Maya Weug fastest in busy Jeddah Free Practice! F1 Academy Jeddah Free Practice Report

Credit: NurPhoto

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.

How F1 Academy Free Practice unfolded in Jeddah

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.

2025 F1 Academy Championship: Round 2 - Jeddah Free Practice result

1. Maya Weug
2. Alisha Palmowski
3. Doriane Pin
4. Chloe Chambers
5. Lia Block
6. Ella Lloyd
7. Aurelia Nobels
8. Tina Hausmann
9. Chloe Chong
10. Emma Felbermayr
11. Nina Gademan
12. Courtney Crone
13. Rafaela Ferreira
14. Joanne Ciconte
15. Alba Larsen
16. Aiva Agnostiadis
17. Nicole Havrda
18. Farah Alyousef *WILDCARD*

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal