MIAMI – For now, the title of most dominant driver here at the Miami Grand Prix does not belong to Max Verstappen.
It belongs to Abi Pring.
The Alpine Junior Academy driver completed a successful double race on Sunday, taking a commanding victory in his second feature race. Pring started Sunday’s race in pole position and went wire-to-wire to take his second win of the weekend and third win of the F1 Academy season. Puru’s first win came at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where Dorian Ping received a post-race penalty after a podium celebration and Puru was promoted to first place.
This weekend it was much more convincing from Pulling.
She performed admirably in qualifying and took pole position in both races. Under F1 Academy rules, each driver’s fastest lap during qualifying sets the grid for the first race, and the second fastest lap sets the grid for the second race.
During qualifying, Pring’s best lap was only five tenths of a second apart from Ping’s best time, and was also less than the best time of Red Bull Racing’s Hamda Al Qubai, who started the first race in third place. Pule’s second best lap was also good enough for pole position, but he was joined by another driver, McLaren’s Bianca Bustamante, in the second race.
In Saturday’s first race, Pring led every lap and never looked back, taking the checkered flag with a five-second lead over second-place Ping. Chloe Chambers, driving for Haas, finished on the podium in P3, her first podium for Haas.
Sunday’s second race was a similar story, with Pring holding out at the start and gradually building an advantage over Bustamante. Bustamante avoided the pin and moved into second place, and she easily finished in first place.
Pring leaves Miami, where he arrived as the championship leader. However, her dominant performance has given her a 34 point lead over Ping in the F1 Academy standings.
Of course, Verstappen will have a chance to match Pring’s weekend on the grid for the Miami Grand Prix later today. But, at least for now, Alpine Jr. is the most likely driver here in Miami.
