Academy Report: 19 points and more learnings for Jamie in Alabama

While Formula 1 raced the city streets of Baku, Jamie Chadwick returned to action in the lush green surroundings of Alabama's Barber Motorsports Park to continue her Stateside 2023 racing campaign.

If you thought the break between Australia and Azerbaijan was a long wait between events, take a moment to consider the race-free run of our Williams Racing Academy's Indy NXT driver, who hasn't raced since the start of March.

Unfortunately, an opening-lap collision with Ernie Francis Jr. limited how much progress Jamie could make from her P17 starting position.

After Christian Bogle ran wide on Lap 1, Jamie found herself outside of a three-abrest entry into the next corner, and a squeezed Francis tumbled into our number 28 to send JC to the back.

Despite picking up damage, Jamie made it to the pit lane, where the Andretti Autosport mechanics went to work repairing the wishbone and successfully got the car back out on track, albeit three laps down.

While others had race-ending crashes, a calm and collected Jamie kept out of trouble through full-course yellows and a red flag stoppage to cross the line in P11, picking up 19 points for her championship campaign.

There are no further two-month gaps for our 24-year-old racer this season, and Jamie will return to action for Round 3 at the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 13.