A chaotic final Race 1 of the 2025 F1 Academy Championship saw Doriane Pin take a critical victory as her team, Prema Racing, were crowned Teams' Champions in wet-weather conditions.

Pin took victory and extended her championship lead, in a crucial amount of points gained over championship rival and former F1 Academy teammate Maya Weug, who crashed just moments before the race got underway, via a rolling start.

Of the Mercedes Driver Academy, Pin led the championship by nine points heading into the seventh and final round this coming weekend and in Race 1, she was set to start behind Weug.

However, with Weug starting ahead of her rival, this was the opportunity she had to make up ground on Pin to stand a realistic and credible chance of dislodging her former teammate from the top of the championship standings.

Weug's Race 1 did not even get going, as following two formation laps behind the Safety Car it was time to get racing with a rolling start. Unable to predict a jolt from second-place Tina Hausmann, following a stalling on the grid by Emma Felbermayr, Weug ran into the back of the Swiss driver.

Both of Hausmann and Weug were out on the spot with a Safety Car called just moments later and the race was neutralised once again. This was the first of many incidents that saw five fail to make the chequered flag.

Two incidents in particular were big in the fight for third place in the Drivers' Championship with Ella Lloyd finding the wall at Turn 5 after carrying too much speed round the corner and Chloe Chambers being tagged into the wall by her Campos teammate Alisha Palmowski.

Many other incidents included Alba Larsen spinning from the lead after clipping the wall with her rear right tyre. The damage incurred soon led to her retirement.

Pin took victory one of the few laps which saw green flag racing conditions, with slipstream being used as the championship leader overtook her teammate Nina Gademan, who is backed by Alpine.

Initially taking third was Alisha Palmowski but the final podium place eventually went to Aurelia Nobels. The Brazilian secured a maiden podium following Palmowski being disqualified due to a technical infringement.

Other standout results in the point-scoring top eight positions included Hitech duo Rachel Robertson and Payton Westcott. Robertson made her debut replacing Aiva Anagonostiadis, in the Tag Heur backed car, and secured fourth place in the final classification.

As for the wildcard entry Westcott, she secured a seventh place result on debut after starting 17th. Both kept themselves out of trouble in a race which saw many experienced F1 Academy drivers get caught up in accidents.

The F1 Academy season has a Drivers' Championship to conclude though with Race 2 to come on Saturday. Doriane Pin in a good position to take the crown but Maya Weug is not mathematically out of it.

Mercedes-backed Prema Racing driver Doriane Pin was quickest in the one and only Free Practice session of the weekend in the season finale at Las Vegas, on Thursday evening.

Pin was fastest ahead of championship rival Maya Weug in a very busy session with all of the 18 drivers looking to learn the circuit that none of them had ever raced at or driven before.

​This included Chloe Chambers, who despite finishing third, caused the session's sole red flag after running into the barriers at the first turn of the race track. Chambers crashed through no fault at her own though as her suspension gave way on the start/finish straight, which left her as a passenger.

Pin largely dominated Free Practice as she went to top of the timing tower on multiple different occasions throughout the 40 minutes as the drivers began to improve lap times with them learning the circuit progressively but with also the track condition improving.

By the end of the session, which was largely disrupted due to the red flag caused by Chambers' Red Bull-Ford backed Campos in the barriers. The session restarted with 60 seconds remaining so the best flying laps set were those prior to track action being suspended.

The best of the rest, outside of the top three, was MP Motorsport's Alba Larsen, backed by Tommy Hilfiger. Completing the top five was the Red Bull Racing-backed Campos of Alisha Palmowski.

The British driver was announced to have extended her deal with Red Bull Racing, who will continue to back her through the 2026 F1 Academy Championship. Her team destination is yet to be confirmed but it seems likely Campos will be the choice with the Spanish team's good relationship with Red Bull.

The wildcard entry for the season finale in Las Vegas is Payton Westcott, who will be racing in front of her home crowd and making her F1 Academy debut in the process, one of two drivers making their debut at Hitech TGR across the season finale.

Hitech's other debut driver in Las Vegas is the Scottish driver Rachel Robertson, who replaces Aiva Anagnostiadis, who is continuing to recover from a fractured foot. Robertson has competing in Saudi Arabian F4 over the past month.

Robertson will be joining Italian F4 Womens' Championship Runner-up Westcott, in partnering full time Hitech driver Nicole Havrda.

Top of the times though in Free Practice was Pin and in a championship-deciding weekend, that she is contesting glory with her former F1 Academy Prema teammate Maya Weug. Qualifying will complete Thursday and set the grid for the final two races of the season.

Two drivers. Two Formula One driver academies. Two races remain but only one can walk away as champion of the 2025 F1 Academy Champion and be crowned on the iconic Las Vegas streets.

The final round of the F1 Academy Championship takes place this coming weekend in a debut visit for the racing series to the new Las Vegas Street Circuit, which entered the Formula One World Championship, as  a race track, in 2023.

However, although it is a debut experience for F1 Academy, there are two championships to be decided with both of the Drivers' and Teams' Championships seeing a champion at the end of the weekend regardless.

The battles are centred around two drivers and two teams, with both Drivers; fighting for their own glory but also their teams. One side is the fantastic French talent Doriane Pin of Prema Racing, who will be looking to be crowned champion after finishing runners' up in 2024.

On the other side of the battle is the Dutch duo, of team and driver, with Maya Weug and MP Motorsport looking to make comebacks and overtake both Pin and Prema at the summit of the championship.

Beneath the drivers and their teams is the driver academies both find themselves within. Pin is of the Mercedes Driver Academy and will be hoping some of the Formula One team's fortune in Las Vegas, 12 months ago, will be filtering through to F1 Academy.

On the other hand, Weug is part of the Ferrari Driver Academy and will be going head to head against her former teammate no less, with both Weug and Pin sharing a Prema team with Tina Hausmann in 2024.

A Mercedes vs Ferrari Drivers' Championship fight could be reminiscent of that in 2017 and 2018 between Sir Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel in Formula One.

Despite this being a brand new venue, just one Free Practice session has been granted to the teams and drivers around the Las Vegas Street Circuit. This will take place on the Thursday, due to the race weekend format seeing the Las Vegas Grand Prix run on a Saturday.

Qualifying will also take place on Thursday in Las Vegas, which will form the grid for Race 1 on Friday and Race 2 on Sunday.

The wildcard entry for the season finale will be American Payton Westcott, who has competed in Italian F4 and E4 during 2025. She will complete the Hitech lineup alongside Nicole Havrda and debutant Rachel Robertson, who replaces the injured Aiva Anagnostiadis.

At the end of this weekend though we will have two champions. Will it be Prema Racing or MP Motorsport? Will it be Doriane Pin vs Maya Weug? Time will tell!

A great drive from Lia Block at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore saw the Williams Academy driver take a maiden win in the F1 Academy Championship.

Block had improved on a maiden podium in the previous round at Zandvoort, where she finished second in Race 1. One round later and the American driver can call herself an F1 Academy race winner.

It was a dramatic race that delivered a lot of drama, which included four retirees from proceedings. Nicola Havrda was the first driver to retire from Race 1, following her running into the wall at Turn 7 on the opening lap.

This was a crash which saw her taken to Singapore General Hospital for precautionary checks which have come back positive to allow her to compete in Race 2.

Other retirements in the race included the wildcard entry of Lisa Billard. Backed by Gatorade, the French racing driver was tagged around by Alba Larsen at the restart, which saw a 10-second penalty for the MP Motorsport of Larsen.

Alisha Palmowski and Rafaela Ferreira made it a double retirement for Campos, with Palmowski's weekend getting worse following the crash in qualifying, meaning she starts both races of the weekend from 18th.

A great drive through the field from Ferrari-backed driver Maya Weug, who after starting eighth, finished second. That is points gained on the championship leader on Doriane Pin, with the opportunity to gain more in Race 2.

Pin finished in fifth and took five points as opposed to Weug's eight. Chloe Chambers completed the podium in third, with Aurelia nobels the other driver in the top five after a fourth-place finish.

Race 2 completes F1 Academy weekend action and that will see the top two in the championship share the front row of the grid.

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Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

Ferrari-backed and MP Motorsport driver Maya Weug took Race 2 pole position, following on from Friday in Singapore, where she finished fastest.

Weug topped the time sheets in the latter stages, which saw her claim two vital championship points, over championship leader Doriane Pin. The Ferrari Academy driver will be hoping to gain more points on Pin during Race 2, where she will be looking to convert pole position into race victory.

The top three in the Drivers' Championship took the top three places in the qualifying session with Red Bull Ford-backed driver Chloe Chambers finishing in third position. Chambers was running in second until the very end when Pin jumped above her on the timing tower.

Ella Lloyd was fourth for McLaren and Rodin Motorsport, with the British driver having a decent chance of a podium for both races, as she will start in the middle of the top eight. Lloyd comes into the round fourth in the championship.

Alisha Palmowski, fifth in the championship, had a session to forget after she hit the wall on her first flying lap of qualifying, which subsequently brought out the red flag. She will start 18th for both races.

Achievement of the day perhaps has to go to the wildcard entry Lisa Billard, who was fifth fastest, in her very first F1 Academy qualifying session. Emma Felbermayr and Aurelia Nobels were sixth and seventh

Lia Block will start Race 1 from pole position after qualifying in eighth. Race 1 is the next action, on Saturday afternoon, with a scheduled 15:00 start time at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

​A dominant drive from pole position, for Ferrari-backed MP Motorsport driver Maya Weug, who took victory on home soil for the driver and team, in Race 2 at Zandvoort on Sunday morning.
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Weug becomes the second Dutch driver, across the F1 Academy weekend, to take victory at her home event, following Nina Gademan's success in Race 1 on Saturday.

Of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Weug took pole position with a brilliant session in the Saturday morning and qualifying and put a stunning drive together in Race 1, to finish third from eighth.

Weug was victorious ahead of Alisha Palmowski in second and Doriane Pin, championship leader, in third. Both completed the podium after Ella Lloyd dropped to fourth from second, after the race, for moving before the signal at the start of the race.

Chloe Chambers had a disastrous round and was hoping to close the gap in the championship, to leader Doriane Pin, after starting the race one place ahead of her.

However, a mechanical issue on the grid prior to the Formation Lap saw her not participate in the race. She has lost major points to her championship rivals, Pin and Weug, in the fight for glory.

Chambers was Race 2's only retirement across the 17 laps of racing on Sunday morning.

After a difficult Race 1, where she crashed out with a possible podium in prospect, Tina Hausmann finished fifth ahead of her Prema teammate and Race 1 winner Nina Gademan.

All three Dutch drivers competing this weekend ended Race 2 in the points, with Esmee Kosterman becoming the first Wildcard entry in 2025 to score points.

The round at Zandvoort in 2024 also saw the first points for any Wildcard entry across the season. That year it was Nina Gademan so potentially Kosterman could win a race next year, should she join the championship.

Rafaela Ferreira, Alba Larsen and Chloe Chong completed the top 10.

F1 Academy race weekend action returns in October, when the penultimate round of the 2025 F1 Academy championship will take place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

​A memorable 22nd birthday for Nina Gademan, as after starting from pole position in race 1 on home soil, she took her first F1 Academy race on Saturday afternoon at Zandvoort.

Gademan started the race from pole position and controlled the race out front by leading every single lap. It was a well managed drive as she also had to contend with a Safety Car period.

The only Safety Car period in the race was caused by Gademan's Prema teammate Tina Hausmann, who was looking at a podium after starting second. In the end, Hausmann was the only retirement in Race 1.

Gademan secured her maiden victory in the F1 Academy Championship, at her home event, where she made her F1 Academy debut in 2024 as a wildcard entry. Now the Alpine-backed Prema driver was on the top step of the podium.

It was a memorable drive too from the Williams Academy driver Lia Block, of ART Grand Prix, who secured her maiden F1 Academy podium with a second-place finish.

Maya Weug, who topped the morning qualifying on Saturday and will start Sunday's Race 2 from pole position, completed the podium in third. Weug started eighth and drove well through the field after passing the likes of championship leader Doriane Pin and McLaren-backed Ella Lloyd.

Lloyd was fourth just missing out on a podium place after being passed by Weug in the latter stages. Weug's third place finish, on her home soil, meant a home event podium for her and also her team MP Motorsport, who were also celebrating their home event.

Championship leader Doriane Pin started fourth and was no doubt hoping of extending her lead in the Drivers' Championship, with Chloe Chambers and Maya Weug, her two closest rivals, starting behind.

Pin finished sixth, which was just behind the Red Bull Ford-backed Campos of Chambers, who completed the top five.

Chambers' Campos teammate Alisha Palmowski, backed by Red Bull Racing, was seventh. The final point handed out in Race 1 was handed to Kick Sauber-backed Emma Felbermayr, who was eighth.
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Race 2 will complete round five at Zandvoort on Sunday morning, with home hero Maya Weug starting from pole. This will bring a brilliant chance for two Dutch drivers, in F1 Academy, two win at their home event.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

A last-gasp flying lap from Ferrari-backed MP Motorsport driver Maya Weug, on Saturday morning at Zandvoort, saw her top the qualifying session at her home event.

The Dutch driver racing for the Dutch team in 2025 has bounced back at Zandvoort, after a difficult previous round at Montreal, to keep her championship hopes well and truly alive for the final three rounds.

Weug will start Race 2, on Sunday, from pole position after topping qualifying with a 1:38.834. This was a lap that was marginally good enough for pole position, as the Ferrari Academy driver beat the Red Bull Racing-backed Campos of Alisha Palmowski by 0.038.

It will be a Dutch driver starting both races from the front of the field after Nina Gademan, who was only cleared to participate on Saturday, qualified in eighth.

Due to the reversing of the top eight in qualifying to form the grid for Race 1, Gademan will start from pole. Gademan missed FP2 after the Chief Medical Officer declared her unfit to participate until the additional checks were completed.

Weug topped the session ahead of Palmowski with British and McLaren-backed Rodin driver Ella Lloyd in third. Chloe Chambers was fourth while championship leader Doriane Pin could only take fifth.

It was an entertaining session with lots of laps completed and the ever-changing track condition with wet weather through the night and the early hours of the morning.

However, by the time the session started, it was dry in the sky but the track was still damp. All of the drivers, who participated across the entire session, used both wet weather and dry tyre compounds.

The session was not without controversy though. Two red flags, with one being a collision between teammates.

Hitech duo Nicole Havrda and Aiva Anagnostiadis collided at turn 1 in the early stages of the session, with Anagnostiadis in the gravel.

The other was a slight error from Aurelia Nobels in mixed track conditions saw her end up in the gravel, much to her bitter disappointment.
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Race 1 is up next at Zandvoort, with the top eight from qualifying reversed to form the grid. Nina Gademan will start on pole, later on Saturday.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

​Red Bull Ford-backed Campos Racing driver Chloe Chambers was fastest in the second and final F1 Academy Free Practice session at Zandvoort, on Friday afternoon.

Chambers got her lap set within the first half of the session before the wet weather started to play a main part in proceedings, with no personal best laps being set in the latter stages.

The American driver ended up finishing the session quickest with a 1:36.873, which was the fastest time across both sessions. This was likely due to large track evolution throughout the day, with Formula One cars taking to the track twice in between the two F1 Academy sessions.

Chambers set the fastest time ahead of Maya Weug, of MP Motorsport and the Ferrari Driver Academy, who was second for the second successive session across Friday.

Championship leader and the Mercedes-backed Prema driver, Doriane Pin, was third. Alisha Palmowski completed the top four, following the Brit topping Free Practice 1 in the morning.
Alba Larsen rounded off the top five for MP Motorsport.

Wildcard entry Esmee Kosterman had an impressive Free Practice 2 and concluded the session in ninth. The first Wildcard entry to score points in the 2024 F1 Academy Championship, was Nina Gademan.

Gademan was the wildcard entry at Zandvoort in 2024 and should Kosterman score points like her fellow Dutch driver did, she will be the first wildcard to score out of the 2025 group.

News around Gademan, who currently competes in the 2025 season, is not all that positive. Before the session, Gademan was declared unfit to race at Zandvoort by the medical staff until additional checks were complete.

No update has been provided as of the time of this report but Gademan was declared unfit by the Chief Medical Officer at the event.
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Qualifying will be the next part of the F1 Academy weekend at Zandvoort. Whether it will be officially 17 or 18 yet is unclear.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

​Great Britain’s Red Bull Racing-backed Alisha Palmowski was fastest for Campos, on Friday morning, in the opening F1 Academy Free Practice session of the day at Zandvoort.

Palmowski was quickest in a session that had green flag running cut short by eight minutes, due to Joanne Ciconte finding the wall at turn eight.

The 18-year-old had good form around the Zandvoort circuit, with her being the star of the F1 Academy that took place at the venue between July 22 and July 23.

Palmowski was fastest in the session with a 1:38.196 but finished top by a very narrow margin. FIve thousandths of a second was the gap between Palmowski at the top and home hero Maya Weug, who was second.

Weug, of the Ferrari Driver Academy and Dutch team MP Motorsport, will be looking to restore her championship bid this weekend, after a difficult round last time out in Montreal.

There was two Campos drivers in the top three with Chloe Chambers in third.

Championship leader Doriane Pin had a quiet session with few laps but ended up fourth. Pin comes into this round with a 20-point lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship – to Chambers in second.

Chloe Chong made it four teams in the top five as she put her Rodin Motorsport car fifth.
Esmee Kosterman looked to have some speed in comparison to other drivers in the early stages but the wildcard entry could only manage 14th.
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Free Practice 2 will conclude the Friday F1 Academy action at Zandvoort.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal