Ferrari-backed and MP Motorsport driver Maya Weug ran out victorious following a Chloe Chambers penalty in the Jeddah Race 2, to take the championship lead.

Weug took victory despite crossing the line in second place. However, the Dutch driver inherited the win following a five-second time penalty for Chambers, for forcing Weug off the track in the early stages of the 13-lap race.

However, Chambers drove brilliantly throughout the rest of the race and with the penalty managed to pull a five-second gap to Doriane Pin in third place to hold onto a top two finish behind Weug, who picked up her second top two finish of the weekend after finishing second in Saturday's Race 1.

Weug now takes the championship leading heading into next month's round three which will see a return to Florida, to go racing in Miami, which is in support of the Miami Grand Prix. The gap is seven points in Weug's favour to Pin in second place!

Grand Prix Sunday rolled around at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but it was also Race 2 day in F1 Academy, to complete the second round of the 2025 season.

Following an exciting reverse grid race in Race 1, where Ella Lloyd took victory for the first time in F1 Academy on Saturday despite being pressured all the way to the line for victory by Maya Weug, who was also hunting for her first victory of the 2025 season.

​ The starting grid was as they qualified with Chloe Chambers taking pole position for the very first time and she was to start from the front of the field. Doriane Pin shared the front row with Chambers and was hoping to extend her championship lead.

Behind them on the second row was two of Race 1's podium finishers. Starting third was Maya Weug, while alongside her in fourth was Alisha Palmowski. The race was ready for 13 laps of racing around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

The lights went out and a good start for Chambers saw her lead into the first sequence of corners, while not as good of a start from Pin, who was overtaken by the Ferrari-backed MP Motorsport driver Weug. Pin dropped to third.

While the first few all got away, there was a slow few starts that included Ella Lloyd, Joanne Ciconte, Aiva Agnostiadis, Lia Block and Farah Ayoulsef - the Wildcard entry for round two at Jeddah. They would all eventually get going but had some catching up to do!

There was action throughout the first few laps and on lap two, Race 1 pole sitter Emma Felbermayr was spun round after being hit in the rear by Racing Bull-backed Campos driver Rafaela Ferreira. Felbermayr dropped towards the back of the field and to 17th position.

Ferreira was punished for this, for causing a collision, and was handed a 10-second time penalty as a punishment for being deemed responsible by the Stewards.

Already there was a battle for race lead as Weug was catching the race leader Chambers, with the MP Motorsport driver seemingly having greater speed than the Campos American racer. Weug initially attempted to get by on lap 22 but would be shown the run off area by Chambers.

Chambers was penalised for this incident at turn 22 and it was an all-so important come the end of the race. The penalty awarded was a five-second time penalty, which was added to her race time at the chequered flag.

However, being shown the run off did not deter Weug and down the start finish straight she flew ahead of Chambers and moved into the race lead, and her strong pace was definitely showing.

A few corners later, Weug was offset by a curb which allowed Chambers back alongside Weug and both of them went off the circuit and rejoined with Chambers in the lead but Weug was down to third after Pin managed to find her way through into second place.

One lap later and Weug re-claimed second place demonstrating her speed was still very fast around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit! Fantastic stuff from the Dutch driver!

There was plenty of battling through the field and this was demonstrated by replays from lap six showing Joanne Ciconte getting by Chloe Chong for 10th position but had ground to make up to achieve further as Ferreira ahead had a penalty so there was an opportunity to score some further points.

A few laps later and a battle formed for fourth place with Danish driver Alba Larsen catching Red Bull Racing-backed Campos driver Alisha Palmowski, who had fallen back from chasing Pin for the final place on the podium.

However, Larsen was unable to get by Palmowski who was looking to hold on for another top four finish across the weekend of F1 Academy in Jeddah.

Working hard to extend her gap out in front was Chambers. She was unable to shake Weug off who was persistent as ever maintaining within a two-second gap of the American as the race headed in to the latter stages.

However, Chambers was extending the gap to Pin in third as the Red-Bull Ford backed Campos driver was keen in staying in the top two. On the final lap, she was able to pull over five seconds clear of Pin on the final lap.

As she crossed the line, she took the flag first but with the time penalty she was not to take victory in Saudi Arabia. That honour instead went to Maya Weug, who picked up her first win in 2025 and made it two top two finishes across the weekend.

Chambers though did enough to hold onto second place for Campos, and she had achieved a fantastic result and showed great pace with time against her in the race, to pull a five second plus gap on the rest of the drivers outside of the top two.

Doriane Pin had to be content for third place and completed the podium, with Alisha Palmowski in fourth and Alba Larsen completed the top five. In sixth place for the second successive race was Tina Hausmann, ahead of Nina Gademan who completed an impressive weekend to finish seventh.

Gademan had battled through the weekend whilst recovering from injury to take two points scoring finish from the weekend. The Alpine Academy driver ended up in hospital following a bad crash around Jeddah, during in-season tested.

Race 1 winner Ella Lloyd finished eighth ahead of Joanne Ciconte and Chloe Chong, who completed the top 10 and scored their first points of the season!

F1 Academy will return between May 2-4 for round three of the season taking place at Miami, in support of Formula One's Miami Grand Prix.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal

For the first time in F1 Academy, Wales has a winner in the championship as Ella Lloyd drove excellently to win in the Race 1 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia.

Lloyd took the lead into the first corner of the first lap and maintained the race lead throughout the race despite high pressure from behind late on, by Ferrari junior MP Motorsport driver Maya Weug.

However, McLaren Development Driver Lloyd took victory for Rodin Motorsport for her first win in the championship. Lloyd took victory ahead of Weug, who pushed hard from sixth to second but was short of victory but only just. Alisha Palmowski of Red Bull Racing and Campos Racing completed the podium.

Championship leader Doriane Pin fought hard through the field to finish fourth and was pursuing a podium all the way to the line but unfortunately for her, the Mercedes-backed Prema could not get by Palmowski.

Lloyd becomes the third different winner from the first three races of the season. Three different teams have also won a race in the first three with Campos, Prema and now Rodin Motorsport have all won one so far this season.

For the first time since March 23 it was time to go racing in the 2025 F1 Academy Championship on Saturday at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia. Following a busy Friday with Free Practice and Qualifying, attention turned to Race 1 on Saturday.

Friday qualifying saw Chloe Chambers take her first pole position in F1 Academy and will start Sunday's Race 2 from the front of the field. However, for Race 1 the top eight from qualifying was reversed to form the starting grid.

This was to mean that starting from pole position was the Kick Sauber-backed Rodin Motorsport driver Emma Felbermayr. It was a Rodin Motorsport front row lockout with Welsh driver Ella Lloyd startig second.

Behind them on the second row was Aston Martin-backed Prema driver Tina Hausmann and Tommy Hilfiger-backed MP Motorsport driver Alba Larsen.

Before the lights went out there would be bad news for Wildcard driver Farah Alyousef as she was out of position for the race start, after the Safety Car line. This was because she was behind Lia Block, who she was meant to start in front of.

The Stewards took a dim view of her actions and during the early parts of the race handed her a 10-second stop/go penalty for this infringement. This was not her only penalty for the start of Race 1, as she received a five-second time penalty for a false start.

Once the lights went out, Lloyd got the better of the starts between her and Rodin teammate and Felbermayr and led into the first corner. A great start from the Red Bull Racing-backed driver Alisha Palmowski who went from fifth all the way to third behind Felbermayr.

Slow starters at the back who looked to stall initially was the Rodin & Charlotte Tilbury driver Chloe Chong and Wildcard driver Alyousef, who dropped to the back two places in the field.

Palmowski continued her good start and took second from Felbermayr, at the end of lap two and it was a British 1-2 with Welsh driver Lloyd leading the Red Bull junior driver Palmowski. 

Felbermayr getting overtaken in the final corner left her offset to Weug and down the start finish straight the Dutch Ferrari Academy driver moved up to third for MP Motorsport, with Felbermayr losing two positions in as many corners.

Block had a difficult qualifying session as she crashed early on bringing out the red flag, which meant she would have to start from the back for both races across the weekend in Jeddah. More misery was added to her weekend when she was tagged around by ART's Courtney Crone.

Crone was blamed for the accident by the Stewards  and the Haas-backed driver received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision. She later retired from the race with damage which looked likely to be sustained between her and Block.

Block and Crone were the head drivers of a four-car train towards the back with Nicole Havrda having to pit with damage. Also, Rodin driver Chong would make contact with Havrda, and the Brit could do nothing to avoid the collision with the Canadian and came off much worse.

A damaged front right suspension saw her retire from the race and on lap 4 the race's only Safety Car was introduced. Despite a good start for Lloyd, her over one second lead was wiped out and the field was bunched up together.

The Safety Car went in on lap seven with the race getting back underway on lap eight with Lloyd leading despite being under pressure from her fellow Brit Palmowski as they raced down into the first turn. Palmowski was under pressure also from the Ferrari-liveried MP driver of Weug.

Further back, there was a change of fifth as championship leader Doriane Pin made a move for fifth, as she passed the Sauber-backed Felbermayr. This allowed Pin to pursue Dane Alba Larsen for fourth.

Larsen, 16, put up a great fight to keep the Mercedes-backed Prema driver at bay for a while but unfortunately for her the pace of Pin was too strong and the French racer got by on lap nine of the race.

The top three however were out in front and were battling for victory with all of them very close to each other with Lloyd maintaining the race lead for Rodin Motorsport. Palmowski was in second but under pressure from Weug behind.

Weug had been pressuring Palmowski for many laps and the Ferrari-liveried MP Motorsport car saw an opportunity and went for it. Weug went to second fastest as down the start/finish straight the MP Motorsport car just seeming had more pace and got ahead of Palmowski before the first turn.

Onto the final lap and Weug set her sights on Lloyd and the Rodin driver had to show positive strength and good defensive skills to keep the Dutch racer behind. However, despite pressure all the way to the line, Lloyd held on to take a history win in F1 Academy at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Lloyd would take the win to become the first Welsh racing driver to win in F1 Academy and also became the first McLaren driver to score a podium and victory at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on a Formula One weekend.

After leading every single lap it was a commanding and brilliant drive from Lloyd and making her one to watch for the rest of the season progresses forward. She led home Weug who had to settle for second place. In another great Race 1 drive, Alisha Palmowski was third and completed the podium.

Doriane Pin was fourth despite piling the pressure on Palmowski towards the end of the race. Another great drive from Alba Larsen completed the top five for MP Motorsport. Tina Hausmann is sixth for Prema ahead of Chloe Chambers for seventh place. Nina Gademan completed the point scoring in eighth with a brilliant result, as she fights the pain of recovery.

Race 2 will complete the weekend's action on Sunday.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

Chloe Chambers set a stunning lap time in Saudi Arabia to top qualifying and take pole position for Sunday's Race 2 under the night skies of Jeddah.

The Red Bull Ford-backed Campos driver took the pole position award in Jeddah after a stunning performance in the Friday qualifying, for what is her first ever pole position in the F1 Academy Championship. A great achievement from the American driver.

Chambers topped the Friday qualifying with a stunning lap of 2:04.320 which was over two tenths clear of the second place driver Doriane Pin, who will go from the front row for Sunday's Race 2. Ferrari-backed MP Motorsport driver Maya Weug completed the top three. 

Pin has the championship lead heading into the racing action on Saturday and Sunday with 31 points to her name so far in 2025.

Austrian rookie Emma Felbermayr will start on pole position for Rodin Motorsport and Kick Sauber in Race 1. This is due to the top eight from this qualifying session being reversed to form that starting grid,

Friday in Jeddah was the return of race weekend action for the 2025 F1 Academy Championship, for the first time in a month, following the season-opening weekend at the Shanghai International Circuit in China.

Having had three days of testing at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, at the start of April and therefore they had some experience of the layout heading into the weekend's action for round two.

In the day's earlier Free Practice session it was the MP Motorsport of Ferrari backed driver Maya Weug who was fastest overall, ahead of the two 2025 race winners so far with Alisha Palmowski second and Doriane Pin in third.

The qualifying session was to last 30 minutes with the order of qualifying determining the Race 2 grid. The top eight from the qualifying final classification is to be reversed to form the Race 1 grid.

Qualifying got underway with the green light on at the end of the pit lane and the 30 minutes to determine the grid for both races, was underway. There was a rush for all the drivers to get out on circuit - barring the Campos team who decided on waiting a bit before heading out onto the circuit.

The benchmark lap time was set by the McLaren Development Driver of Rodin Motorsport Ella Lloyd, as the Welsh driver sat on provisional pole with a 2:06.550 while the others prepared for their first lap times of qualifying.

After topping Free Practice, Maya Weug looked to continue her impressive speed and despite an improvement from Lloyd the Ferrari-backed driver went to the top of the time sheets for MP Motorsport.

Weug got her lap set just prior to the first and only red flag of qualifying. Lia Block who did not participate in the qualifying session back in China due to an incident in Free Practice with Rafaela Ferreira. However, this crash was off Block's own doing.

After locking up into the final corner, Block careered into the wall and damaged her car badly. The red flag was subsequently brought out and the clock was paused with 23 minutes of the 30 remaining.

With the session back underway it did not take long for Weug to continue showing her fine pace around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia. Despite Lloyd briefly spending time back at the top of the times, Weug went quickest again with a 2:05.635.

The track was ramping up and the Red Bull Ford-backed driver Chloe Chambers went to provisional pole for Campos Racing. The American Chambers set a 2:05.158, which had her three tenths clear of Danish driver Alba Larsen who found herself in second position.

With 10 minutes remaining, Chambers led the way in a Campos 1-2 as Alisha Palmowski had moved herself up into second place. Larsen, Lloyd and Weug held the other positions in the top five as qualifying entered the final third.

The Jeddah Corniche Circuit continued to ramp up with Doriane Pin being the next to go to provisional pole position for Prema Racing and backed by Mercedes. The championship leader had to beat an impressive time from Palmowski, which initially had her on provisional pole position.

Chambers was on form though and with a fantastic lap of 2:04.320 saw her take provisional pole by a great distance and the lap from the Red Bull Ford-backed driver was going to take some beating from the rest of the contenders for pole position.

However, the time was failed to be beaten and Chambers made personal history for herself in Saudi Arabia and she took her first pole position with such a stunning lap time. Topping qualifying meant she would have the joy starting Race 2 from the front of the field. 

Despite in her desperate attempts to overcome the lap time, French driver Doriane Pin was forced to be content with second place in qualifying. Completing the top three for qualifying was the driver who topped Free Practice - Maya Weug.

In fourth was the talented British driver Alisha Palmowski who had young Dane Alba Larsen completing the top five just behind. Sixth would be Aston Martin-backed Prema driver Tina Hausmann who was just in front of Ella Lloyd, who with the reversal of the top eight would start on the front row.

In eighth place was Emma Felbermayr and the Austrian driver because of this would be the pole sitter for Race 1 on Saturday at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, which would be the next action for round 2.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal

In a very busy Free Practice session at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, the Ferrari-backed MP Motorsport talent Maya Weug set the fastest time on Friday.

Weug held top spot in the session for the majority of the Free Practice session but had to improve it on multiple occasions to finish with the fastest time at the end of the 40-minute session. The Dutch driver showed her fast one lap pace again after taking pole position for the season opener at China in March.

Ferrari Academy driver Weug led home Campos and Red Bull Racing's Alisha Palmowski, who had a great session to finish just three hundredths of a session behind Weug. Completing the top three was Prema and Mercedes junior driver Doriane Pin.

Pin leads the championship heading into the Jeddah round with a five-point advantage over Weug who sits second. It is tight between the top four which includes Chloe Chambers and Palmowski too. 13 points separate them.

For the first time in a month it was time for F1 Academy to return to race weekend action, which was for the second time in the 2025 season. This followed the season opener at the Shanghai International Circuit in China.

Having had three days of testing at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, at the start of April and therefore they had some experience of the layout heading into the weekend's action for round two.

To kick start the weekend was Free Practice, with a 40-minute session for the drivers to get some additional experience of the circuit before they headed into the evening's qualifying session, which would set the grid for both races on Saturday and Sunday.

The 40 minutes began with a green light on at the end of the pit lane and the session was underway. A slow start for the drivers as they began to filter out of the pit lane and get a feel for the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

One driver who headed out would be the Alpine Academy Prema driver Nina Gademan, who suffered a nasty accident in testing and found herself spending a night in hospital. However, after some recovery 

Doriane Pin was the driver to lay down some benchmark lap times. The Mercedes junior driver racing for Prema laid down some strong benchmark lap times and in the first 15 minutes she traded times with Maya Weug - the Ferrari backed MP Motorsport driver.

A 2:06.286 was a time that saw Weug beat Pin's time and the Dutch driver, who showed great speed in China and took pole position, was showing great pace too in Jeddah. 

Weug was really impressive and she improved even further to go over six tenths of a second clear of Pin in second place. The lap time to beat became a 2:05.750. Meanwhile for third, there were many drivers having stints in that position with Lia Block, Ella Lloyd and Tina Hausmann.

Not much action had happened from Alisha Palmowski in the first half of the Free Practice session but with her first flying lap saw her go seventh quickest, which was a second off the pace.

On her second run she went second quickest and above Pin. The time was still 0.439 behind Weug, showing how impressive the improved lap time of 2:05.616 was. 

The time from Weug withstood the improved time from Palmowski that went to within two tenths of a second. The Red Bull Racing backed Campos driver was impressing in what will be her first time racing at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Farah Alyousef would be the Wildcard entry for the weekend and in the Free Practice session she faced some difficult challenges including two spins prior to the final 10 minutes of the session. One was into the first turn while the other was into the final corner.

Chloe Chambers had shone in the opening round of the season and coming into the weekend sat third in the standings. A great lap time saw her go within nine thousandths of a second off Weug.

However, Weug's time was beaten and it was by her former teammate Pin. The championship leader, with five minutes remaining, would go fastest by just six thousandths of a second with a 2:05.610.

Weug returned to the top of the time sheets with an improved lap time and prior to the chequered flag coming out she was fastest but Alisha Palmowski looked to have denied her with a great final sector of the lap.

However, with a last gasp lap time from Weug saw her end the session fastest with her beating Palmowski by just three hundredths of a second. The fastest time from Weug was 2:05.357. Doriane Pin would have to settle for third ahead of Chloe Chambers and Lia Block who rounded off the top five.

A remarkable incident that was noted for Chloe Chambers who apparently at the end of the session crossed the chequered flag twice. This is identical to an offence committed by Pin in Race 2 of the 2024 season opener at Jeddah.

For this, Pin lost victory with a 20-second time penalty. So if found guilty, a bit of bother might loom for Chambers.

Ella Lloyd would finish in sixth ahead of Aurelia Nobels in seventh. Tina Hausmann, Chloe Chong and Emma Felbermayr completed the top 10 at the end of Free Practice. Qualifying would be next up on Friday under the lights.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal

F1 Academy is to go racing for the second time in 2025 and the first time in a month as the championship heads to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia.

Heading to Jeddah, F1 Academy will revisit one of the circuits it raced at during the 2024 season and the championship will be hoping for more great racing action like last year, where a win was taken each by Doriane Pin and that year's eventual champion - Abbi Pulling.

Pin made the mistake of crossing the finish line twice in the 2024 season and due to this she was punished with a 20-second time penalty in Race 2, losing her the victory and handing it to Abbi Pulling. 

The championship leader will be hoping she avoids any silly mistakes as she heads into the second round with a five point lead over former Prema teammate and current MP Motorsport racing driver Maya Weug.

Pin and Alisha Palmowski were the winners of the two races last time out in China, as the F1 Academy Championship visited Shanghai for the first time and opened the 2025 season.

​

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal

MP Motorsport's Ferrari Academy driver Maya Weug has taken pole position for Sunday's race two, during Friday qualifying in Shanghai, China.

Weug dominated the session and showed great pace throughout the session, and once the chequered flag flew, it was beyond doubt that he would take pole position for the Sunday race 2. The Dutch driver managed a lap time of 2:03.379 - a time over four tenths quicker than Doriane Pin.

20-year-old Weug took pole position for the Sunday race on Friday ahead of Mercedes-backed racer and former teammate Doriane Pin, who was second for Prema Racing. An impressive showing from MP Motorsport debut driver Alba Larsen would see her qualify third for Sunday.

All the places the drivers ended in the qualifying session will be their starting positions for Sunday's Race 2, unless any grid penalties are handed out. As for the Race 1 starting grid, the top eight from qualifying are reversed. Therefore, Nina Gademan in just her second F1 Academy round, will start from pole position.

For the first time in 2025, it was time to go qualifying for the F1 Academy Championship, with the session taking place to be the season opener at the Shanghai International Circuit in China. 

A new beginning of F1 Academy, with a new grid and the largest grid that has ever been seen before in the championship, with 18 cars to take part in every round across the 2025 season. This is due to new team Hitech TGR, who are entering the championship for the first time in 2025.

In 2025, compared to other championship seasons, there is a different format of how qualifying will play out. The qualifying session itself will last for 30 minutes where the drivers will compete to have the fastest time.

At the end of the session, the top eight will be reversed for the first race of the weekend, bringing back the reverse grid method that was used in 2023, but was not a part of the championship in 2024.

The qualifying order on Friday would then be the starting grid order for race 2, providing no grid penalties are handed out, which will change the starting position of drivers up and down the field.

Qualifying would get underway following the free practice session earlier on in the day. The session saw Doraine Pin finish fastest for Prema Racing, in a 1-2 for the team as she finished above teammate Tina Hausmann.

The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane signalling the start of the 30-minute qualifying session and cars would begin to filter out onto the circuit but none of them would be the ART of Lia Block.

Block's collision with Rafael Ferreira in free practice resulted in sustained chassis damage for Block meaning a change for her. Meanwhile, Ferreira was deemed to be at fault and would be handed a three-place grid penalty for race 1.

​Once drivers began to set lap times, Alisha Palmowski of Red Bull Racing and Campos would be one to impress as she showed decent speed to go to provisional pole position. However, with the track improvements and also the condition of the circuit improving,

Weug would take provisional pole with a 2:03.781 and it would be a very strong lap time, which would remain unbeaten after two very strong flying lap attempts from Doriane Pin. Ultimately, Weug was having a very good session and had done enough to remain top.

Soon enough, the session reached the halfway point and Weug would be fastest from Pin as the top two would be formed. Chloe Chambers, Nina Gademan and Alba Larsen were holding the provisional top five places with just 15 minutes remaining.

Shortly after the halfway point, the majority of the field would visit the pit lane for a fresh change of tyres and they would be preparing themselves to go for a few more flying laps towards the near end of the session, as the hunt for pole position would be very much on. Could anyone stop Weug?

The task became even harder when Weug extended her gap with a 2:03.379 to over half a second. The lap time of Weug's would be even more difficult for Pin to try and catch as the session was nearing a close. Although, the track was ramping up so if Pin could put a lap together, all might be possible?

Unfortunately not for Pin as when the chequered flag flew from the Race Control tower, it was Weug who took pole position after a fantastic display in Shanghai and would lineup at the front of the field for Sunday's Feature Race/Race 2. Pin would have to settle for second place, behind her former teammate.

An incredible effort from the MP Motorsport of Alba Larsen, as in her first ever qualifying she would achieve a third place result. A great result as she would be ahead of Campos duo Chloe Chambers and Alisha Palmowski who would round off the top five.

Youngest driver on the grid Joanne Ciconte would be sixth ahead of Emma Felbermayr in seventh. In eighth place and taking reverse grid pole would be Nina Gademan of Prema and backed by Alpine.

Action of F1 Academy in Shanghai would return for Race 1 on Saturday with Nina Gademan starting from pole position with Emma Felbermayr alongside her on the front row!

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

Mercedes-backed Prema driver Doriane Pin set the fastest time late on in free practice, to finish fastest in Shanghai on Friday morning.

Pin took top spot with her last lap of the session as the chequered flag flew at the Shanghai International Circuit in China. She set a 2:04.198, which left her at the top of the time sheets as the session reached it's conclusion.

It was a positive start to F1 Academy in 2025 as Pin finished just short of a tenth ahead of her Prema teammate Tina Hausmann, who has second and who has the backing of Aston Martin, Campos driver Chloe Chambers, backed by Red Bull Ford completed the top three.

The session was heavily disrupted with a red flag as Williams-backed ART driver Lia Block and VCARB-backed Campos driver Rafaela Ferreira collided on the run down to turn 14. The session would be paused for roughly 10 minutes and would be restarted with nine minutes remaining.

Both would be investigated for the incident after the session had concluded.

Friday morning rolled around in Shanghai, China which marked a historic day in the legacy of the F1 Academy Championship. This was because Friday marked the start of the first ever F1 Academy race weekend in China.

The drivers would not be total strangers to the Shanghai International Circuit with pre season testing taking place at the venue prior to this weekend's season opener. However, the pressures would be different, with this being a race weekend and the first of the F1 Academy 2025 championship.

18 cars would be participating in the championship, and this extended grid was about to enter a race weekend for the first time. As were Hitech TGR, who had entered the championship for the first time in 2025. Hitech were the team who helped extended the numbers to 18 cars for a weekend.

Hitech would be tasked with fielding two full-time drivers for the 2025 campaign as well as a wildcard entry at every round of the season. For round one, Hitech had chosen Chinese driver Shi Wei.

The start of the weekend would be the free practice session, which would last for 40 minutes and would start the weekend's action and the regular season of the 2025 F1 Academy Championship.

Green light would be on at the end of the pit lane and that would signal the start of the session in Shanghai. There would be little action in the opening stages with no lap times set in the first 10 minutes of the session. 

Soon there would be and an early lap time from Ella Lloyd would be a 2:06.155 but she would be the first driver out setting a lap time for Rodin Motorsport. The McLaren-backed driver was at the centre of the action in the early stages.

A spin at turn 9 for Lloyd cut short her continuous lap times that she was aiming to set in succession. However, the spin flat-spotted the tyres and she would pit after getting her F1 Academy machine back going again.

By this point, other drivers had headed out on circuit including the MP Motorsport pair, Maya Weug and Alba Larsen. Weug, who would be returning to F1 Academy for her second season, would go to the top of the time sheets with a 2:04.970. Larsen would be sat in second place.

At the halfway point of the session, Weug would be quickest ahead of Rodin's Chloe Chong who was second and Larsen, who was in third place. Ella Lloyd and Nicole Havrda  would be the top five drivers.

Soon the session would be paused due to a red flag being brought out, due to a huge incident on the back straight - on the run down to turn 14, which involved Lia Block and Rafaela Ferreira.

Ferreira would be trying to warm her tyres up down the back straight but was unaware of Block closing up and attempting to manoeuvre around her. Therefore, Ferreira would collide with Block and both would end up sustaining significant car damage - ending both of their sessions.

Rather unsurprisingly, this would lead to an investigation into The incident would cause a significant delay to the resumption of the session while the track marsahls cleared up the carbon fibre debris as well as the two machines.

Eventually, the session would be restarted with just nine minutes of the session remaining and there would be a hurry for the drivers who would be wanting to get some lap times set ahead of the day's later qualifying session, which was to come.

Doriane Pin had been unable to put a decent lap time together up until the final 10 but had started to find some speed like many others. The Prema racing driver would go to second quickest but it would not be quite enough on that occasion to beat Weug.

However, Pin would go quicker than Weug on the second attempt with the french racer having to dislodge Chloe Chambers who had managed to set a brilliant lap in between. However, even Pin would be beaten, by her teammate Tina Hausmann, which was a clear indication of the track improvement.

Hausmann was looking good to finish the session fastest but Pin still had the opportunity to set one final lap time in the free practice session as eventually the chequered flag would start to fly as the session reached its conclusion.

Pin would take top spot in the very latter stages of the session with a 2:04.198 and therefore would finish the first F1 Academy free practice of 2025 quickest overall. The Mercedes-backed racer was fastest in a Prema 1-2, with Tina Hausmann in second, while Campos' Chloe Chambers was third.

Just behind Chambers in third would be MP Motorsport's Maya Weug in fourth with the third and final Prema driver of Nina Gademan rounding of the top five.

Ella Lloyd was sixth ahead of debut drivers Joanne Ciconte and Emma Felbermayr who were seventh and eighth respectively. Alisha Palmowski and Chloe Chong completed the top 10.

After practice, attention in Shanghai turns towards qualifying with the action continuing on Friday, which will determine the grid for both of the weekend's races.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal

For the first time since September, F1 Academy goes racing this coming weekend, as the 2025 campaign is to get underway with the season opener taking place in the Chinese city of Shanghai.

It will be the very first time that f1 Academy will visit China and more importantly the Shanghai International Circuit, as the F1 Academy Championship acts as a support series this coming weekend for the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix.

Following pre-season testing at Shanghai, the new 18-car grid will take to the circuit for race weekend action this coming weekend, to kick start the seven-round 2025 championship.

The start of the season in China will begin the quest for all of the 17 full time drivers, who will aim to go and try to clinch the championship title just like Marta Garcia and Abbi Pulling previously have managed to achieve.

F1 Academy will also this weekend see the very first Chinese driver to compete in the championship, participate at the Shanghai International Circuit this coming weekend. Wei Shi, who will be backed by Juss Sports, is to take up the wildcard entry space at HItech TGR for the opening round of the 2025 season.

Shi will race with the number 24 on her car. Having previously won the Challenge Cup at the Chinese F4 Championship in Shanghai, Shi has also competed in the China Endurance Championship and the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR86 Cup on route to being selected as Wildcard Entry for this weekend's round.

Visiting another venue to create more history is the theme for F1 Academy this coming weekend, as they visit China for racing for the first time, with the championship taking a trip to the Shanghai International Circuit - home of the Chinese Grand Prix.

A circuit that first entered the Formula One World Championship in 2004, the Shanghai International Circuit has a long list of legendary and iconic moments. F1 Academy will be hoping that it can find some iconic moments for the championship here at this venue too.

The 2025 F1 Academy pre season testing was completed at the Shanghai International Circuit where this year's class of drivers were able to get a decent amount of lap times completed, which provided a chance for the rookies to get an idea for how the car operates and the different challenges that the car presents.

Shanghai International Circuit is one of various different challenges, with long and durable corners but also long straights which could provide great opportunity for overtaking if the drivers need to pass their rivals in order to elevate themselves into a higher position.

The circuit itself is made up of 16 corners and has a lap distance of 5.456km. Unlike the other support series championships of Formula One, like FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3, there is no DRS in this championship. Therefore, the drivers will have to use their own raw speed and benefit from slipstream to aid their chances of overtaking their rivals.

Due to no racing having occurred at Shanghai, in F1 Academy before, there is no lap record at this circuit for the championship to look back on.

As for the racing to come over the course of the season-opening weekend, there will be two races that will both have 13 laps each, which amounts to a race distance of 70.863km.

Free Practice in Shanghai begins on Friday - 09:10 local time in Shanghai!

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

F1 Academy returns once again to the motorsport scene for 2025, as the all-female feeder series championship prepares for its third season this calendar year.

The championship was introduced in 2022 following the financial drowning of the W Series and therefore F1 stepped up to the task and gave these female drivers an opportunity to grow in a brand-new championship that was named F1 Academy.

Since 2023, the F1 Academy has run and we have seen many drivers come and go including the only two champions who are Spanish driver Marta Garcia and the reigning 2024 F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling.

This year, the grid will extend from the 14 drivers + a wildcard entry to 17 drivers + a wildcard entry. This is due to the addition of Hitech TGR who join the championship for the first time and add F1 Academy to the list of many feeder series championships they compete in - along with FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3.

Each driver will also be backed by a sponsorship or a Formula 1 team as all 10 teams will sponsor a driver in 2025, with some retaining their drivers from 2024 whereas some have gone for someone else on the F1 Academy grid.

In this piece we will look into the 17 drivers who are signed up to the championship for 2025, across each team. To begin we will start with the reigning Teams' champions - Prema Racing.

First up is Dutch racing driver Nina Gademan, who will be backed by the BWT Alpine Formula 1 Team, and is set to have her rookie campaign in the 2025 F1 Academy Championship.
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Gademan won't be making her F1 Academy debut though as she was a wildcard entry at the Netherlands round in 2024, which was her home event. In the round, she competed at a high level and scored more points than any of the other wildcard entries.

​The 21-year old has limited experience out of karting but does have a full season of British F4 under her belt, where she finished 18th overall with 28 points to her name.

Gademan will be one of three drivers to race full time at Prema Racing for 2025 and will take on Alpine's backing for this season's F! Academy, which was the position Abbi Pulling found herself in, on the way to winning the 2024 title.

Next up at Prema is the 2024 F1 Academy runner up Doriane Pin, who continues being supported by the Mercedes AMG Formula 1 Team for the 2025 campaign.

Pin shone in her rookie season back in 2024, taking three race victories and five additional podiums on the road to finishing second in the standings - 121 points behind eventual champion Abbi Pulling.

Away from the F1 Academy scene, Pin has competed in a variety of different motorsport championships including the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA).

She will join up for her second season of F1 Academy with Prema, for her second consecutive season with the team. After finishing runner up in 2024, she will be hoping to go one further by winning the title in 2025.

Completing the trio at Prema Racing is returning Swiss driver Tina Hausmann, who is backed by the Aramco Aston Martin Formula 1 Team for the 2025 campaign, just like she was in 2024.

Hausmann had a bit more of a difficult 2024 than her teammates Pin and Weug, who both finished in the top five in the championship, while Hausmann languished down in 10th with 31 points. In contrast, Weug picked up 177 and Pin picked up 2017.

The 18-year old secured a highest finishing position of fourth across 2024, which came in the final race of the season at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Hausmann's second best result was sixth in the season opener at Jeddah back in February.

She will complete the Prema lineup and will be hoping to make improvements on her season in 2024, where she was learning her trade but now she will look to build and use the powerful Prema team system to her advantage.

Over at Rodin Motorsport, Austrian driver Emma Felbermayr, will be entering the championship for the very first time as she takes up the backing of Kick Sauber for the 2025 season.

Felbermayr is from a family that is evolved around motorsport with her being a third generation racer - this comes after her grandfather and father having both competed in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The 18-year old is yet to race in open-wheel feeder series championships for the first time after having competed in karting up until the 2025 year, which is set to see her start her journey as she learns the challenge of the open-wheel racing machinery.

Felbermayr will be one of three drivers racing in 2025 and will be hoping to make her mark on the Feeder Series championships and take a big step in her career as she will no doubt have her sights set on making it to the very top of world motorsport.

Next up at the Rodin Motorsport team is Welsh racing driver Ella Lloyd, who backed by McLaren, will be entering the championship for her first full season in the F1 Academy championship.

Lloyd participated as a Wildcard member of the Singapore round of the 2024 season. Lloyd impressed in her only weekend in the championship by scoring eight points in total. A great achievement as she finished ninth and seventh in race 1 and race 2 respectively.

Outside of F1 Academy life, Lloyd competed in the British F4 Championship in 2024, where she finished overall after scoring four podiums across the season's events. This included three second place finishes as she finished 11th overall.

Lloyd will be backed by the McLaren F1 Team for 2025 as she is part of their Driver Development Programme. She will be part of the Rodin Motorsport trio and one of two rookies that will form their lineup.

To complete the Rodin Motorsport lineup for the 2025 F1 Academy season is returning driver Chloe Chong, who will be backed by Charlotte Tilbury for the season.

Chong is making a return to the F1 Academy championship after her first season came in the 2023 championship, which was the inaugural season of the championship's history. She would finish 14th overall and took one fastest lap.

As for 2024, Chong competed in the British F4 Championship with JHR Developments. At the end of the season, she would finish 16th in the overall final standings whilst scoring a total of 29 points.

This will be a big year for Chong with her returning to the championship, with a bit of extra experience compared to what she had when she started her first season in 2023.
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At Campos Racing, continuing with the team for the second season in a row and her second season in F1 Academy is American Chloe Chambers, who is backed by Red Bull Ford.

Chambers will continue at Campos after competing in her rookie season of F1 Academy, with the team in the 2024 campaign, as she was backed by the Haas F1 Team. It was a rookie season of positives for Chambers as she was one of only four drivers to taste victory that campaign.

The American racing driver ended up sixth in the standings with 122 points to her name and three further podiums along with her victory. Chambers also has a history of competing in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship (FROC) and the W Series, which concluded in 2022 due to a lack of funding.

Chambers will be hoping to build on her victory and podiums in 2024 by pushing herself towards the title of F1 Academy Champion in 2025, with the support of Red Bull Ford for the upcoming campaign.

Entering the F1 Academy series for the very first time is Brazilian talent Rafaela Ferreira, who will be racing for Campos while being backed by the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula 1 Team.

Ferreira will be entering the F1 Academy championship for the very first time, with no previous wildcard entries that she can use to her advantage. It will be a tough season for Ferriera at Campos, with the spotlight of the Formula One world on her.

The 19-year old joins the world of F1 Academy following a good season in the 2024 Brazilian F4 Championship where she picked up an array of trophies on her way to fourth in the standings. Three victories, with seven further podiums would go alongside the two pole positions and two fastest laps she picked up.

Ferreira will be alongside Chambers at Campos Racing, in a team that has taken on three members of the Red Bull family in 2025 and Brazilian Ferreira will be one of two rookies in this coming season's lineup.

Completing the lineup at Campos Racing and being backed by Red Bull Racing is British talent Alisha Palmowski who will be competing in her first full season of the F1 Academy Championship.

Palmowski will be enduring her first full season but will not be making her F1 Academy debut as that came in her wildcard entry appearance at Qatar back in November 2024. It was a positive impression that was left by Palmowski as she finished fifth in her only race in Qatar due to Race 2 being cancelled.

Outside of her one and only appearance in the championship, Palmowki competed in the GB4 Championship throughout the 2024 season, where she finished runner up behind eventual champion Linus Granfors. 

She will complete the Campos Racing lineup for the 2025 F1 Academy season in a very competitive lineup and will be hoping to show the speed she showed in her wildcard entry round at Qatar, being backed by Red Bull Racing.

At MP Motorsport, entering the F1 Academy Championship for the very first time will be Danish racing driver Alba Larsen, who will receive the backing from clothing brand Tommy Hilfiger.

Larsen will be participating in her first season of the F1 Academy championship and will also be making her debut in the series at the season opener in Shanghai, with her keen to make an impression on this championship that has the eyes of the world watching.

The 16-year old is mentored by Danish Formula One podium finisher Kevin Magnussen and in the early stages of her career so far she has made a two-round appearance in the 2024 Indian F4 Championship, where she finished eighth in her second race and claimed a podium as the best rookie.

Larsen will take to a new feeder series championship to get herself learning open-wheel feeder series racing. She will endure her first season backed by Tommy Hilfiger, like Nerea Marti in 2024, as well as driving for the well recognised Dutch team in MP Motorsport.

Up next as the second of two rookies at MP Motorsport, in the 2025 F1 Academy Championship, is Australian racer Joanne Ciconte who will be backed by F1 Academy for the upcoming season.

Ciconte is also just 16 years old like Larsen but is also the youngest driver in the permanent field of F1 Academy stars in 2025. Ciconte will be making her debut in Shanghai as she has no prior appearance in the series, and therefore will also be enduring her first full season of the championship.

The Australian driver has had very minimal experience in open-wheel feeder series racing before as she has had experience in Australian F4, Spanish F4, the Central European Zone F4 Championship and the Formula Winter Series.

Ciconte will further her experience of different championship machinery in feeder series categories, as she enters F1 Academy. She will join Alba Larsen in being a rookie at the MP Motorsport for the 2025 campaign.

To complete the 2025 F1 Academy lineup for Dutch team MP Motorsport is Dutch driver Maya Weug, who is backed by Scuderia Ferrari as she is part of the Ferrari Driver Academy as she returns for a second campaign.

Weug makes the move to MP Motorsport to form an all-Dutch partnership in 2025, after spending the 2024 F1 Academy season at Prema Racing, where she shared a team with Tina Hausmann and Doriane Pin. During her rookie season, she would finish third overall following one win, one fastest lap and seven further podiums with a points total of 177 points.

The 20-year old has experience in Feeder series racing with her having had time competing in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) and the Italian F4 Championship.

Weug will be hoping to go better than third in 2024, by potentially taking the F1 Academy title in 2025 at MP Motorsport, as she continues to receive the support from Scuderia Ferrari. She will be one of the favourites alongside former teammate Pin.

After a wildcard entry appearance in Miami back in May 2024, American Courtney Crone will be taking on her first full season of F1 Academy in 2025, with the ART Grand Prix team as she receives the backing of Haas.

Crone appeared in Miami back in May becoming just the second wildcard entry of the 2024 F1 Academy season, with the driver making her F1 Academy debut on home soil and in front of her home crowd. She had a highest finishing position of 11th narrowly missing out on a points-scoring finish.

The 24-year old has transitioned from growing up with racing two-wheel machines to now racing with four wheels. Previous experience for Crone has come in the United States F4 Championship in 2019.

Crone will take one of the three seats at ART Grand Prix and will be looking to try and grow her skills and her racing record in the F1 Academy Championship as she receives the backing of American Formula One Team - Haas.

One of two returning drivers at ART for 2025 is Brazilian racing driver Aurelia Nobels, who will continue to receive the support and backing of Puma just like she did in the 2024 campaign.

In her first season of F1 Academy, where she was the youngest driver on the grid, Nobels would improve her racecraft throughout the 2024 campaign as she would end the championship 12th overall with 29 points. Throughout the season, she would take six points finishes, with a highest finish of fifth.

Also in 2024, Nobels completed in various championships including the Saudi Arabian F4, UAE F4 and the British F4 Championships, with her sole focus in 2024 being around F1 Academy.

Nobels will enter her second season of F1 Academy in 2025 with ART Grand Prix and she will be hoping to improve her results and be a more consistent appearance-maker at the front of the field, with Puma continuing to support her racing.

To complete the ART Grand Prix driver lineup is returning American racing driver Lia Block, who is backed by Williams Racing for the second successive season.

Block entered the championship for her first full season in 2024 and in 2025 she will endure her second successive F1 Academy season with the ART Grand Prix team. She finished eighth overall with a total of 44 points, and a highest finishing position of fourth.

The 18-year old, who is the daughter of legendary rally driver Ken Block, has competed in a variety of championships in open-wheel feeder series racing including participating in the 2025 Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship.

Lia will be hoping to step onto the F1 Academy podium in 2025, which is something she could not quite do in 2024. This will be her second season with ART and she will hope to make it count.

One of the two full time Hitech TGR drivers for the 2025 F1 Academy championship is Canadian racing driver Nicole Havrda, who has received the backing of American Express for the upcoming campaign.

Havrda is to make her F1 Academy debut in Shanghai, ahead of her first full season in the championship with the brand new team on the grid Hitech TGR. The team Hitech, will be competing in the F1 Academy championship in 2025 for the very first time, and will make it six teams now on the grid.

Previous racing experience for Havrda includes two campaigns where she was involved in Formula Regional Americas. In the most recent campaign of 2024, Havrda picked up four podiums in 19 races to finish sixth in the overall standings.

Havrda will be one of just two drivers at Hitech TGR in a full-time drive in 2025 as the third space is designated to a wildcard entry for each of the seven rounds to come in 2025.

Last but not least, to complete the 2025 F1 Academy Championship full-time lineup is Aiva Anagnostiadis, who will be participating with Hitech TGR for 2025, as she is backed by Tag Heur.

Anagnostiadis will make her debut in Shanghai, like Hitech teammate Nicole Havrda, and will also be enduring her first full season in the championship, which is under the watchful eye of the Formula One world.

The Australian racing driver, who was born in Melbourne, has limited open-wheel feeder series racing experience with only a full season of the Indian F4 Championship and a few races in the Formula Winter Series so far in 2025.

Anagnostiadis completes the full time drivers of the 2025 F1 Academy Championship, with her partnering Havrda in 2025 and a different wildcard entry at each and every round of the 2025 championship.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal