Rodin Motorsport’s Ella Lloyd spoke to media outlets including Pit Debrief prior to the F1 Academy weekend in Singapore. The 2025 grid has drivers who have both never raced Singapore, and drivers who have. Lloyd was fortunate enough to make her F1 Academy debut in Singapore as the Wild Card in 2024.
Lessons from her 2024 Singapore debut
The Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore is a notoriously difficult track for well-established drivers, let alone rookies. Lloyd acknowledged how much she has developed as a driver over the last year. She doesn’t believe that her Wild Card experience in 2024 will provide her with many lessons for this weekend. She added that the track and the car are the only things that she will have knowledge and advantage with.
“Yeah, so obviously doing last year as a Wild Card I think prepped me quite well, going to a track that obviously is a street circuit, so I didn’t really get a chance to go to. But yeah, I think just over, well the year I’ve just developed as a driver, so I don’t think anything from last year except obviously driving the track and driving the car, you know, will benefit me. I think I’ve just developed so much over the years as a driver anyway and that’s just gonna make, you know, make the big difference really.”
Rain forecast for the weekend
In what is rare for the Singapore GP weekend, rain is predicted for many of the F1 Academy sessions. When asked how she will prepare for the possibility of rain, Lloyd stated she is “looking forward” to it. Coming from her home in the UK, and competing in British F4, rain is a condition she is used to.
Despite this, she noted that at the end of the day, the Marina Bay Circuit is a street track, which comes with low grip. Lloyd will take each session as it comes and adapt to track conditions as they change. The tight walls pose a tough challenge when pushing for speed, so this will be a focus.
“I think I’m looking forward to the rain, to be honest. You know, coming from the UK and British F4, it always rains, so I’m pretty used to it. But I think, yeah, like Doriane [Pin] said, obviously, it’s a street circuit, so it’s going to be quite low grip. But I think we’re just going to take it session by session and just see what the track’s like and just build up to it, really. That’s all you can do.
“There’s obviously the walls that’s going to, you know, we can’t really push over, push the limit because, you know, you’re going to have a little tap. But, you know, it’s just going to take it session by session, really.”
