F1 Academy: Maya Weug tops Jeddah practice
- RACERS
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Maya Weug topped a closely contested free practice session at Jeddah, edging Alisha Palmowski and Doriane Pin in the sole 40-minute outing ahead of night-time qualifying, as F1 Academy returned to the Saudi circuit following last week’s collective test.
Maya Weug topped the sole F1 Academy free practice session on Friday at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, as the all-female championship returned to the Saudi street track just one week after a three-day collective test.
The second round of the 2025 season revisits the venue that opened the 2024 championship, where Mercedes junior Doriane Pin delivered a dominant performance. In pre-event testing, Pin again showed great pace but faced strong competition from Alisha Palmowski, Chloe Chambers, and Maya Weug—who, after switching to MP Motorsport, has been in top form at the start of the year. Despite securing pole position at the season opener in Shanghai, Weug couldn't fully capitalize and finished second and third in the races, now trailing Pin in the championship standings.
Track conditions in Jeddah were extremely hot on Friday, with temperatures exceeding 50°C for the 40-minute practice session. The unique weekend schedule features a single daytime practice followed by night-time qualifying, and both races taking place in daytime heat—making practice particularly important for setup work under different conditions.
Joining the grid this weekend is 22-year-old Saudi driver Farah Al Yousef, competing as a Wild Card entry for Hitech GP. In her first season of car racing, Al Yousef previously debuted in the F4 Middle East Championship and looks to continue her development at her home race.
Several rookies showed strong pace in the Chinese season opener and will aim to confirm their form in Saudi Arabia. Among them is Dutch driver Nina Gademan, who returns to the cockpit after a major crash during testing last week. The Alpine-backed racer was briefly hospitalized but has been recovering from the incident.
All drivers completed installation laps at the start before returning to the pits. Most set their first flying laps around eight minutes into the session. Doriane Pin set the first representative time with a 2:07.687, improving to a 2:06.815 before Maya Weug went faster with a 2:06.286, then improved again to 2:05.750.
With 17 minutes elapsed, every driver had a representative time on the board except Chloe Chong, Alisha Palmowski, and Rafaela Ferreira—who celebrated her birthday on Friday. Weug held a six-tenth margin over Pin, followed by Tina Hausmann, Lia Block, and Chloe Chambers at the halfway point.
Weug continued to improve with a 2:05.616 lap, setting purple times in sectors 1 and 2. Wild Card entry Al Yousef showed progress and posted a new personal best of 2:10.425—just before a brief spin.
With 16 minutes to go, most drivers returned to the pits, but Palmowski remained on track and delivered purple sectors 1 and 2, improving her time to a 2:05.813. Nina Gademan was up to 12th at that point. Al Yousef found more time and dropped into the 2:09s, now less than a second behind the car ahead.
Lia Block climbed to fourth with a strong second sector, and Chloe Chambers soon bettered that with a purple final sector to go second. Prema and MP Motorsport cars rejoined the track for late runs, though Pin encountered traffic on her first flyer. With older tyres, improvements were increasingly difficult.
Weug set the fastest sector 2 time again but didn’t improve her overall lap. Palmowski delivered another flying lap, again purple in sectors 1 and 2, but a mistake in the final sector cost her time. Meanwhile, Pin reclaimed the top spot with a 2:05.610—just six-thousandths quicker than Weug’s previous best.
Weug struck back with a 2:05.439, before Pin responded and slotted in just a tenth slower. Palmowski then delivered a brilliant final lap, setting a 2:05.387 to move into first—only to be edged out moments later as Weug improved once more with a 2:05.357 to close out the session on top. The trio of Weug, Palmowski, and Pin were closely matched, with Chambers rounding out the top four of expected front-runners.
Lia Block showed strong pace to take fifth, followed by Ella Lloyd, Aurelia Nobels, and Tina Hausmann. Chloe Chong was ninth, putting Rodin Motorsport in the top ten once again ahead of teammate Emma Felbermayr. Gademan narrowly missed the top ten, 1.3 seconds off the session leader. Courtney Crone was 12th, with Ferreira 13th and youngest driver on the grid, Joanne Ciconte, in 14th.
It was a more challenging outing for Danish driver Alba Hurup Larsen, who had run close to the top five in China but finished this session in 15th. Hitech teammates Aiva Anagnostiadis, Nicole Havrda, and Farah Al Yousef completed the classification.
Qualifying is scheduled for 21:30 local time, taking place in the scenic and cooler conditions of the Saudi night.