Maya Weug took the first pole position of the F1 Academy season in qualifying for the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix weekend ahead of Doriane Pin and the 16-year-old rookie Alba Larsen.
Lia Block did not take part in the qualifying session after her incident with Rafaela Ferreira in FP1. Ferreira received a three-place grid penalty for both races as a result of the crash.
The top eight to qualify will be reversed for Race 1, making it crucial to qualify within the top eight to succeed in both races.
Green Light
The majority of the grid immediately went out on track as the green light illuminated the end of the pit lane. Ella Lloyd was one of the first drivers to set a flying lap, jumping to P1.
There was a small incident between Chloe Chong and Joanne Ciconte as Chong exited the pits. The two avoided colliding, but Chong had to take avoiding action. Ciconte was noted for impeding.
Maya Weug set the fastest lap of the session with a 2:03.781 just under ten minutes in. However, others were quickly improving on their second runs. Mercedes Junior Driver Doriane Pin set her first flying lap of the session, but she was down on Weug’s time. Pin immediately started another flying lap, getting within a tenth of a second of Weug.
While Chloe Chambers was on a fast lap, she had a big lock-up that impacted her time.
The Halfway Mark
Most of the grid was in the pits as we approached the halfway mark of the session. The Alpine-backed driver Nina Gademan bailed out of her lap after being unable to improve.
Every driver was out on track with less than ten minutes left on the clock. Ella Lloyd got within a second of Maya Weug, propelling her into the crucial top eight. The Ferrari Junior Weug improved on her time, setting a time of 2:03.379, leaving her over a second ahead of the majority of the grid.
As many drivers continued to improve, Ella Loyd was dropped out of the top eight. Drivers like Chambers, Palmowski, and Gademen were just a few to improve into the top eight with five minutes to go.
Emma Felbermayr was one of the few drivers improving in the last minute, jumping to sixth.
Maya Weug took her maiden F1 Academy pole position in the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix weekend qualifying session ahead of returning driver Doriane Pin and rookie Alba Larsen.
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Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team