F1 Academy Weekend Report - Jeddah: Weug takes lead of the championship after Race 2 win, Lloyd clinches first victory in the series
- Meghana Sree
- 4 hours ago
- 8 min read
Written by Meghana Sree
It was a tight battle between the F1 Academy drivers off the back of a rigorous in-season testing. Over the course of the weekend, Maya Weug inherited the Drivers' Championship lead after a second-place finish in Race 1, behind Ella Lloyd taking her first win, and a narrow victory in Race 2.
Known for its thrilling high-speed layout and flowy 27 corners, the Jeddah Corniche Circuit was the venue for the latest weekend in the F1 Academy Championship. The second round of the championship proves that competition is stiffer than ever up in front, as it’s now firmly a three-way fight between the new championship leader Maya Weug, Doriane Pin and Chloe Chambers.
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Maya Weug Inherits Championship Lead
Weug chased down Ella Lloyd in the reverse-grid race, but marginally lost out to the win against the McLaren-backed driver. Yet it was solid points in the bag, and would boost her tally after a masterful Race 2 win to lift her to the top of the standings.
While Chambers was hit with a penalty, Weug was able to stay right on Chambers’ heels to take over the win. Weug’s consistency with a podium in every race since China has given her the edge over Pin, who will undoubtedly be eager to take back the lead.
Chambers has More Potential in the Bag
The American driver has been fiercely competitive this season, but still needs to pull it all together to clinch her first 2025 win. After receiving the damaging penalty in Race 2, Chambers pushed hard to build a gap and nullify the penalty, and while she did salvage a podium, the win fell away from her.
Her fastest lap in Race 2 and rapid maiden pole on Friday shows that Chambers will definitely be a threat to Weug and Pin in the championship.
Pin is Surprisingly Lacking Pace
P4 in Race 1 and holding on to the final podium step in the second race would not have been Pin’s hopes for this weekend after a Race 2 win back in China. Popularly deemed the 2025 favourite, Pin couldn’t carry the momentum into this weekend. She left room for Weug to slip past her in the championship, dropping her into the clutches of Chambers, just five points behind.
The next round in Miami will be a chance for Pin to reclaim the lead, and her motivation remains stronger than ever, as she stated: “I’m only here to win and I’m working very hard for this so I’m going to keep pushing.”
MP Motorsport Closes in on Campos Racing
Coming into the weekend with a ten-point advantage, Campos Racing were confident on building up their edge. However, after crucially missing out on the Race 2 win to MP Motorsport’s Weug, just one point separates the two teams.
This close margin will be a key story heading into Miami. Will Campos Racing be able to maintain the lead?
Palmowski and Larsen Establish Themselves as the Top Rookies
Alisha Palmowski, who’s already won a race, and Alba Larsen, mentored by none other than Kevin Magnussen, have cemented their status as this season’s rookie favourites after Jeddah where they were consistently in the top five for each competitive session.
Palmowski scored a podium in Race 1, skillfully managing to keep Pin behind. Meanwhile, Larsen finished P5 in both races, fending off the more experienced Tina Hausmann in the second race.
These two drivers will certainly be ones to watch in the upcoming rounds, and in the right circumstances, Palmoswki might be able to bag another win while Larsen’s podium hopes are not too far off.
Qualifying - Chambers clinches long-awaited maiden pole
In a hectic Qualifying session, Chambers stormed to pole after pumping in an electric 2:04.320. Going into the evening session, all eyes were on Weug who had topped the sheets during Practice, but the driver representing Ferrari could only manage P3 behind Pin as the session wrapped up.
Ella Lloyd was the first to go out on a push lap, setting an early benchmark of 2:06.550, but was then eclipsed by Weug’s 2:05.827.
The others slotted their times on the board, and Chloe Chong moved up into third with Emma Felbermayr just behind her. With 23 minutes to go, a red flag halted the session, caused by a crash from Lia Block who’s had her fair share of misfortune lately. After clipping the inside of the wall, she was shot back, damaging her front-left suspension.
Once the session was back on track, drivers quickly scrammed out the pits and tried to get the temperatures back into their Pirelli compounds. With 18 minutes to go, Lloyd pipped Weug’s time after setting two purple sectors, but Weug nicked provisional pole again going five hundredths quicker.
The track was rubbered in, and the Campos Racing pair of Chambers and Palmowski rose to the top, but were then pipped by Pin with just under five minutes to go.
However, as the seconds ticked down on the session, Chambers came roaring back with a 2:04.320 to beat Pin to the top, her maiden pole in F1 Academy. The top three for Race 2 was completed by Weug who put in a solid lap in the final moments.
The reverse-grid Race 1 would be led off the line by Felbermayr, with Lloyd and Hausmann lining up behind her.
Race 1 - Lloyd bags maiden win after holding off Weug
The reverse-grid format returns for the 2025 season and was immensely successful in China. It followed the same success in Jeddah too, levelling the playing field and rewarding a driver’s consistency and ability to charge up the field.
It also gave Lloyd the chance to clinch her maiden F1 Academy win after she masterfully took the lead from polesitter Felbermayr with a powerful launch off the grid. Lloyd immediately set about building a gap, while further down, Palmowski charged up from fifth to second.
By Lap 3 there were battles all across the board as Pin chased down Hausmann in sixth and Weug tried to pass Palmowski for second. Just then, a brief incident for Block saw her Williams car hit by Courtney Crone. Block spun out but was able to get going again, but Chong who was also collected in the chaos was taken out of the race.
After a quick Safety Car to neutralise the action, Lloyd kept the race under her control and made sure to keep Palmowski behind. The restart on Lap 7 gave Pin the chance to slip past Felbermayr, while Weug tried a similar move on Palmowski but to no avail.
Meanwhile, this round’s Wildcard Driver Farah AlYousef received a hefty ten-second stop/go penalty for a starting procedure infringement at the Safety Car restart as well as a five-second penalty for a false start. Crone was another driver who picked up a penalty, ten seconds for causing the collision with Block.
With three laps to go, Pin was making more moves as she battled against the hard defence of Larsen to slide up to fourth. Weug finally made the pass on Palmowski, and although a win was not far out of reach for Weug who quickly closed in on Llyod too, the Ferrari driver ran out of laps and had to settle for second.
Lloyd didn’t give into the pressure and held out against Weug to take her McLaren-liveried car to the top step ahead of Weug and Palmowski, the Red Bull driver skillfully defending the position from Pin in fourth.
Race 2 - Missed opportunity for Chambers, Weug’s title campaign officially begins now
Starting on pole, Chambers was all set for a win but a costly incident with Weug at Turn 22 which saw the Ferrari driver pushed onto the run-off area resulted in a five-second penalty for the American, denying her of the win.
It was a speedy launch for Chambers who skillfully kept Pin behind her. Pin meanwhile was left in the dust by Weug who leaped up to P2 and began duelling Chambers for the lead with some bold lunges to the inside of the Campos Racing driver.
While Chambers and Weug tossed the lead back and forth between themselves, further down, Rafaela Ferreira clipped the rear of Felbermayr’s Sauber. Felbermayr spun off and was relegated to 17th, for which Ferreira was handed a ten-second penalty.
A five-second penalty was then decided for Chambers, who had forced Weug to go wide. Although the American driver was in the lead, she was at risk of finishing outside the top three, even top four at one point.
Encouraged to push, Chambers went full qualifying-mode and softened the penalty’s blow, finishing second with the fastest lap point.
Weug’s skills and consistency paid off with her first win of 2025, Ferrari’s only win so far at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in any category. The podium was completed by Pin, who would’ve hoped for P2 at least with Chambers’ penalty.
The top five was rounded out by Palmowski and Larsen in P4 and P5 respectively, while further behind, Ferreira’s penalty dropped her out of the points and promoted Lloyd to eighth. Ahead of the Race 1 winner, Hausmann and Nina Gademan clinched P6 and P7 respectively, while the final points were taken by Joanne Ciconte and Chong.
Drivers’ Thoughts
The star of the weekend was Weug, who was jubilant to have finally taken the lead in the standings: “Yesterday was really good from P6 to P2. Today, again the pace was really nice in the first couple of laps and managed to make up the place on [Pin] in Turn 1. […] It gives me more relief because after Shanghai, I think we should have been in the lead [of the championship].”
Chambers was gutted to have missed out on the win, but shared: “I can still take a lot of positives from the race. The pace was really strong at the end – to be able to pull a five-second gap to [Pin] in third I think is something to still be proud about.”
She will undoubtedly be looking forward to her home race in Miami to make up for Jeddah. Another driver hoping to make amends next round is Pin.
After losing the championship lead to Weug, Pin reflected: “The season is still beginning so I’m keeping my confidence on top because we are here, even if we were a bit under today. I’m looking forward to come back, and come back stronger.”
Championship Standings After Jeddah
Drivers’ Championship
Maya Weug — 59
Doriane Pin — 52
Chloe Chambers — 47
Alisha Palmowski — 36
Alba Larsen — 28
Teams' Championship
Campos Racing — 91
MP Motorsport — 89
PREMA Racing — 71
Rodin Motorsport — 34
ART Grand Prix — 2
Hitech TGR — 1
While Pin had to relinquish the lead to Weug, Miami will be a stronger track for the Mercedes driver who finished with a double podium weekend there last year.
Over in the Teams’ Championship, MP Motorsport has closed the gap to Campos Racing with Weug’s win. Will we see a new team leading the standings next round or will Campos Racing manage to cling on to their position?
Up Next
Miami will be the third round of the 2025 F1 Academy Championship. Marking the home race of Chambers, Block and Crone, it is bound to be a special weekend.
The series will return from 2nd to 4th May for another thrilling round to determine this year’s F1 Academy champions.
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