Guest blog by Thiemo Albers-Daly
F1 Academy in 2023 is a curious beast. On the one hand, there has been some incredible racing action which has given us a three way title fight between Marta Garcia, Hamda Al Quabasi and Leah Bühler as well as numerous other drivers appearing on the podium and some photo finish on track results. On the other hand however, we as fans and journalists haven’t been able to see any of this play out before our eyes in real time – unless we’ve been lucky enough to get trackside. Having to make do with highlights, we’ve also lost out on some of the other storylines of the 2023 season – and like the Championship battle, they too deserve their moment in the spotlight.
One of these narratives revolves around Uruguayan driver Maite Cáceres. Having come onto the motorsport scene later than most, it’s been fascinating to watch her season unfold and witness the progress that she’s been making. Realistically, this first season of F1 Academy was going to be as much of a challenge for her as it was an ambition realized and come to life.
“To be racing in Europe is a dream come true. My experience in motorsport is two years of karting in Uruguay and one year of Formula 4 in the United States. I knew that with the experience I had, the first part of the Championship was not going to be easy, but even though it was difficult, I am here, fighting.” – Maite Cáceres
As some of you reading this may know, I’ve been keeping track of Maite’s season thus far and detailing it for you (see my profile page here on Is It Fast? to take a look back at any previous installments you may have missed). From pre-season testing and through the opening rounds, Cáceres has both struggled and shown great resilience and potential. Following each session in the car, it has felt like a step in the right direction for her, with the promise of scoring points coming ever closer to fruition. It was just a matter of time.
That time has now come.
Heading into Zandvoort, Maite was the only driver on the F1 Academy grid to not have yet scored a point. While the progress was clearly coming fast, seeing that translate into points in the standings makes it all seem that bit more real, both for the driver herself and the Campos team for which she drives. Having been close before too, you could tell that Maite was hungrier than ever to claim her maiden points.
Following some challenging practice and qualifying sessions at the technical Dutch circuit, things began to turn around once the races got underway. P14 in Race One turned into P13 in Race Two and finally, in the third and final race of the weekend, it happened. After months of hard work, dedication and determination, the young Uruguayan finished in P10. The final point on offer was taken – and it belonged to Maite Cáceres. But was the Uruguayan satisfied with this? Yes and No!
“I had the pace to maybe be P8, P7 and because of the tyres, at the end I was defending the position but it was really good to get that top ten!” – Maite Cáceres
To an outsider, one point may not seem like that big of a deal. But when the odds haven’t been in your favour and you’ve had to make up for lost time in terms of racing, making this next important step in the right direction is most certainly something to smile at and really does make all the difference. The next challenge for Maite then, was to ensure that this wasn’t a one off event.
With the momentum still building, Monza was fast approaching and as Maite’s favourite racing track, she was dreaming of moving further up the field. Once again, free practice and qualifying proved to be particularly challenging at the temple of speed but come the races themselves, and Maite had clearly learnt what she would have to do in order to turn things around. Race One saw her finish in P12 and Race Two saw the lioness jump into P8, claiming her second point scoring finish of the year! Some excellent car placement, capitalization on the drama around her and of course, her natural skill behind the wheel, all put Maite in the prime position to make that move up the grid that she wanted.
Race Three looked set to repeat that as Maite fought her way into the points in P9 but an unfortunate collision towards the end of the race meant she would be classified as finishing in P11. So close – and yet so far. Despite this though, there wasn’t any possibility of removing the smile from Maite’s face after that weekend. The fact that the results didn’t back up her performance didn’t weigh her down. She knew what was possible – and importantly, so did everyone else. The underdog story continued and developed in the way that everyone was hoping.
Two rounds remain in the 2023 F1 Academy Season – Le Castellet from the 29th-30th July and the Season Finale in Austin from the 20th-22nd October. Ahead of the former, F1 Academy went for another in-season testing session at Le Castellet and once more, the needle moved in the right direction for Maite and Campos.
“The tests at Paul Ricard are over and I’m happy with the lap times I had, with the entire grid being less than a second (apart). This assures the improvement and progress is there as seen in Zandvoort and Monza.” – Maite Cáceres
With such a large gap between these final two rounds, it is perhaps more critical than before to perform. With each session over the course of a weekend in quick succession, any bad momentum entered into by any of the drivers may be difficult to recover from and overall Championship positions could be heavily impacted as a result. The pressure that is on most of the drivers though may be less on Maite though. While her position at the bottom of the standings does not reflect her true ability, it does give her a unique advantage – and that is to really throw the kitchen sink at these final two rounds in a way most of the other drivers can’t afford to. The benefit of being an underdog is that you can risk more, take chances and operate with potentially less pressure on your shoulders than those going for the Championship. F1 Academy has already proven to be a tight Championship with lots of switches in position throughout the season. It paints a picture when you see drivers as capable as Bianca Bustamante and Amna Al Quabasi in P6 and P7 overall, despite both having two race wins each to their names along with a further three podiums between them.
“I want to reach the top of motorsport and there is not a day that I don’t work towards my goal.” – Maite Cáceres
Anything can happen in motorsport – and to borrow part of one of Murray Walker’s infamous lines, it usually does. With points in the bag and her confidence growing every day, Maite will be targeting podiums and wins now more than ever before, with nothing to lose in her pursuit of that. There’s a Uruguayan lioness hunting down the rest of the pack. They may want to watch out.
Paddock Sorority 
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