Controversy as F1 Academy winner Doriane Pin stripped of victory in Saudi Arabia

Motorsport fans have been left scratching their heads after the leader of Formula One’s female feeder series had her race win taken away for driving a lap too far.

France’s Doriane Pin had dominated the opening weekend of the second season of F1 Academy, the latest incarnation of the female racing championship previously known as the W Series.

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Pin comfortably won both races in Saudi Arabia but was sensationally stripped of her second victory on Saturday.

She didn’t notice the chequered flag signalling the end of the race and continued on at full speed during the cool-down lap, prompting officials to wave red flags to get her attention.

Pin later explained she had an issue with her radio and missed the message from her race engineer, who said: “Doriane, what are you doing? It’s the chequered flag.”

To which Pin responded: “You didn’t tell me!”

Pin, a Mercedes driver, was handed a drive-through penalty, which was converted into a 20-second time penalty.

The sanction saw Pin drop to ninth and gave Alpine junior Abbi Pulling the victory in race two.

Pin, 20, wrote on social media: “An unfortunate end to an incredible first weekend in F1 Academy, the team and the car were amazing, but a post race penalty drops me to P9.

“Will come back even stronger in Miami. Congrats to @abbipulling on P1.”

Motorsport fans were furious Pin was stripped of her win for a seemingly minor offence, but F1 pundit Will Buxton said race officials had to penalise Pin one way or another.

“Some extreme reactions to this but it’s really not so easy to wave off the infraction,” Buxton wrote on X.

“Regardless of mitigating circumstances, continuing at full race speed and crossing the line twice when circuit staff, marshals and vehicles are likely to be on track really is a very big deal.”

In the Saudi Arabian F1 Grand Prix, Max Verstappen claimed his second race of the season ahead of teammate Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Australia’s Oscar Piastri finished fourth but Daniel Ricciardo was 16th in a disappointing result after he spun out midway through the race.

The F1 season continues at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday March 24.