My Thoughts on F1 Academy on Netflix

The F1 Academy is a female-only Formula 4-level racing championship launched by the Formula One Group, designed to develop and prepare young female drivers for higher levels of motorsport. All drivers use the same car, and some are lucky enough to race for F1 teams within the series, which gives them an additional level of spotlight. 

When I first started watching F1 Academy, before the Netflix series was released, I had high expectations, and they were barely met. My first issue was the name of the series, having it called “F1 Academy” is a bit odd considering that the cars the women are racing in are nowhere near F1 fast and complicated. While I do understand that is the reason for “Academy” in front of F1, it still is a strange name for a series that does not branch the women racers off to F1 after. Similarly, I also had an issue with the cars. The goal is to get a female driver into F1 again, and I do not think having these women racers drive in cars similar to F4 and then branching off somewhere else will help them much. I think that if the cars’ pace improves as F1 Academy moves on, there may be a better chance of a woman in an F3 car even. As the racing series progresses, so does the car and the calendar issue I had, the calendar. The women in the F1 Academy only race seven times throughout the year, which is disappointing. Creating more race weekends for these women would give them more opportunities to prove themselves to their teams, fans and future racing opportunities. Now, F1A does allow their drivers to participate in other racing series throughout the F1A calendar, which is great awareness for the drivers, but it is not as much awareness as F1A brings. Take a look at Abbi Pulling, Abbi competed in both F1A and F4 British Championship, yet a lot more people knew her because of F1A and the team she was tied to, Alpine Racing. Which at the time had friendship/rivals Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon on their F1 team.

The main thing I did like about F1A is that the drivers are only allowed to compete in two seasons maximum. I feel like it is a great rule to have since F1A is considered to be a junior league. In my opinion, you cannot stay at the same level forever; eventually, you will need to branch out to other challenges or leagues. The unfortunate side of this is that some of these other leagues do not bring the women drivers the same spotlight that the F1 Academy does. 

When the Netflix show for F1 Academy came out, I was intrigued to see how it was done. I had a feeling that it would be similar to F1: Drive to Survive as a docudrama. It took me three days to watch the seven episodes of F1 Academy, and it did not meet my expectations. A lot was lacking from the series that even F1: Drive to Survive covered in the first two seasons. Today, we cover the main issues lacking in F1 Academy’s Netflix series.

Wild Card Entries

The first thing that I had noticed lacking from the Netflix series was wild card entries. In the F1 Academy, a wild card entry is an opportunity for a young woman driver from the specific region where the race weekend is, to compete with the drivers in the F1 Academy. Wild card drivers can only race for one race weekend, as the wild card driver switches every race weekend. Saudi Arabian driver, Reema Juffali, was the first ever wild card entry in F1 Academy as she would be racing in Jeddah under PREMA racing. Yet, there was no mention of her. There was no mention of Nina Gademan either, as she was the first wild card entry to score points (she placed P4 and P10 during the Zandvoort race weekend). It was disappointing not to see any of these women on the Netflix series, as it would have brought the wild card position a bigger spotlight, but also showing that there have been women who have been wild card entrants and have had success despite only competing for one race weekend. 

F1 Academy’s Inaugural Season

There was a huge lack of mention of the F1 Academy’s inaugural season. In a way, it is misleading to viewers as some viewers can see that the 2024 F1A season was the first season, but it was not, as the F1 Academy started in 2023. At least, some drivers acknowledge the 2023 season as Abbi Pulling, the Al Qubaisi sisters and Bianca Bustamante all acknowledged that the 2024 season was their second season in F1A, which gives small acknowledgement to the 2023 F1A season. Unfortunately, there is a lack of mention of it alongside the winner of F1A’s 2023 season, Marta Garcia and where she is now, as well as mentioning some of the other drivers who competed in the 2023 season and did not return. 

Lack of Focus on All Drivers

I found that F1 Academy’s Netflix series only focused on a few main people, including Bianca Bustamante, the Al Qubaisi sisters, Abbi Pulling, Doriane Pin and Lia Block. While some highlights are on Chloe Chambers, Maya Weug and Aurelia Nobels. Other than that, there was no mention of other drivers. Sure, they were included in some video packages, but no important interviews that introduce the viewer to the entire grid. It could be a “rights” thing between teams, discomfort being in front of the camera, etc. But it was still disappointing not to see the entire grid, unlike F1: Drive to Survive, where we do see the entire grid in some way.

Lack of Explanation of Formatting and Race Weekends

The Netflix series lacked a huge part of the F1 Academy, and that was the explanation for the formatting and race weekends. F1 Academy is not similar to F1 race weekends as F1A has one practice then, one qualifying session, and two races. The way qualifying works in F1A is that the driver’s fastest time is taken for the first race, and then their second fastest time is taken for the second race. Unlike F1, the driver who qualifies for pole position for race two will be given two points for the championship. For races, the first race has the top eight scoring points, and then the second race has the top ten scoring points. Along with that, the races are about half an hour or fewer than 20 laps. This is another issue within F1A itself that needs expanding on, as races should eventually reach about an hour. The Netflix series was more focused on the drama between drivers rather than explaining to the viewer how the F1 Academy works and what race weekends look like for them, which is not surprising. 

No Mention of Future/Possible Grid

The final thing that I believe F1 Academy’s Netflix series lacked was a mention of the future grid. Sure, there was some mention of returning drivers such as Lia Block, Doraine Pin, Maya Weug and Chloe Chambers, but there was no mention of potential women joining F1, such as Courtney Crone, Nina Gademan and Ella Lloyd, who were all wild card entries during the 2024 F1 Academy season. I found that unfortunate, as now I wonder who will be featured in the next season of F1 Academy, if there is one, as the majority of the drivers on the grid for the Netflix series were second-year drivers in F1A. 

If there is a second season of F1 Academy’s Netflix series, I expect a lot more changes, especially the inclusion of wild card entries and also all drivers being featured, as it is important for them and the racing series to have this type of spotlight. I do hope there will be more acknowledgement of the inaugural season of the F1 Academy instead of pretending like it never happened. F1 Academy Netflix Series is a great way to spotlight these women drivers and women in motorsports, but it was poorly executed.

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Sources

FIA British Formula 4. (2023, December 11). Abbi Pulling returns for ROKiT British F4 Championship assault alongside F1 Academy. https://fiaformula4.com/abbi-pulling-returns-for-rokit-british-f4-championship-assault-alongside-f1-academy/

F1 Academy. (2024, February 5). F1 Academy drivers to get Super Licence points and Wild Card entries introduced for 2024 season. https://www.f1academy.com/Latest/4gzDmz5SSw8Dc3GhNQxxKi/f1-academy-drivers-to-get-super-licence-points-and-wild-card-entries

F1 Academy. (2024, February 19). Reema Juffali confirmed as Wild Card entry for Jeddah season opener. https://www.f1academy.com/Latest/2DbOBZ5QGTexgOHGp1x3P/reema-juffali-confirmed-as-wild-card-entry-for-jeddah-season-opener

F1 Academy. (n.d.). Rules and regulations. F1 Academy. https://www.f1academy.com/About/5tFG4jMNrPG2LzxYgk5mxU/rules-and-regulations

Wikipedia contributors. (2025, June 1). F1 Academy. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_Academy

Wikipedia contributors. (2025, June 4). 2025 F1 Academy season. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_F1_Academy_season

Wikipedia contributors. (2025, June 4). 2024 F1 Academy season. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_F1_Academy_season

Wikipedia contributors. (2025, June 4). 2023 F1 Academy season. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_F1_Academy_season