Huh? Abbi Pulling’s F1 Academy title has been revoked

Well this is most unusual. Fresh from winning the F1 Academy title in Qatar last weekend with an unassailable championship lead, Abbi Pulling will arrive in Abu Dhabi for the 2024 season finale to find that her lead is, er, assailable again.

Wait, what? The 21-year-old has dominated the series this year - winning seven of the 11 races so far and never finishing off the podium - and by finishing second behind main rival Doriane Pin in the first race in Qatar last week, she was officially crowned champion. Cue the celebrations and ticker tape.

But that wasn’t the end of it. The second race in Qatar - for which Pin scored two points for grabbing pole position - was never held, because barrier repairs from another F1 support event meant it had to be scrubbed from the schedule.

So in order to make up for the lost track time, organisers have squeezed a third F1 Academy race into the bill for Abu Dhabi this weekend. Three lots of pole position bonus, fastest lap bonus and race win is 84 points, and because of that ghost qualifying in Qatar, Pulling’s lead over Pin is down to… 83. Oops!

Given her dominance, the British driver is still virtually guaranteed to win the title, once and for all this time. And at least this way she gets to celebrate winning it twice. Gonna need more of that ticker tape…