Nina Gademan impressed in her Formula Winter Series debut, securing three consecutive female trophy wins and a personal best sixth-place finish overall, consistently battling in the top ten as she prepares for her first full-time F1 Academy season.
With three strong races in which Nina Gademan started just outside the top ten, she twice drove into the points and dominated the female trophy competition, leaving her rivals far behind. The Dutchwoman impressed on her first start in the Formula Winter Series, achieving her personal best finish in single-seaters with an outstanding sixth-place result in Race 1.
Gademan begins her second year in Formula 4 after debuting in British F4 last year, where she secured a personal best finish of 11th and scored 28 points in a development-focused campaign that saw her make significant progress.
Following a remarkable wild-card appearance in the F1 Academy at Zandvoort in 2024, Gademan was signed by Alpine for her first full-time season in the all-female championship. She is using the Formula Winter Series as preparation for her upcoming commitments.
Her first appearance at Portimão showcased impressive potential, as she consistently battled at the front and moved forward after an encouraging qualifying performance.
On Thursday and Friday, six practice sessions were scheduled for the young drivers of the Formula Winter Series. Gademan immediately showed strong potential, frequently running in the top 15 in a highly competitive 30-car field featuring some of Europe's most promising young drivers. She twice set the 13th-fastest time, with a personal best of 1:45.664 in the final session.
"I'm thrilled to be kicking off the Formula Winter Series with Hitech, starting this week at Portimão," the 21-year-old commented prior to the weekend. "It's an incredible circuit, and I can't wait to take on the challenges it presents. We've been working hard over the winter to prepare and I'm feeling confident heading into the season."
Race 1
After promising testing sessions, Nina Gademan qualified in 13th place for the first race.
The Dutchwoman has made significant improvements since her Formula 4 debut, aided by the support of her team, Hitech GP, and Alpine. Her goal is to compete on equal terms with the rest of the field and prove that "we girls can also race at the front."
As the highest-placed female driver in qualifying, she put that claim into action. By the end of the first lap, she had already moved up to ninth place. Among the drivers she overtook, only Anurag managed to re-pass her after setting the fastest lap of the race.
On Lap 5, a collision between Rehm and Frey at Turn 1 sent Frey off track, allowing Gademan to benefit. Anurag, who had been the fastest driver on track, suffered technical issues and had to pit, returning his position to Gademan. The Dutchwoman then closed in on seventh-placed Rehm and engaged in an intense battle, swapping positions multiple times.
With two-thirds of the race completed, a stranded car triggered a safety car period. The race restarted on the final lap, leading to a chaotic Turn 1, where three cars went side by side. Gademan, on the outside line, dropped to tenth but quickly regained one place. After post-race penalties were applied, she was promoted to sixth overall—her best result in single-seaters.
After receiving the female trophy on the podium, she explained that although she hadn’t qualified as well as she had hoped, the race result more than made up for it.
RACE 2
Gademan started the second race from 13th place once again. As in Race 1, she had a strong start, engaging in a battle with Sebastian Bach before being pushed onto the dirty part of the track. Nevertheless, she crossed the line in tenth at the end of the opening lap.
A few incidents in the midfield led to an early safety car on Lap 2. At the restart, positions remained unchanged for Gademan. However, after a collision between two competitors at Turn 4, another safety car phase was deployed.
During this restart, Gademan battled in a four-car fight with Harrison, Bach, and Kostic but couldn’t make further gains, ultimately finishing tenth. Despite this, she was once again the best-placed female driver and claimed her second female trophy.
After the race, she explained that while her start had been chaotic, she had still managed to gain positions. Toward the end, she struggled with tyre graining, which limited her ability to attack further.
RACE 3
The final race of the weekend was defined by unpredictable weather and chaos. The track was very wet, but with no further rain, teams faced a difficult tyre choice between slicks and wets.
At the race start, confusion arose when only three of the five starting lights illuminated before going out, causing a messy launch. Gademan, like most drivers on wet tyres, quickly gained ground, but the race was red-flagged, nullifying the start. The race was then restarted from the original grid positions behind the safety car.
Once racing resumed, Gademan made rapid progress, entering the top ten within the first lap as drivers on slicks lost positions.
As the race developed, she closed in on Robinson but lost a position in a three-way battle against the fastest driver on track, Severiukhin. The fight continued until the checkered flag, with Gademan holding her ground but unable to gain further places.
She finished 12th but was later promoted to eleventh after Rehm was disqualified.
For the third consecutive race, Gademan was the highest-placed female driver, securing the female trophy once again.
With these strong performances, Nina Gademan proved that her pre-weekend claim was more than just words—it was a realistic assessment of her potential. As the Formula Winter Series heads to Valencia, all eyes will be on her to see if she can extend her streak in the female trophy and secure even stronger overall results.
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