Lia Block returned behind the wheel of a F4 car for the inaugural weekend of the Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship at Jerez, securing a best finish of 17th in the sprint race with a solid recovery drive in a 33-car field, gaining valuable experience.
Williams Academy racer Lia Block, entering her second year of F4 competition, kicked off her 2025 season with the inaugural race of the newly launched Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship, continuing her development in preparation for her F1 Academy sophomore season.
At Jerez, Block delivered solid performances in a highly competitive 33-car field, featuring some of Europe's top F4 contenders. The young American secured a personal best of 17th in the second race—the 20-minute sprint race—gaining seven places from her starting position with a clean yet determined drive.
She navigated a safety car-disrupted first race but was unfortunately taken out of contention in the third race after a first-corner accident when she had nowhere to go to avoid a spinning car ahead.
Nevertheless, Block continues to gain vital mileage and experience in F4 machinery, aiming to build momentum after a highly positive debut season in 2024, where she progressed from no single-seater experience to becoming a consistent points scorer in F1 Academy, highlighted by two fourth-place finishes in the all-female championship.
The Williams Academy driver made her F4 debut in the winter of 2024, entering the Formula Winter Series for a partial campaign that was instrumental in her development. Having re-signed with ART Grand Prix for the 2025 F1 Academy season, Block joined the first round of the Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship in Jerez, Spain, alongside ART GP teammate Aurelia Nobels.
Drivers had two testing sessions to familiarize themselves with the track. Block had a strong second session, running inside the top 20 with a personal best of 1:44.527—just 1.3 seconds off the overall pace setter on Friday.
Saturday morning marked the first qualifying session, in cold conditions. The session was disrupted by two red flags—one caused by rookie Emma Felbermayr and another by Santiago Baztarrica—leaving Block without a representative lap time. She was classified P27 but gained positions due to penalties on the grid, ultimately lining up P24 for the first race.
An issue for Alexander Jacoby on the formation lap delayed the start, leading to an extra warm-up lap, and the race eventually started behind the safety car.
When the green flag waved at the end of lap 2, Block advanced to P23, fighting well in the pack. She steadily improved her lap times, setting a 1:46.9—quicker than some cars ahead—and gained another position.
After briefly climbing to P22, she fell behind Baztarrica and dropped to P24 again. Block nevertheless continued setting personal best sectors, staying close to the cars ahead. She regained P24 when Gino Trappa pitted with technical issues.
A safety car was deployed on lap 10 when Jacoby went off into the gravel. Upon the restart with two minutes to go, Block executed a great restart and charged into P21.
However, a crash involving Aurelia Nobels, Kyuho Lee, and Sacha Van’t Pad Bosch resulted in the race ending under the red flag. The results were therefore taken from the previous lap, classifying Block in P24.
Later in the afternoon, drivers returned to the track for the 20-minute sprint race. Block started from P24 with realistic chances of breaking into the top 20 based on her earlier pace.
She had a billiant start, climbing to P18 on the first lap.
Lia gained another position when Christopher El Feghali pitted for a new front wing, moving into P17 while lapping in 1:47.2. She showed increasingly stronger pace as she tried to close in on Gino Trappa ahead.
Improving consistently, she reached the 1:45s and successfully kept Van’t Pad Bosch behind. However, Karras overtook her, dropping her back to P17.
With a comfortable gap to both the cars ahead and behind, Block continued improving her lap times, setting personal best sectors. She defended well from Van’t Pad Bosch in the final laps and finished P17—concluding an excellent recovery drive, having gained seven positions from the start.
The second qualifying session took place on Sunday morning, ahead of the final race later that day. Block initially went provisional pole with a 1:52.500 before times began to drop. A red flag was brought out due to an incident involving her teammate Aurelia Nobels.
When the session resumed with 12 minutes remaining, Block was still inside the top 10; she improved to 1:47.7 and was just outside the top 10 with six minutes to go. Continuing to find time, she finished the session with a 1:45.409, placing her P25, in an encouraging effort in such a competitive field.
Under sunny skies at Jerez, the final race of the weekend was marred by multiple delays before the start. Gino Trappa stalled on the lineup lap, followed by more cars struggling on the grid. At the third attempt, Aiva Anagnostiadis spun on the extra formation lap, further delaying the start.
After a long wait, the race finally began following a fourth formation lap. However, chaos ensued at Turn 1 as several cars spun. Unfortunately, Block had nowhere to go and was caught in the melee, ending her race on the spot.
Despite the unfortunate ending, Block displayed strong racecraft in the earlier races, running competitively in the midfield of a large and competitive grid. She will take the positives from the weekend and prepare for the next round of the Eurocup-4 Spanish Winter Championship, scheduled for February 21-23 at Portimão, Portugal.