Doriane Pin stormed to a Race 2 victory in Shanghai

Image: Steffen Prößdorf

Doriane Pin wins Race 2 in Shanghai with a dominant drive as F1 Academy returned this weekend.

It is her fourth overall win in the championship, her first win of the 2025 season, and her second podium of the weekend.

Joining her on the podium was Maya Weug in second and Chambers in third.

As it happened

​The race start was delayed until 10:50 local time due to an oil spillage, meaning the race got underway with an extra formation lap and a rolling start.

Weug led the pack over the line to start the race but Doriane Pin’s excellent start saw her take the lead round the outside going into Turn 2.

Further down the field, the first lap saw a contact between Nina Gademan and Tina Hausmann in a bid to take P6 in the race. They both spun off to the side of the track, but both continued in the race and Hausmann was handed a 10-second penalty for the incident.

​However, that wasn't the end of the Lap 1 drama. The safety car returned to the track on the opening lap as Joanne Ciconte of MP Motorsport is tagged round by Chloe Chong at Turn 8. Unfortunately, as Ciconte spun, she took out Aurelia Nobels and Nicole Havrda who were innocent by standers to the incident and ended up retiring from the race. 

The green flag was waved and racing got underway again on Lap 5 and Pin remained in the lead after controlling the restart well. 

Rodin Motorsport's Chloe Chong received a 10-second penalty for the collision with Ciconte on Lap 1 that lead to three retirements. 

The race was being controlled brilliantly by Mercedes Academy driver Doriane Pin on Lap 8 as she was building the gap between herself and MP's Maya Weug.

Lap 9 and the battle for the final podium position in Race 2 was a closing laps thriller between Chloe Chambers and Alba Larsen with Chambers taking the third place spot on the penultimate lap of the race (Lap 10).

With the race length being shortened to 11 laps due to the extra formation laps, Pin could see the end in sight, taking the chequered flag in a very impressive performace. 

She held off Weug who came home comfortably in second with Chambers taking the final podium spot in China. 

Chloe Chong crossed the line in P8 but due to her penalty, was demoted to P11 promoting Rafaela Ferreira, Lia Block, and Alpine's Nina Gademan into the points places.

Race 2 Top 10 finishers
1. Doriane Pin
2. Maya Weug
3. Chloe Chambers 
4. Alba Larsen
5. Emma Felbermayr
6. Alisha Palmowski
7. Ella Lloyd 
8. Rafaela Ferreira
9. Lia Block
10. Nina Gademan

Katie Shepherd
Writer - F1 Journal