to 21 races in total, with an additional 15 days of testing, the championship will go on throughout the year up until the end of October, in the United States. Each race weekend will consist of 2 free practices, 2 qualifying's, and 3 races. Both Race 1 and 3 will consist of 30 minutes as well as an additional lap whereas the Race 2 will consist of 20 minutes of competitive racing and 1 lap. Both free practices will be 40 minutes and each qualifying 15 minutes. With a new schedule comes new grid postitions. Quali 1 determines the places for Race 1, and the same goes for Quali 2 and Race 3 however, Race 2 is determined by the first 8 qualifiers of Quali 1, which will be placed in reverse position for the 2nd race. Position 1 will start at 8th, while the driver who qualified at Position 8 will start 1st and so forth.
With 3 different races each weekend, the points system undoubtedly varies from the typical system we witness in other single seater championships. While Race 1 reflects the classic 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1 points system for positions 1-10, Race 2 consists of 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points system for positions 1-8, and finally, Race 3 features once more the typical system, with finishers from position 1-10 having the opportunity to gain points.
Unfortunately, the races are not streamed live, however the F1 academy twitter is regularly updated throughout each race, and after, a 15 minute programme is made available to all broadcasters with F1 Academy right, including Sky in the UK, and ESPN in the USA. Content is also made available in Australia through Fox Sports, Foxtel Go, and Kayo, while on RTBF and RTBF Auvio in Belgium. Race content can also be viewed on:
Austria - ServusTV & ServusTV ONAustria - ORD
Brazil - Bandsport & Bandplay
Cambodia - beIN Sports & beIN Sports Connect
Canada - TSN & RDS
Cyprus - Cytavision
Czech Republic & Slovakia - AMC
Denmark - TV3 & Viaplay
Finalnd - V Sport & Viaplay
Germany - Sky Deutschland
Greece - ANT1+
Hong Kong - beIN Sports & beIN Sports Connect
Iceland - Viaplay
Indonesia - beIN Sports Connect
Italy - Sky Italia
Japan - DAZN
Kosovo - Artmotion
Laos - beIN Sports & beIN Sports Connect
Latin America - ESPN & Star+
Malaysua & Brunei - beIN Sports & beIN Sports Connect
Malta - TSN
Mexico - Fox Sports
Netherlands - Viaplay
New Zealand - Sky NZ
Norway - V Sport & Viaplay
Philippines - beIN Sports & beIN Sports Connect
Spain & Andorra - Telefonica & DAZN
Sweden - V Sport & Viaplay
Thailand - beIN Sports & beIN Sports Connect
Turkey - S Sport & S Sport Plus