F1 Academy: Maya Weug wins Jeddah race two after hard-fought battle with Chloe Chambers
- MARCO ALBERTINI
- 4 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Ferrari Driver Academy’s Maya Weug took her first win of the F1 Academy season in race two at Jeddah and clinched the championship lead, after an exciting duel with Chloe Chambers – who crossed the finish line first but was handed a five-second penalty, still finishing second ahead of Doriane Pin.
In just her fourth race for Dutch team MP Motorsport, Ferrari Driver Academy’s Maya Weug not only took her first win of the season in race two at Jeddah, but took the lead in the championship from Doriane Pin.
Dutch-Belgian-Spanish racer Maya Weug won race two at Jeddah after Campos Racing’s Chloe Chambers was given a five-second penalty for forcing off the MP Motorsport driver at turn 22 in the midst of a close fight for the lead.
In the second and final race of the Jeddah round, Chloe Chambers started on pole, having topped the qualifying sheets on Saturday, ahead of Prema Racing’s Doriane Pin and Ferrari-supported driver Maya Weug.
At 15:08 local time, the race got underway with Chambers keeping the lead as the field navigated through the opening corners of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Behind the American, Weug overtook Pin around the outside of turn one to take second as five cars stalled on the grid.
Ella Lloyd, race one’s winner, dropped to the tail end of the field after nearly stalling from seventh, while Joanne Ciconte, Aiva Anagnostiadis, Nicole Havrda and Farah Al Yousef all had challenging starts as the green lights went out.
On the second lap, Rodin’s Chloe Chong used Aurelia Nobels’ slipstream to get past the Brazilian before the braking zone of turn 22 to take tenth place as she aimed to score her first points of the season.
However, Chong was passed by the ART Grand Prix driver around the outside of the last corner, but just on the other end of the main straight, the British-Canadian driver got by to take tenth from Nobels as the latter nearly hit a wall while avoiding a crash in turn two and thus fell to 13th.
Just ahead of the pair, Rafaela Ferreira tagged Emma Felbermayr into a spin at turn two’s apex, forcing the oncoming cars to take avoiding action as the Austrian faced the wrong way. Following a quick flick-spin, the Rodin driver rejoined the race in 17th place.
At the front, Weug started to put pressure on Chambers and at turn 22, went for a move around the outside of the Campos driver but was forced out of the track, cutting the following corner and momentarily passing Chambers. Shortly after turn 23, Weug lifted off the gas to let Chambers past before the lap was over but remained close to her throughout the final sector.
Using the slipstream throughout all of the main straight, Weug passed Chambers just before turn one’s braking zone to take the lead. However, the MP Motorsport driver made a mistake in turn four, going wide and flying over the curb, enabling Chambers to get alongside in an attempt to take back the lead.
Chambers and Weug went side by side in the esses, but it almost came to blows when Chambers jumped over a kerb and went wide, forcing Weug to go off-track in an attempt to avoid a possible crash. The Campos driver retained the lead as Doriane Pin overtook the MP Motorsport driver as they headed into the second sector.
Behind them, Courtney Crone was having a difficult race, initially being passed by Joanne Ciconte for 11th and then later being overtaken by Aurelia Nobels for 12th.
As the fourth lap began, the top seven were all close in a train, waiting for the leading drivers to engage in battle. It wasn’t long before Weug took back second from Pin with a robust move around the outside of turn one and began hunting down Chambers.
With the leading pack not as close as they were before, the cameras turned to Joanne Ciconte, who overtook Chloe Chong to get into the top ten with a stunning overtake around the outside of turn one. Chong was also attacked by Aurelia Nobels but the Brazilian was left without room to work with at the exit of turn 2 while trying to take 12th place.
Meanwhile at the front, Chambers and Weug began exchanging fastest laps, and soon the battle for the lead began to get more intense as the American was given a five second penalty for forcing Weug off at turn 22 earlier.
Following a second half of the race where Chambers tried to pull away, the American took the win on track, but finished second after the penalty was applied, giving the win to Maya Weug, who took the fastest lap while keeping a close gap to the American. Doriane Pin rounded out the podium, as Alisha Palmowski and Alba Larsen completed the top five.
Tina Hausmann finished sixth, ahead of Nina Gademan in seventh and Ella Lloyd, who recovered from a slow start, in eighth. Rafaela Ferreira originally finished eighth but was given a ten second penalty for causing Emma Felbermayr's spin, promoting Joanne Ciconte and Chloe Chong to ninth and tenth respectively, as they scored their first points of the season.
Aurelia Nobels was just outside the points in 11th, ahead of Courtney Crone in 12th and Rafaela Ferreira in 13th position. Lia Block, who started from the pit lane, ended the weekend in 14th, in front of Emma Felbermayr, who took 15th after overtaking both Nicole Havrda and Aiva Anagnostiadis in the closing stages.
As the only driver to score a podium in all four races this season, Maya Weug heads to the next round in Miami as the points leader, seven points ahead of Doriane Pin and 14 ahead of Chambers.
The next round of the season will be at the Miami International Autodrome in two weeks’ time, on May 3-4.
