Doriane Pin quickest in F1 Academy free practice in Shanghai

Credit: Pauline Ballet

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.

How Free Practice unfolded in China

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.

2025 F1 Academy Championship: Round 1 - Shanghai free practice result

1. Doriane Pin (France, Prema Racing)
2. Tina Hausmann (Switzerland, Prema Racing)
3. Chloe Chambers (United States, Campos Racing)
4. Maya Weug (Netherlands, MP Motorsport)
5. Nina Gademan (Netherlands, Prema Racing)
6. Ella Lloyd (Great Britain, Rodin Motorsport)
7. Joanne Ciconte (Australia, MP Motorsport)
8. Emma Felbermayr (Austria, Rodin Motorsport)
9. Alisha Palmowski (Great Britain, Campos Racing)
10. Chloe Chong (Great Britain, Rodin Motorsport)
11. Alba Larsen (Denmark, MP Motorsport)
12. Aurelia Nobels (Brazil, ART Grand Prix)
13. Aiva Anagnostiadis (Australia, Hitech TGR)
14. Nicole Havrda (Canada, Hitech TGR)
15. Courtney Crone (United States, ART Grand Prix)
16. Shi Wei (China, Hitech TGR) *WILDCARD ENTRY*
17. Lia Block (United States, ART Grand Prix)
18. Rafaela Ferreira (Brazil, Campos Racing)

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal