Natalia Granada made an encouraging start to her first F1 Academy race weekend at Zandvoort, finishing fifth in a disrupted Free Practice session ahead of the 2026 Dutch GP.
The PREMA Racing driver emerged as the highest-placed rookie after setting a 1:38.985, despite two red flags and changing weather conditions limiting the amount of representative running available. Granada ended the session just over two tenths away from home favourite Nina Gademan, who topped the timesheets with a 1:38.729.
Conditions made life difficult throughout the 40-minute session. Drivers initially faced a damp circuit and changing winds before rain arrived as the session progressed. Ava Dobson caused the first stoppage after hitting the barriers at Turn 9, while a later incident for Jade Jacquet brought out a second red flag and prevented the session from restarting.
Despite the interruptions, Granada showed competitive pace and finished within a tightly packed group at the front, with only half a second covering the top nine.
Granada pleased to carry testing momentum into Free Practice
With limited opportunities to complete push laps, Granada focused on finding a suitable balance and building on the progress PREMA had made during testing. The rookie felt the car behaved as the team had anticipated around Zandvoort and took encouragement from the work completed despite the interruptions.
“We are trying to carry the momentum from the test and we managed to do so in Free Practice. I think we did three push laps before the first Red Flag and maybe only three more after the second one. We tried our best to find the car balance, and it matched what we expected from the track today. I think we did a good job as a team.”
The disrupted F1 Academy Free Practice session gave Granada relatively little time to learn the circuit in Zandvoort under race-weekend conditions. However, her fifth-place finish provided a positive starting point as attention turns towards Saturday morning’s Qualifying session.
Wet Qualifying could offer Granada an opportunity
The weather could play an even greater role when the field returns to the circuit for Qualifying, with wet conditions expected at Zandvoort. Granada has relatively little experience driving the F1 Academy car in the wet. Before the Dutch GP weekend, her wet-weather mileage had come from the Silverstone test and the Montreal Feature Race earlier in the season. However, she does not want that lack of experience to dictate her expectations.
Instead, the PREMA driver believes difficult conditions could create an opportunity. Free Practice already demonstrated how quickly the field can compress when grip levels change, and Granada hopes to take advantage if Qualifying produces similar circumstances.
“We expect it to be wet for Qualifying. I’m looking forward to it, I think it will be very interesting. Free Practice already showed that when the conditions are not great, the pack closes up and it’s more mixed. It’s a good opportunity to maximise that. I feel good in the car, and we know in which direction we want to go. I feel confident that even in those changing conditions we can be strong. I’m really thinking about how much experience I don’t have. I’m just thinking about what I can do to finish in the highest position possible.”
With Granada already comfortable with the direction PREMA wants to take with the car, adapting quickly to the changing conditions will now become one of her main challenges.
Granada sets sights beyond the top eight
Qualifying carries particular importance at Zandvoort, where the narrow and demanding circuit offers limited overtaking opportunities. Six of the seven previous F1 Academy races at the Dutch venue have been won from pole position, increasing the value of securing a strong starting position. For Granada, improving her Qualifying performance has also become a major focus after the opening half of her rookie campaign. A place inside the top eight would put her in a strong position for the Reverse Grid Race, but she has no intention of limiting her ambitions to that target.
“It’s even more crucial than usual. It’s what we are working on the most, it’s what we have been missing during the season because a lot of the other factors we are managing to improve a lot on. It will be very important tomorrow morning to adapt to whatever comes. We are the first cars on track, but we need to make it work because we need to turn everything around for the second half of the season. Top eight is the goal, but we are aiming higher, much higher.”
After starting the weekend as the quickest rookie in Free Practice, Granada will now look to translate that early pace into a strong grid position as she begins the second half of her 2026 F1 Academy campaign.
