The Dutch GP was a crucial race weekend in the F1 Academy title fight, and for Chambers, it started well. Qualifying in P4 ahead of Championship leader, Doriane Pin, Chambers had set herself up to be in the fight for a race win.
Race 1 began under tense circumstances, as Chambers fell to P8 after a battle with Doriane Pin. However, the American driver climbed back up to claim a decent P5 finish ahead of her rival. In Race 2, it would be crucial for Chambers to challenge her other rival, Maya Weug, who had been ahead all through the weekend.
However, as the lights went out for the formation lap, Chambers’ car would not start. The team moved the car to the pits, but were unable to resolve the issue, forcing Chambers to retire from the race. Meanwhile, her two biggest Championship rivals, Pin and Weug, completed the second Race with a podium and a race win, respectively.
Chambers remains positive despite DNS
Despite the major setback to her pursuit of the title, the Red Bull Ford driver reflected positively on the team’s overall performance.
“Generally speaking, the weekend has gone pretty decent. I think that the team and I had done everything right”, she said. “Obviously, today was a shame, but there was nothing really that we could have done about it.”
She continued, taking the misfortune on the chin and looking ahead to the strategy moving forward. “It’s kind of the luck of the draw. Now we have to keep pushing for the rest of the year and try to make up as many points as possible from here on for the rest of the time.”
Chambers provided further insight on the cause of her forced retirement, explaining, “You start the car on the one minute to go signal for the formation lap and then the car was not starting. Then we could get it to start with the jump battery, but then it was dying.
“You keep going because obviously you have to do the formation lap and the race start, and the car would just not run”, she continued, adding, “The team has to do investigations and everything and then hopefully we’ll be able to come back in Singapore and Vegas and have some good races.”
Moving forward: Chambers shares her strategy
Looking ahead to the remaining two rounds on the calendar, Chambers stated that the unfortunate setback at Zandvoort has changed her approach moving forward.
“The rest of the year, I’m just looking to keep trying to win races”, she said. “Obviously, the title was what I was hoping for, but I think this misfortune has set my priorities in a different order now for the rest of the year.
“I’m more so looking at each race at its own weekend and trying to do the best in every race that I possibly can”. She continued, remarking positively that the setback might be of some advantage. “Maybe now I can feel a little bit more confident in taking some more risks, a little bit in a way.
“Obviously, I’m still third in the Standings, so still in a good spot”, she said. “I think Maya and I are pretty close together now because we’ve both had a couple of tough weekends back-to-back with each other, so we’ve managed to trade off there”. Outlining her strategy, she added, “I think Maya and I will be fighting for P2, and then hopefully we’ll get some points back to Doriane and go into Vegas at least with a shot of it.”
Indeed, the top 3 remain only 34 points apart, meaning an improvement in the standings is still possible for Chambers. In the last two rounds, the Singapore GP and Las Vegas GP will be critical deciders of the Championship. Chambers will need to both defend against rookies Lloyd and Palmowski close behind, and push forward to challenge Pin and Weug ahead.
