F1 Academy is making changes to its race weekend formats in Montreal and Austin this year, restoring the calendar to 14 races after the cancellation of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
The rounds in Montreal and Austin will feature three races instead of the standard two, with the new addition being dubbed the \u2018Opening Race.\u2019 The grid will be set by the drivers\u2019 second-fastest qualifying times during the 30-minute session, which places a stronger emphasis on producing consistent laps.<\/p>\n
Full points will be awarded for the \u2018Opening Race,\u2019 and while the fastest lap from the race does receive a single point, the driver who takes pole will not be awarded extra points, like how the pole position driver for Race 2 typically receives two points.<\/p>\n
\u201cIntroducing the Opening Race at select rounds underscores our commitment to building a platform where the most talented can thrive by maximising competitive track time,\u201d managing director Susie Wolff said in the release.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs F1 Academy continues to grow on and off the track, I am continually looking for ways to elevate our race weekends. I\u2019d like to thank our promoters for their support and enthusiasm for this dynamic new format, which will deliver additional on-track action in Montreal and Austin and provide a compelling schedule for fans and drivers alike.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the news release, the Montreal and Austin race promoters collaborated with and supported the introduction of the \u2018Opening Race.\u2019 Additionally, the category\u2019s sporting regulations have been updated to allow this third race to be an option at selected rounds in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Opening Race gives us an opportunity to evolve the race weekend while protecting the sporting integrity of the series,\u201d Delphine Biscaye, head of race operations, said in the release. \u201cBy setting the grid using each driver\u2019s second-fastest qualifying time, we\u2019re adding another layer of strategy to the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis approach also provides the flexibility to replace a postponed race if needed and allows us to make the most of any additional track time available on the Grand Prix weekend schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n
F1 Academy was one of the multiple categories impacted by the cancellation of F1\u2019s Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, which were set to take place on April 12 and April 19 respectively.<\/p>\n
Formula 2 was set to race both weekends, while Formula 3 was due to compete in Bahrain. F1 Academy\u2019s second round of its calendar was scheduled for Saudi Arabia, a track that\u2019s been on the all-women racing series\u2019 slate since 2024.<\/p>\n
F1 Academy may only have six rounds in five countries this season, but maintaining the 14-race count keeps the integrity of the championship.<\/p>\n
It is not the first time that the racing category has run a three-race weekend \u2014 it has done so in the past when weather has impacted running, like in Miami in 2025. The following round, which was Canada, featured three races.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"F1 Academy is making changes to its race weekend formats in Montreal and Austin this year, restoring the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-575298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}