In December last year, Hitech announced that they would be joining F1 Academy, expanding the grid from 15 full-time drivers to 17. Ahead of the round in Jeddah, Feeder Series spoke to Hitech driver Aiva Anagnostiadis and rivals Tina Hausmann and Alisha Palmowski about what Hitech’s arrival means for the series. 

By Kaylene Lau 

F1 Academy has its largest grid to date thanks to the addition of Hitech, with 18 drivers racing at every round. Hitech will operate three cars this year, two for full-time drivers and one for the wild card entrant at each round. 

Hitech are just as new to the series as their full-time drivers, both of whom are contesting their first season in the series. Anagnostiadis competed in Indian F4 last year, finishing 10th overall. Partnering Anagnostiadis is Nicole Havrda, who raced in FR Americas last year and remains in the series this year with Kiwi Motorsport.

F1 Academy’s wild card entrants, who usually come from each round’s host region, rotate from round to round . With their entry into the series, Hitech also took over the duty of operating the wild card entrant’s car from Prema. 

The expansion of the grid not only opens up two more full-time seats but also offers more competition in the races. Though the series is only in its third season, the addition of an extra team is a notable sign of its growth, drivers say. 

“It’s amazing that a new team has a chance to add to the series. For sure, a new competition, and it made a big difference to have new drivers adding to the grid,” said Hausmann, a second-year Prema Racing driver.

“And overall for F1 Academy, it’s amazing. Of course, you see it growing every month and a lot of new fans and people supporting, so I think F1 Academy is doing an awesome job, we have to say that. It’s amazing to watch.”

Campos Racing rookie Palmowski noted that having more drivers on the grid would not only offer more opportunities for young women to race in F1 Academy but also promote female representation in the motorsport industry. 

“There’s sort of two main objectives for F1 Academy. I think one thing is to give young females across the globe who are already in the sport an opportunity to learn, have a chance to work with a Formula 1 team for example, see how they operate at the highest level within the sport, and progress our careers further and hopefully go up the single-seater ladder,” Palmowski said.

“But the other purpose of F1 Academy is obviously female representation – to inspire the next generation, five- to six-year-olds when they turn the TV on and see these young females. So to see more of us doing that, it gives more drivers like us now an opportunity to be on the grid. But it also should inspire more young females, so I think all around it’s super positive for F1 Academy.”

Anagnostiadis, one of Hitech’s full-time drivers this year is one of 10 rookies on the F1 Academy grid. Having previously been part of Alpine’s Rac(H)er programme, Anagnostiadis now races in F1 Academy with backing from TAG Heuer, a new series sponsor.

She also agreed with Hausmann and Palmowski.

“Putting what they both said together, I was one of those extra seats, so I probably wouldn’t be here without it,” she said. 

“Even if we had 20 on the grid, it would be awesome. I think it’s just going to grow more and more, so hopefully it does, and hopefully we see more on the grid next year.” 

Jeddah, which hosted both the second round of F1 Academy and the third round of F2, was the only round this season at which F1 Academy raced alongside any of the other single-seater series on the F1 support bill. Even with the addition of Hitech, F1 Academy has the smallest grid among the series on the F1 support bill. F2 has 22 drivers racing at every round, while F3 has 30.

Hitech became title winners at the F4 level in British F4 last year, but they have gotten off to a slower start in their maiden F1 Academy season. The British outfit have only one point in the teams’ championship after two rounds, contributed by Anagnostiadis’ eighth-place finish in race one at Shanghai. 

Still, Anagnostiadis said the team’s experience in other junior single-seater series was a positive.

“Hitech’s such a well-known team throughout the whole paddock, and they’ve had some amazing accomplishments, so I had trust in them to get the car up to speed,” she said.

“It is going to take us a little bit to catch up with the other teams. I think we know that as a group and a team. But we’re making progress quite fast.” 

Additional reporting by Calla Kra-Caskey

Header photo courtesy of Nicole Havrda