F1 Academy calendar and format announced for debut season

The calendar and race weekend format for the inaugural F1 Academy season in 2023 have been announced.

Formula 1's all-female driver category – which aims to help in preparing young female drivers to progress through the ranks of motorsport – is set to kick off a seven-round schedule in Spielberg, Austria on the weekend of 28-29 April.

From there the catgeory will race at locations such as Valencia, Zandvoort and Monza before the season finale takes place on the F1 support bill at the United States Grand Prix on 20-22 October.

The 15 drivers competing in the series will take part in an official test session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 11-12 April. There will be an additional 13 more days of testing to take place throughout the season.

Several drivers to take part in the category have already been announced, with former W Series drivers Abbi Pulling and Nerea Marti amongst them.

F1 Academy 2023 format and points

There will be three races held across each weekend. The weekend kicks off with two 40-minute Free Practice sessions, followed by two qualifying sessions which will each be 15 minutes long.

Races 1 and 3 will last 30 minutes, while Race 2 will be 20 minutes long. Qualifying 1 will decide the grid for Race 1, while Qualifying 2 sets the order for Race 3.

For Race 2, the first eight finishes in Qualifying 1 will start in reverse order, while those finishing in ninth and below will start in the position they qualified in.

The points allocation can be seen below. One point will also be awarded in each race to the driver who achieves the fastest lap time if she finishes within the top 10 of the final race classification.