Jess Edgar battles through frustrating F1 Academy weekend in Singapore.

Jess Edgar returned to F1 Academy action at the weekend (September 20-22), as she raced in the heat and humidity of Singapore’s Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Ultimately, it would be a frustrating visit to the country – located just north of the equator – for the 19-year-old, after a spin in the single 30-minute free practice session cost valuable time on track.

Under the lights during qualifying Jess improved throughout, finding time and moving up the order, but frustratingly ran out of time to climb further up the grid, finishing 13th quickest but a mere 0.038s from 11th.

Jess had a good start to the opening race in her American Express backed machine, but not feeling comfortable with the handling, wasn’t able to make forward progress, instead showing her skill to ensure she held onto 13th position, where she took the flag.

It was a similar story in race two where Jess started well but struggled with understeer, despite hard work by her Rodin Motorsport mechanics to improve the car. As the contest progressed under the heat of the afternoon sun, she fell back and crossed the line 15th.

Refusing to give up, Jess and Rodin Motorsport will work hard before back-to-back races to close the 2024 F1 Academy season, starting at Lusail in Qatar over the weekend of November 29 – December 1.

Championship: 10 (22 points)

Jess Commented: “It was a tough weekend and really frustrating. I pushed on my second lap in practice and spun, making contact with the barrier, which broke my rear wing and meant I could only complete one fast lap. That put me on the back foot for qualifying, where I was going faster and faster each lap, but I didn’t quite have enough time to show my true pace.”

“In the races I just couldn’t find a balance with the car that I felt comfortable with, and we thought there might be a mechanical reason for that, so the team worked super hard that night to fix. Unfortunately, I still had understeer in race two, so I fell back. We will be working hard over the next couple of weeks to find a solution for Qatar.”

Jess  shows promising promise in F1 Academy as weather plays its part.

Jess  showed good speed in F1 Academy at the weekend (August 23-25), as the series held its second and final race in Europe, at Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands.

The Cumbrian lined up once again in her American Express car, operated by Rodin Motorsport, for two races around the 2.646-mile (4.259-km) venue, which winds its way around the sand dunes to the north of the town.

In a blustery and later wet first practice session, Jess finished ninth quickest but only 0.6s from the fastest time, while in a dry FP2 she finished fourth, just 0.3s off. Unfortunately, in a fully wet qualifying she struggled with the car a little before a red flag and afterwards was unable to find a clear gap in traffic, finishing with an unrepresentative pair of lap times.

With the weather continuing to make things challenging on the North Sea coast, the first of the weekend’s races was postponed on Saturday afternoon, moving to early the following morning for a reduced 13 laps. Starting on the damper side of the grid, she fell back at the start and thereafter couldn’t find a clear route past the cars ahead, taking the flag in 12th.

After a quick turnaround, Jess was back out for race two, aiming to give it everything she had in the 17-lap contest. Frustratingly, she stalled at the start and while doing her best to recover, she caught a huge pack of cars stretching from fifth to 16th but would have to settle for where she was, finishing 16th.

With a shorter turnaround before the next round of the F1 Academy season, Jess will be working and training hard for the hot, humid, and physical challenge of the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore, over the weekend of September 20-22.

Championship: 8 (22 points)

Jess Commented: “FP1 was the closest that I’ve been all year in Free Practice so, I think it was a step in the right direction and FP2 was a lot closer to where I feel like I should be. In qualifying I should have been a bit higher, but I gave it all I had. I was struggling a little bit with the car, and then after the Red Flag I was stuck in traffic, so it wasn’t how I’d have liked it to have gone.

“With a wet grid box in race one I had a bad start and dropped back, and I struggled to come back through. It’s quite a hard track to overtake on because there are quite a lot of fast corners. Race two I felt that I had nothing to lose and to do the best I could, and then I stalled at the start. I think there’s a lot to learn from the weekend and we will keep working hard up until Singapore and try to do a better job there.”

Jess Edgar continued her run of point-scoring finishes to open the F1 Academy season as the youngster clinched an eighth-place finish at Barcelona this weekend (June 21-23).

After a six-week break in action after the previous races in Miami, the American Express-backed 19-year-old showed good speed in the single practice session, finishing sixth quickest, just 0.6s from the fastest time.

In qualifying, she again drove well, but was a little disappointed to finish ninth in both sessions as she struggled to switch on the tyres, finishing 0.7s and 0.8s from pole position.

Jess had a good start to race one, battling with Tina Hausmann for sixth place into the first series of corners but settled into seventh before the Safety Car was called. With the race resuming on lap seven of 16, she had a strong restart, getting ahead of Hausmann for sixth. From there she was driving comfortably in that spot, but was handed a five-second time penalty for a false start, dropping her to eighth in the final classification.

The Cumbrian racer had another good launch of the line for race two, but had to take evasive action into turn one, going up the escape road and losing momentum, settling into seventh. Unfortunately, Jess found the car handling tougher and slipped back a couple of places, running ninth until the final few laps, when the tyre degradation got too much and, unable to fend off the advances of her rivals, she crossed the line 15th.

Despite that setback, Jess leaves Spain buoyed by positive performance during practice and continuing to improve her driving in the car, working to refine the setup to her preference. She will return to F1 Academy action in August, after an eight-weak break, racing alongside the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

Championship: 8 (22 points)

Jess Commented: “Free practice was good, and we finished closer than I have done in the previous races in Miami and Jeddah, so that was positive. In qualifying I didn’t quite manage to get the tyres in quickly enough, which left me with understeer and meant things didn’t go to plan, so I finished P9 for races one and two.”

“Race one was good, and I finished P6 on track, but that became P8 as I was penalised for a false start. In race two I struggled a lot with the car and dropped back unfortunately. I can take away positives that I have improved my driving a lot, for example trying to drive around things when it doesn’t feel quite right and making the car feel as good as it can be, which gives me optimism for Zandvoort in August.”

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Jess Edgar recorded a second point-scoring finish in F1 Academy at the weekend (May 3-5), taking a seventh-place finish in race one alongside the Miami Grand Prix.

Ahead of the meeting, Jess unveiled a new look as she will represent American Express, sporting a custom race suit, and for the remaining races, with a custom livery featuring American Express and Shop Small® branding, as well as the logo of a local small business.

On track at the Miami International Autodrome – which weaves around Hard Rock Stadium – she didn’t qualify as well as she’d hoped, meaning it would be hard work in both races to move forward.

With a sensible, trouble-free run in the opening race on Saturday afternoon, she gained four positions to cross the line seventh and recording back-to-back points finishes after success in Saudi Arabia.

For race two Jess enjoyed an entertaining battle with Nerea Marti, winning out after the pair passed and re-passed each other. Back in seventh position again, she pushed on to pull out a gap but was unlucky to lose the rear and spin at turn seven, falling to 14th where she would finish.

Jess is part of both the BRDC Rising Stars and Motorsport UK Academy Team UK in 2024, as she is recognised as one of Britain’s growing talents in the sport. She will return to F1 Academy over the weekend of June 21-23, competing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

Championship: 8 (18 points)

Jess Commented: “It was a tough weekend in Miami, unfortunately. We didn’t have the best of qualifying sessions and knew that was going to make it hard for us in the races. In the first one I found it tough starting back in P11, but I kept it out of trouble and finished P7, which was good as we scored points.

“In race two I was fighting for seventh with Nerea Marti for a few laps, but unfortunately a spin put us out of contention. I will continue to work hard from now until Barcelona and do my very best to get some better results there.”

Cumbrian based racer Jess Edgar claimed a well-earned fourth place finish on the opening weekend of the F1 Academy season, taking place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

After securing her maiden series victory in Austin last year, the teenager returned with Rodin Motorsport for the new campaign, which will race solely alongside the Formula 1 World Championship in 2024.

Battling for pace through practice and qualifying, the 18-year-old was a little disappointed to line up 10th and ninth for the two races on the streets alongside the Jeddah coastline.

In the opening contest Jess ran well, looking to find a way past those ahead. After six of the planned 12 laps, as Lia Block and Tina Hausmann held each other up, the teenager saw the opportunity to gain two places, getting a good drive out of the final corner and pulling alongside down the pit straight to pass both.

Sadly, Hausmann then made contact with Jess’ rear wheel, causing a puncture which was compounded by the fact that she then had to complete a full lap before being able to pit. By that point, a lap down, there was little she could do make up ground, finishing 15th.

Jess had a good start to race two, coming out of the first chicane in seventh position. Sitting right behind Lola Lovinfosse and Chloe Chambers, she swept past both as they tangled into turn one to gain fifth, and almost pulled moves on Nerea Martí on two occasions, before settling for that spot at the flag. However, with post-race penalties applied, Jess would be moved up to fourth in the rankings.

She will return to F1 Academy action over the weekend of May 3rd-5th, as the series heads to Miami International Autodrome, racing around the Hard Rock Stadium in Florida.

Championship: 7 (12 points)

Jess Commented: “It was great to start the F1 Academy season with Rodin Motorsport. Jeddah was a tough weekend as we weren’t quite on the pace, so finished qualifying with P10 and P9, which meant it was going to be tough to get a result.”

“In race one I had a puncture after contact from another driver, so ended up finishing a lap down. In race two I think I made the most of the opportunities I had and was really happy to finish P4, as I’m not sure we could have done much more with the pace we had. Looking ahead to Miami, we will work hard over the next eight weeks to see where we can find a bit more pace, so hopefully we will be fighting at the front.”