The penultimate round of the 2025 F1 Academy season saw Lia Block take her maiden win in single-seaters on Saturday, while Maya Weug kept her championship title hopes alive by closing the points gap to Doriane Pin with a victory on Sunday. Feeder Series reviews what happened over the weekend. 

By Kaylene Lau

F1 Academy returned to the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore for the sixth round of the season. 

Block converted reverse-grid pole to victory on Saturday, maintaining the lead for the entirety of the race to take her first win in single-seaters. Weug took her third win of the season with a last-lap overtake in the rain to cut the points gap between her and Pin to only nine as the series heads into the final round in Las Vegas. 

Practice and qualifying 

Pin set the fastest lap in the sole practice session of the weekend with a 2:03.944, a time 0.022s faster than that of her title rival Weug. Campos Racing’s Alisha Palmowski rounded out the top three for the session with a 2:03.995, while Rafaela Ferreira failed to set a lap time in the session because of a mechanical issue.

In qualifying, Palmowski hit the barriers at Turn 5 six minutes into the session, damaging her left-rear suspension and bringing the session to a halt. The session resumed at 19:15 local time after the marshals retrieved Palmowski’s car. 

At the end of 30 minutes of running, MP Motorsport’s Weug was fastest, taking back-to-back pole positions. Weug’s 2:03.453 was 0.042 faster than Pin’s, while Chloe Chambers rounded out the top three with a time of 2:03.642. Wild card entry Lisa Billard, who had finished sixth in practice, continued to impress by qualifying fifth with a 2:04.184.

Block qualified eighth with a 2:04.680, giving her pole for Saturday’s reverse-grid race. 

Race 1 

Damage to the barriers at Turns 12 and 13 from the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia qualifying session caused the first race to be delayed by 20 minutes. 

When racing got underway, ART Grand Prix’s Aurelia Nobels, who started alongside Block, got a better launch off the start. As Nobels tried to take the lead heading into the first corner, however, both cars went wide. Rodin Motorsport’s Ella Lloyd, starting fifth, also went wide at the first corner, overtaking Billard in doing so. She was given a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Emma Felbermayr and Chambers emerged in third and fourth after the opening corners, while Weug, starting from eighth, made her way up to fifth. 

Hitech’s Nicole Havrda then went into the barriers at Turn 9, bringing out the safety car. After the incident, Havrda was sent to the hospital for preliminary checks and was cleared to race on Sunday, albeit with bruising on her hand.

The safety car period concluded at the end of the second lap, and Block got a good launch off the restart to maintain her lead ahead of Nobels. Chambers attempted an overtake on Felbermayr for third heading into Turn 1 but went wide and off the track. The Campos driver rejoined and used her momentum to overtake Felbermayr at Turn 5, but she locked up at Turn 7. That mistake gave Weug, who had overtaken Felbermayr earlier on, the chance to overtake her for third.  

Nobels, running second, was next in line for Weug, who hounded her before attempting a pass at Turn 14 on lap six. It didn’t come off that time, but the Ferrari junior made the move stick at the next corner. Lloyd and Chambers were fighting for fourth behind them, briefly making contact with each other heading into Turn 16. 

Their battling was neutralised by a safety car for two stranded cars on lap seven. First, Billard pulled over at Turn 5 with smoke trailing from her car. She was eighth early on but had fallen to 16th after contact with Alba Larsen just after the safety car restart dropped both to the rear of the field. Larsen was given a 10-second time penalty for the collision. 

At the same time, last-place starter Palmowski, who had overtaken Chloe Chong for ninth on the previous lap, hit the barriers heading into Turn 9 and spun into retirement. 

The second safety car period ended at the end of lap nine, and Block once again got a good launch off the restart while Chambers made a daring move on Nobels into Turn 1 to take third place. Nobels went wide across the run-off, dropping to fifth, as Pin also overtook Emma Felbermayr at the exit of Turn 1 for sixth.

Pin then overtook Nobels for fifth on lap 11 after the ART Grand Prix driver cut the opening chicane, but Nobels recovered and took the place back at Turn 7. 

Issues with Ferreira’s car caused her to come to a complete stop on track three times during the race, bringing out the yellow flag on each occasion. She was given a black and orange flag and ultimately retired from the race in the pits. 

With two laps left, Block came under pressure from Weug, who had closed to within half a second, but held on to her lead, taking her first race win in F1 Academy and in single-seaters. Weug finished 0.649s behind Block as Chambers completed the top three. 

Lloyd had finished fourth on track, but after penalties were applied, she dropped to seventh. Nobels was promoted to fourth to mark her best finish in F1 Academy, as championship leader Pin finished fifth. 

Race 2 

Pin had a great start from second and immediately challenged polesitter Weug for the lead, snatching it away with a late-braking move at the first corner. Lloyd, who started in fourth, overtook Chambers down the straight between Turns 5 and 6 after running side by side with the Red Bull Ford driver for several corners, with Felbermayr getting in on the action as well. 

On the second lap, Nina Gademan made a daring move at the first corner to take eighth place from race one winner Block. At Turn 14, Block locked up and tapped the barriers with her front nose, momentarily coming to a stop. She was able to continue but was now down in 18th. 

Palmowski, who started from the back of the grid again, had made her way up to 12th by lap three. A move down the inside at Turn 13 enabled her to take 11th from Joanne Ciconte, but Ciconte took the position back at the next corner. On the next lap, Palmowski overtook Ciconte at the first corner but ran wide, lost traction and dropped to 14th. 

On lap five, Pin’s engineer told her over the radio that drops of rain were reported between Turns 9 and 14 on the western end of the track. By lap nine, the rain started falling more heavily on the track.

Rain was forecast to fall in most of the F1 Academy sessions on the weekend, but it only came on Sunday. Speaking to Feeder Series before the weekend, Pin mentioned that the possibility of wet conditions offered both challenge and opportunity. 

“It’s a street track, so obviously the water is standing quite a bit on the surface and the grip will be quite low. Also, there is the white lines and it’s a street track, so it’s obviously going to be very challenging but I guess at the same time very exciting because nobody knows the situation, the conditions that we will have,” Pin said. “We’re only going to have a few laps to adapt and to make the most of it.” 

Palmowski, who had recovered from her earlier off and made her way up to 10th, was the first to box for wet tyres at the end of lap nine. Block also pitted for wet tyres from the rear of the field.

The next lap, Chambers attempted an overtake on Lloyd for third at Turn 7 but ran wide and dropped back. She then pitted at the end of the lap along with Nobels, Billard and Tina Hausmann.

While the timing seemed apt given the worsening conditions, the gamble didn’t pay off. Havrda crashed into the barriers at Turn 16 while trying to navigate the tricky conditions, bringing out the safety car. That moment gave the field the opportunity to swap to wet tyres without as much time loss, but only Bruce took the opportunity. 

The safety car ended on the penultimate lap, leaving only one lap in green-flag conditions. Heading into the first corner, Pin maintained the lead of the race, but Weug was not far behind. Closing in on the Prema Racing driver, Weug made a daring last-lap overtake down the inside at Turn 7 to snatch the lead of the race, which she held for the remainder of the lap to take her third race victory of the season.

Pin crossed the chequered flag second, 0.409s behind Weug. Lloyd completed the top three with her fifth podium of the season. 

Weug’s victory carried with it a 14-point swing, meaning that just nine points separate Pin and Weug in the championship standings heading into the final round in Las Vegas. Pin leads with 151 points, followed by Weug with 142. Lloyd’s third place on Sunday vaulted her to third overall with 101 points, while Chambers fell out of contention by finishing only 11th and scoring no points.

Prema lead the teams’ championship with 257 points, followed by MP with 208. Campos complete the top three with 187 points. 

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Maya Weug, 2:03.453	Doriane Pin, +0.042	Chloe Chambers, +0.189
Race 1 (14 laps)	Lia Block, 32:54.095	Maya Weug, +0.649	Chloe Chambers, +1.030
Race 2 (14 laps)	Maya Weug, 31:42.238	Doriane Pin, +0.409	Ella Lloyd, +1.316

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	Doriane Pin, 151	Prema Racing, 257
P2	Maya Weug, 142	MP Motorsport, 208
P3	Ella Lloyd, 101	Campos Racing, 187
P4	Chloe Chambers, 99	Rodin Motorsport, 156
P5	Alisha Palmowski, 73	ART Grand Prix, 44
P6	Nina Gademan, 60	Hitech, 12
P7	Alba Larsen, 58
P8	Tina Hausmann, 46
P9	Emma Felbermayr, 37
P10	Lia Block, 33

Header photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool