The 2025 F1 Academy season is the third running of F1 Academy, an all-female, Formula 4-level, open-wheel racing championship founded by and organized under the management of Formula Motorsport Limited. The championship is the second season run in support of selected rounds of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship with 10 of the 18 drivers' cars sporting liveries sponsored by the 10 teams competing in Formula One during 2025.
Prema Racing entered the season as the defending teams' champion after clinching the title at the final race of the 2024 season in Abu Dhabi.
F1 Academy is a spec series; all teams competing with an identical Tatuus F4-T421 chassis and tyre compounds developed by Pirelli. Each car is powered by a 123-kilowatt (165 hp) turbocharged 4-cylinder engine developed by Autotecnica. [1]
Full season entries | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Teams | No. | Driver | Supporting F1 team | Rounds | Ref. |
![]() | 2 | ![]() | — | 1–5 | [2] |
11 | ![]() | — | 1–5 | [3] | |
![]() | 3 | ![]() | ![]() | 1–5 | [4] |
28 | ![]() | ![]() | 1–5 | [5] | |
78 | ![]() | ![]() | 1–5 | [6] | |
![]() | 5 | ![]() | ![]() | 1–5 | [7] |
20 | ![]() | ![]() | 1–5 | [8] | |
27 | ![]() | — | 1–5 | [9] | |
![]() | 7 | ![]() | ![]() | 1–5 | [10] |
22 | ![]() | — [a] | 1–5 | [11] | |
57 | ![]() | ![]() | 1–5 | [12] | |
![]() | 12 | ![]() | — | 1–5 | [13] |
25 | ![]() | — | 1–5 | [14] | |
64 | ![]() | ![]() | 1–5 | [15] | |
![]() | 14 | ![]() | — [b] | 1–5 | [16] |
18 | ![]() | ![]() | 1–5 | [17] | |
21 | ![]() | ![]() | 1–5 | [18] | |
Wildcard entries | |||||
![]() | 4 | ![]() | — | 2 | [19] |
8 | ![]() | — | 4 | [20] | |
24 | ![]() | — | 1 | [21] | |
86 | ![]() | — | 5 | [22] | |
90 | ![]() | — | 3 | [23] | |
Sources: [24] [25] |
The calendar for the 2025 season was announced on 18 November 2024. All seven rounds will support the 2025 Formula One World Championship. [32]
Round | Circuit | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 22 March | 23 March | — |
2 | ![]() | 19 April | 20 April | |
3 | ![]() | 3 May | — | |
4 | ![]() | 14 June | 15 June | |
5 | ![]() | 30 August | 31 August | — |
6 | ![]() | 4 October | 5 October | |
7 | ![]() | 21 November | 22 November | |
Source: [32] |
The Shanghai International Circuit joined the calendar, replacing the succeeding Jeddah Corniche Circuit as the season-opening venue to avoid a conflict with Ramadan. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Las Vegas Strip Circuit also joined the calendar, the three respectively replacing the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Lusail International Circuit and the Yas Marina Circuit. [33] [34]
After race 2 for the Miami round was cancelled, a third race for the Montreal round was added. [35]
Additionally, a first ever rookie test is set to take place in September 2025, hosting up to 18 prospective drivers. [36]
The season started off at Shanghai International Circuit. After a collision between Rafaela Ferreira and Lia Block in free practice, Block was unable to compete in qualifying and Ferreira was given a 3-place grid penalty for both races. Maya Weug took pole position by nearly half a second from Doriane Pin. [37]
During the first race, Shi Wei spun out on lap two, while Block and Aurelia Nobels made contact on lap five. Chloe Chong also tagged Nicole Havrda on lap ten, resulting in a 10-second penalty. Nina Gademan started on reverse-pole position and lead the race, overcoming three safety car starts caused by the aforementioned incidents. Due to an issue on the penultimate lap, she retired from the race and allowed Alisha Palmowski to take her maiden win, after starting from third on the reverse-grid. Chloe Chambers finished in second, resulting in a 1-2 finish for Campos Racing as Weug finished in third. [38]
The second race began with two extra formation laps and a rolling start after an on-track oil spill, caused by the SRO GT Cup prior to the race. [39] Once the race began, Pin managed to overtake pole-sitter Weug, leading by nearly three tenths before a collision between Gademan and Tina Hausmann on the first lap, resulting in a safety car being brought out and the latter being given a 10-second penalty. Nobels and Havrda also collided, forcing both to retire while Chong clipped Joanne Ciconte in trying to avoid contact. After the safety car restart, Pin led the rest of the race and ultimately won, as Weug stayed in second and Chambers finished in third. The trio left Shanghai as the championship's top three, in the order of their Race 2 finishes. [40]
At the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Block clipped the inside wall of the final corner and red flagged the qualifying session. Chambers then took her maiden pole position being two tenths and half a second ahead of championship rivals Pin and Weug respectively. [41]
During the first race, Ella Lloyd seized first place from her teammate Emma Felbermayr before leading the race by nearly 3 seconds ahead of Palmowski, who had overtaken Felbermayr too. Block was then tagged by Courtney Crone, and while Block was able to recover, Chong was caught in the crossfire and forced to retire, bringing out a safety car. During this safety car, Farah Al Yousef was given a 5-second penalty for a false start and Crone was given a 10-second penalty for the incident with Block, retiring afterwards. Lloyd maintained the lead over Palmowski despite the safety car restart, who was then overtaken by Weug for second place, allowing Lloyd to take her madein win as Palmowski finished third. [42]
Chambers held first place in the second race before coming wheel-to-wheel with Weug, who had overtaken Pin for second place. On lap 2, Ferreira tagged Felbermayr and was given a 10-second penalty and after an incident on lap 4 where she forced Weug off the track, Chambers was given a 5-second penalty. Though being given the penalty, Chambers remained first on track and began to extend her lead from the rest of the pack in an attempt to keep as many positions as possible. [43] This resulted in a second-place finish, 5.1 seconds ahead of Pin on track, who came third, while Weug inherited first place and her first win of the season. [44] This left Weug as the championship leader, with Pin falling down to second and Chambers staying in third place. [45]
The Miami International Autodrome featured another pole for Chambers, who narrowly claimed it from Palmowski, Pin and Lloyd, all separated by a mere 7 hundredths. Championship leader Weug, was left in tenth after being caught in traffic. [46]
During the first race, reverse-polesitter Felbermayr nailed her start before Lloyd collided into the back of Ferreira, resulting in a safety and early retirement for the latter. In the chaos, Pin able to slip into second place and later claim first after a multi-lap battle with Felbermayr that began at the safety car restart. After being overtaken by Pin, Felbermayr slipped down to sixth place while Palmowski and Nobels fought for second, a fight that was squandered by a safety car, caused by a three-wide battle between Ciconte, Chong and Havrda that ended in the latter two making contact. After the second safety car restart, Pin pulled away from Palmowski, claiming fastest lap and the race win with Chambers was able to overtake Nobels for third. [47] [48]
Inclement weather resulted in several formation laps behind the safety car, but after the rain worsened and multiple cars had slid off the track, the red flag was drawn. [49] ACCUS local regulations stated the circuit in no condition for racing and Race 2 was postponed to the next round in Montreal. Weug left Miami leading the championship by a single point over Pin as Chambers maintained third. [50]
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve hosted the rescheduled Miami Race 2, with starting grid already set from Miami qualifying. As a result, the two originally scheduled races were held afterwards. Montreal's qualifying session determined the grid for Race 2 (reverse-grid) and full points were awarded for Race 3. [35] Chambers qualified in first once again, her third pole-position of the season and three tenths ahead of Palmowski, in second. Pin qualified third whilst Weug was left in fifteenth, following electrical issues. [51] [52]
After qualifying first in Miami, Race 1 started with Chambers on pole-position, but contact with teammate Palmowski resulted in Pin gaining the lead of the race and Lloyd claiming second. Whilst Felbermayr and Gademan fought for third, Weug's weekend got worse as her electrical issues continued and eventually caused her retirement. Two safety cars followed, with Mathilda Paatz hitting a wall and Ferreira making contact with Chong in an attempt to re-join the track, but nothing could stop Pin from claiming the win. [53] Lloyd and Felbermayr finished second and third on the road, but after Felbermayr was disqualified from the race due to weight regulations, Gademan was promoted to the podium. Palmowski and Ferreira were also given penalties resulting in a drop from eighth to twelfth, and ninth to fourteenth, respectively. [54]
Race 2 saw Chong taking reverse-pole-position. Chong didn't hold the lead for long though, as Gademan dove down the inside of her for the lead, with Lloyd and Felbermayr following suit. As Lloyd defended against Pin, Felbermayr overtook the pair and Chambers, in an attempt to make a move on the Mercedes junior, spun-out into fourteenth. Gademan had pulled a 1.4-second gap over Felbermayr, though the latter began to eat away at it. A late safety car was called for contact between Anagnostiadis and Havrda, the latter of whom was penalised for the incident and forced to start from the back of the grid for Race 3. [55] With the grid bunched together, Felbermayr was able to overtake Gademan with a few turns to spare, claiming redemption for her previous disqualification and the race win, as teammate Lloyd finished in second, Rodin Motorsport's first 1-2 finish of the season. [56]
The third and final race saw a Campos front row lockout, as Chambers and Palmowski started on pole and second, respectively. Palmowski was later overtaken by Lloyd for second, though contact between the pair sent the former into a spin, with Pin's front wing knocked in the commotion. Paatz then crashed into the path of Anagnostiadis causing the safety car to be brought out. Normal racing conditions started up as Felbermayr flew through the field, though Gademan made contact with her; the latter received a 10-second penalty. Weug attempted to salvage the unlucky weekend before a collision between Block and Ferreira collected Nobels, forcing another safety car to be called. The race restarted again but contact between Crone and Felbermayr saw the final return of the safety car. The 30-minute time-limit approached as the race ended. Chambers took the top step of the podium, with Lloyd and Pin standing beside her in second and third. After two races without any points and one sixth-place finish, Weug left Montreal third in the standings; Pin and Chambers jumped to first and second. [57]
Weug claimed her second pole of the season, outqualifying Palmowski by a mere 0.039s at her home round, held at the Circuit Zandvoort, whilst championship leader Pin was left fifth behind Lloyd and Chambers. [58]
For Race 1, Prema Racing locked out the front row with Dutch driver Nina Gademan alongside teammate Tina Hausmann next to her. Gademan had a particularly blistering start. Lia Block who started 3rd on the grid, made a move around the outside of Hausmann into Turn 1. After doing so, Chloe Chambers was pushed off by championship leader Doriane Pin into the exit of the first corner and she was led onto the grass, dropping to 8th. The next lap saw Hausmann run wide at Turn 8 and crashed onto the board, making her hit the barriers, bringing out the safety car. At the restart, Gademan maintained her lead while Doriane Pin ran wide at the banking of Turn 3, allowing Ella Lloyd to go through and forcing herself to defend against her championship rival, Maya Weug. Weug eventually got past her on Lap 7 with a spectacular overtake through the fast corners of the track. Two laps later, she overtook Ella Lloyd to get on to the podium positions. Lap 13 saw Chloe Chambers challenge Ella Lloyd for 4th but couldn't quite do it after getting minor contact with the car of the McLaren Academy driver. Further up the field later on, Maya Weug tries to make a move down the inside of Turn 1 on Lia Block with two laps to go but backs off eventually. She then settles for 3rd as Lia Block gets her first podium in F1 Academy. Dutch driver Nina Gademan, on her 22nd birthday, crosses the line to get her first win in F1 Academy, making her the seventh different driver to go onto the top step this season. [59]
Race 2 started off badly for Chloe Chambers as she was frozen on her grid box at the start of the formation lap. She eventually needed to retire after a technical problem and her car was brought back to the pits. This led to Lia Block mistakenly pulling over Chambers' grid box before reversing back to her own P6 box. Her action caused her to carry on a 10-second time penalty for a false start. At lights out, Weug had an incredible start. Ella Lloyd jumped ahead of Alisha Palmowski into Turn 1 and nearly challenged the polesitter but backed off eventually. Further back at the field in the race start, Nicole Havrda locked up into Turn 1, facing her the opposite direction and taking out Aurelia Nobels in the process, forcing the Brazilian driver to take the escape route. Later on, Lloyd gets a 5-second time penalty for a false start. This demoted her out of the podium, finising 4th whilst promoting Palmowski and Pin. Block's penalty dropped her out of the points to 12th, promoting, Rafaela Ferreira, Alba Larsen, and Chloe Chong. Maya Weug wins Race 2 by 7.3 seconds, making it the second-largest winning margin in F1 Academy history. Fellow Dutch and wildcard driver Esmee Kosterman, backed by TeamViewer, finished 7th, making her the first wildcard entry to finish in the points in any race this season. [60]
The fastest laps from qualifying set the grid for Race 2. The top 8 on the qualifying grid are reversed for Race 1, with the driver that qualified P8 starting from pole position. P9-P18 remains the same for each race. [1]
Two points will be awarded to the driver who starts Race 2 from pole position. Fastest lap points are also handed out in each race to the driver and team who achieved the fastest valid lap time and classified inside the top 8 for race 1 and top 10 for race 2. No points are given to the driver who clocked in the fastest lap time but finished outside the points. [1] [63]
Points will be awarded to the top eight classified finishers, including the fastest lap point. [1]
Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | FL |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Points will be awarded to the top ten classified finishers. Bonus points were awarded to the pole-sitter and to the driver who set the fastest lap and finished in the top ten. [1]
Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Pole | FL |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 25 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
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† — Did not finish, but classified |
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† — Did not finish, but classified |