F1 Academy 2025 season recap

F1 Academy will host the prize giving for its 2025 season at the 38th annual Autosport Awards on Wednesday, but before it crowns its champion, here is a look back at how the campaign unfolded.

The all-female series expanded its grid to feature 18 full-time drivers for last year – including returning racers such as Doriane Pin, Chloe Chambers and Maya Weug. There was also a raft of new drivers, such as Ella Lloyd, Emma Felbermayr and Rafaela Ferreira.

The year got off to a tense start in Shanghai, where season-favourites Weug and Pin locked out the front row before respectively finishing third and fourth in the reverse grid race on the Saturday. Come Sunday, it was advantage Pin, who overtook Weug for the win to subsequently lead the standings by five points.

Weug staged a comeback next time out in Saudi Arabia and, despite qualifying third compared to Pin’s second, she edged ahead in the standings. Second in race one and a win in race two at the Jeddah circuit took the Dutch racer to the top of the standings with 59 points. Pin was in second on 52 and fellow sophomore racer Chambers was comfortably third on 47 – thanks to three podiums over the first four races.

The field had little time to recover as F1 Academy took to the Miami International Autodrome in May for round three – but the field was at the mercy of the weather. After storms circled, the series hosted just one race in the US, and home hero Chambers put her car on pole – ahead of Alisha Palmowski, who made her full-time debut in 2025, and Pin in third.

For Saturday’s reverse-grid race, it was a masterclass from Pin. After lining up sixth, she scythed through the pack as it lapped the Miami circuit – aided by some well-timed safety cars – to take her second win of the season and a bonus point for registering the fastest lap.

Weug, meanwhile, had to settle for fourth but that was still enough to retain her lead of the standings, while Chambers kept the pressure on the leading pair.

The postponed Miami race was added to the F1 Academy weekend in Montreal, which marked the series’ debut in the home of the Canadian Grand Prix. Due to the lack of previous running at the Circuit Gilles Villenueve and the high number of points on offer over the weekend, practice was vital. It was the Campos Racing pair of Palmowski and Chambers who came out on top – with the duo trading fastest laps until the Briton took bragging rights at the flag.

It was a similar story in qualifying, with Chambers setting the fastest lap ahead of Palmowski in second and Pin in third. But before that strong form could be utilised, there was the small matter of race one to tick off, which had its grid set by Miami’s qualifying session.

There was drama from the start, as Palmowski and Chambers collided from the front row – clearing the way for third-place Pin to take the lead and hold onto it until the flag. Behind her, McLaren-backed Lloyd also capitalised on the chaos and jumped from P7 at the start to second place by the end of the race, while Felbermayr picked up her first podium in third.

Lloyd and Felbermayr’s strong weekend continued in the second race in Canada, with the Brit finishing second again and the Austrian taking her first win in the series. Pin was the lead championship contender in fourth at the flag, while Weug and Chambers came home ninth and 10th respectively – both missing out on the points.

Podium: Race winner Chloe Chambers, Campos Racing, second place Ella Lloyd, Rodin Motorsport, third place Doriane Pin, PREMA Racing

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

A win for Chambers in race three salvaged her weekend and helped her head into the summer break second in the standings. Third place for Pin secured her lead at the top on 109 points, while Weug dropped to more than 30 points behind after settling for sixth in the final race of the weekend.

Pin leads as Weug resets over summer 

The reset that the summer break offered proved vital for Weug, who came back to the track in Zandvoort revitalised. She was second-quickest in both practice sessions at her home event, then topped qualifying, scored a podium and won the second race of the weekend. This brought her back into second-place in the standings and saw her close the gap to Pin by 10 points.

The charge continued in Singapore, and Weug topped qualifying ahead of her rival. In the reverse grid race, she produced a stellar run from eighth to second – but couldn’t out-class Lia Block, who took her first win in a lights-to-flag victory. A win in race two compared with second-place for Pin took the title fight to the Las Vegas finale – and a disappointing week for Chambers meant the championship would be won by Pin or Weug.

The stage was set, then, in Las Vegas. Pin and Weug, both in their second and final years in F1 Academy, were separated by nine points. Pin had three race wins and a further four podiums, while Weug was also sat on three wins but had five podiums from the season so far.

After fighting for the top spot in the weekend’s sole practice session, both racers faced a tough start to their competitive sessions in Vegas. Less than a second separated the top five drivers, but it was Weug in fifth – her title rival just one place ahead and in fourth. After falling adrift of the title fight, it was Chambers who took pole.

In the reverse grid race, there was disaster for Weug before the race got underway. The Ferrari driver lined up fourth behind Aston Martin’s Tina Hausmann as the safety car led the pack away for a pair of additional formation laps due to wet weather. However, there was confusion on the restart and the pair collided, taking them both out of the race and clearing the way for fifth-placed Pin to race to the podium.

Maya Weug, MP Motorsport

Photo by: Hector Vivas / Getty Images

By lap nine, Pin had taken the lead of the race from polesitter Nina Gademan and held onto it until the chequered flag – giving her a 20-point lead over Weug with one race to go.

Showdown on the Strip 

Weug needed a win to keep her title hopes alive, but lining up in fifth behind her title rival in fourth meant this was a big ask. The Dutch racer gave it her all, though, and after the lap five safety car restart, Pin and Weug had made it up to third and fourth respectively. Weug made her move, though, and passed the French racer for the final podium place with just a few laps remaining. The Ferrari driver then battled with Palmowski for second until the end, with the pair trading positions before the Brit finally took second at the line.

Her French rival had a tougher time, though, and lost out to Larsen when the chequered flag fell – leaving Pin in fifth. But that proved enough for the Mercedes junior, who took the 2025 title with her tally of 172 points compared with 157 for Weug. Chambers finished the year in third, a further 30 points back. 

Now, Pin will be in London for the F1 Academy prize giving where she will pick up her 2025 champions trophy. The event will take place at the 38th annual Autosport Awards, which takes place on Wednesday.

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