Lia Block continued her preparation for her sophomore F1 Academy campaign with her second participation in the EuroCup-4 Spanish Winter Championship, where she secured a top-20 finish from 31st on the grid—gaining over 30 places across the weekend in Portimão.
Lia Block continued her preparation for her sophomore F1 Academy campaign with her second participation in the EuroCup-4 Spanish Winter Championship, where she secured a top-20 finish from 31st on the grid—gaining over 30 places across the weekend in Portimão, Portugal.
Despite a tricky first qualifying session in damp conditions and being caught in a first-lap incident in Race 1, Block delivered remarkable recovery drives; a particularly strong sprint race saw her finish 17th, matching her best result from the season opener in Jerez.
Block, who made her F4 debut a year ago in the Formula Winter Series as preparation for her F1 Academy debut, showed remarkable progression in her first-ever season of single-seater racing after transitioning from mainly rally disciplines. In just one year, the young American went from no experience to battling in the top five in F1 Academy.
Having re-signed with ART Grand Prix for the 2025 F1 Academy season—again as a Williams Academy driver—Block started her preparation in the newly launched EuroCup-4 Spanish Winter Championship, returning behind the wheel of ART GP’s Tatuus F4 car.
The second weekend of the Spanish Winter Championship saw the series head from Jerez to Portimão, featuring a massive 36-car field with many drivers preparing for their main 2025 programs. Among them were four female drivers, three of whom are confirmed for the 2025 F1 Academy season.
Block’s weekend in Portimão began with pre-event testing on Friday. She made steady improvements over the two sessions, ultimately setting a personal best of 1:46.564 in the second session and placing P31 by the end of the day.
Saturday morning’s qualifying session brought extra challenges, with a wet track adding unpredictability. Just two minutes in, a red flag interrupted the session before any drivers had recorded a lap. Once the session resumed with 18 minutes remaining, Block set her first representative time of 2:01.341, which placed her third at that moment.
As the track conditions improved, lap times quickly dropped below the two-minute mark. Most drivers gambled for slick tyres, while Block remained on wets. She pushed under the 1:59 barrier and later clocked a 1:57.3 with two minutes to go, however, the tyre choice ultimately didn’t pay off, and she had to settle for P31, meaning she’d have some work to do in the races.
A few hours later, it was time for the first race of the weekend on a fully dry track.
At lights out, it was a Campos 1-2 at Turn 1 with Strauven leading Przyrowski. The first two corners were relatively clean, but Turn 5 saw multiple collisions that took out several cars.
Starting from P31, Block was unfortunately caught in the melee and had to pit for a new front wing at the end of the first lap. The safety car was deployed.
The race restarted on Lap 5, and more incidents in the midfield caused debris on track, though the race remained green. Block gained a few positions and climbed to P28 as Tye and Anagnostiadis pitted with damage.
One lap later, more big crashes occurred—Schaufler spun and was collected by Baztarrica, requiring another safety car intervention. This time, Block managed to navigate the field unscathed and moved up to P26.
With six and a half minutes to go, the race went green again: Block had a solid restart, gaining one position on Garduno. Soon after, another collision at Turn 5 between Jean Paul Karras and Kanthan triggered a new safety car period with just three minutes left on the clock. Once again seizing opportunities, Block had climbed to P22, just behind Emma Felbermayr.
With time running out, the race ultimately ended under caution, allowing just one full lap under green. Lia Block took the checkered flag in P21, recovering ten positions despite the first-lap incident and pit stop—a solid result given the challenging circumstances.
Later in the afternoon, it was already time for the Sprint Race. Lia Block aimed for another strong recovery from P31, clearly targeting a feasible top-20 finish.
The race however began once again with chaos: one car stalled, anothers spun at Turn 1, and Przyrowski went around. More drama unfolded when race leader Van't Pad Bosch, battling fiercely with Fiorentino, made contact and went off, triggering the safety car.
Block had an incredible start off the line and expertly navigated through the field, completing the first lap in P20—gaining 11 places in just one lap.
Tye pitted with damage, promoting Lia to P19 before the restart on Lap 3.
When the race went green, Block had a good restart, holding P19 while chasing Dobrzanski. On Lap 5, she lost a few places as Nobels went past, but she held her own and regained P21 by repassing Suslov and Przyrowski.
More collisions at the back saw Schwarz, Petrovic, and Lee in trouble, with Lee ending up in the gravel and triggering another safety car. Meanwhile, Block capitalized on the situation, moving up to P17.
The race restarted with under three minutes to go: as the safety car pulled into the pit lane, the top two Campos teammates at the top of the pack went side by side into Turns 1 and 2, allowing Stevenheyden to snatch second place. Block had a safe restart in P18 but briefly fell behind Karras. She fought hard to stay in the top 20.
On the final lap, the field was tightly packed, and battles raged throughout. Block responded by repassing Karras in a tough, elbows-out fight, she gained a few tenths of a second as a buffer and set her sights on Campos ahead.
After Aurelia Nobels received a post-race penalty, Block gained another position, taking the checkered flag in P17—and finishing as the top female driver, in a superb recovery from P31 to P17.
On Sunday morning, drivers returned to the track for the second qualifying session, which would set the grid for the final race of the weekend. The track was dry but with cooler temperatures.
Block was immediately on a better pace, posting times in the top 10 before improving to third at one point. With 10 minutes to go, she was still holding onto a top-10 position before lap times dropped further. She improved to a 1:46.2, and on her final run, she set a 1:46.187—just thousandths of a second behind Emma Felbermayr. She would start P28 in a closely contested session where 30 cars were separated by just two seconds.
The third and final race of the weekend took place in the afternoon under clear skies and warmer temperatures. Lining up in P29, Block had another chance to climb the order.
At the start, she avoided two stalled cars on the grid and moved up to P27. Despite the packed field, everyone made it cleanly through Turns 1 and 2.
On the opening lap, Block overtook Dobrzanski and climbed to P24. The two drivers continued trading positions, with Dobrzanski briefly fighting back, but Block held her ground.
She then gained another place when Monarca pitted for a new front wing. By Lap 4, Block was improving her sector times and closing in on Baztarrica. She dipped under the 1:47 mark, creating a small buffer to the cars behind and inching closer to the TC Racing driver.
When Felbermayr and Ryba made contact ahead, Block seized the opportunity to pass them both, moving up to P21. One lap later, she successfully overtook Baztarrica, breaking into the top 20 with 12 minutes remaining.
Now just one second behind Van't Pad Bosch, Block focused ahead: she caught up to him and battled for position on Lap 12, but this allowed Baztarrica to rejoin the fight as well.
Despite the pressure, Block ran consistently and gained two more places.
In the final minutes of the race, Spina crashed into the barriers and retired; Block moved up to P17 with two laps to go and focused on keeping Tunon behind. She held her position and crossed the finish line in P17. However, a 15-second post-race penalty for track limits dropped her to P22.
Despite the unlucky outcome, the Williams Academy driver still gained seven places in the final race —bringing her total weekend gain to 31 positions.
"Made some really good progression this weekend!", she commented. "Had some very fun races and battles. Now on to F1 Academy test in Jerez"
It was a solid opportunity for continued development ahead of the first F1 Academy collective test at Jerez, scheduled for later this week.
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