Click here to listen<\/a> <\/p>\nShe finished 14th in the morning session and 12th in the afternoon, showing steady progress against a field featuring some of Europe and North America\u2019s brightest prospects<\/p>\n
Her invitation came after a long build-up that combined persistence, Formula 4 experience and careful planning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just a last-minute, \u2018Oh, can you come over?\u2019,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt had been a long buildup, and it could have been a wildcard, it could have been the rookie test.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t 100 percent sure, but it led down to the rookie test, and it was a really cool opportunity that I made the absolute most out of.\u201d<\/p>\n
That preparation included an intensive six-week training program with Ollie Myers from Focus Driver Performance, which Radburn juggled alongside injuries, including surgery and recovery earlier in the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year\u2019s been a pretty tough year health-wise\u2026 but in saying that, it\u2019s been a huge year of resilience and ensuring that I\u2019ve put my absolute best foot forward,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
Driving the F1 Academy car was also a fresh challenge.<\/p>\n
Compared to her Formula 4 machine, Radburn described heavier steering, more physical braking demands and greater consistency required to extract pace.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce again, if I didn\u2019t have that opportunity, I would have never driven an F1 Academy car to know the differences between them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, moving forward to the last round of Australian F4, I can take some of those learning experiences I made in that car to the other car and be able to adapt, because the driver that can adapt the best between the two cars is obviously going to be the better driver.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adding to the experience was guidance from reigning F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling, who acted as her mentor throughout the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was absolutely unreal to have, yeah, the reigning champ,\u201d Radburn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it just added a whole other thing of how serious I was.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t just there to be a number, and I wasn\u2019t just there to fill a seat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was there to make everything I could possibly do the most out of.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/F1-ACADEMY-Rookie-Test-2025-Drivers-and-Rookies.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Pulling was impressed by Radburn\u2019s ability to regroup after a difficult first run and improve across the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe just said that was continuous improvement over the whole day,\u201d Radburn recalled.<\/p>\n
For the teenager, who started karting only a few years ago and doesn\u2019t come from a motorsport background or major funding, the rookie test was both validation and motivation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy career in motorsport has been so quick,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have parents that used to race, and I didn\u2019t come from a motorsport background, and I haven\u2019t come from a massive budget either.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do it all myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo make it this far in Formula cars is a huge thing\u2026 it\u2019s pretty surreal that it\u2019s happened so quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Radburn admitted she is in a holding pattern as she waits for F1 Academy teams to finalise their 2026 line-ups.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve done everything in my control now to try and get a seat for next year,\u201d Radburn said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a tough situation because you\u2019ve done everything you can.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow it\u2019s just a waiting game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Imogen Radburn was part of the first ever F1 Academy test last weekend in Spain. Image: XPB Images…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,70316,813,816,97645,9910,85],"class_list":["post-180930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-f1-academy","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-imogen-radburn","tag-slot2","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Radburn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/F1-ACADEMY-Rookie-Test-Rookies.jpg\")