Filed with tonight’s free practice, F1 Academy qualifying in China has just concluded, which decreed Maya Weug’s pole position in Race 2 and Nina Gademan’s pole position in Race 1.
A fairly quiet qualifying session, that of the F1 Academy in China, but one that gives some very interesting food for thought; Maya Weug will start from the pole position for Race 2 resuming her chapter within the series directed by Susie Wolff right from where she remained in Abu Dhabi last season, ahead of everyone. As for Doriane Pin, the favorite to win the World Championship after her close battle with Abbi Pulling last season, the Frenchwoman will start behind Ferrari’s Dutchman confirming, albeit partially, the predictions about the 2025 championship trend.
Noteworthy are the debut of Alba Larsen and that of Joanne Ciconte, who will start from the second and third rows, respectively, in Race 2; while for the first race of the weekend, with the return of the inverted grid, the youngest on the F1 Academy 2025 grid will start from the sixth box for the young Danish driver and from the third for the Australian from MP Motorsports.
Sandwiched between the two rookies are Chloe Chambers-another frontrunner who could be included in the challenge between the Dutchwoman and the Frenchwoman-and Alisha Palmowski, no stranger to the dynamics of the women’s championship. Rounding out the top eight are Emma Felbermayr and Nina Gademan, the latter in pole position for Race 1.
An uphill debut for Rafaela Ferreira – supported by the Milton Keynes satellite team, Racing Bulls: the Brazilian, in fact, will have to serve a 3-place grid penalty, starting from 16th position in both races, for causing contact with Lia Block during the first free practice session. As for the Williams-supported driver, she will start from the back of the grid, having been forced to miss qualifying due to damage sustained on the single-seater following the accident. The wild card, Shi Wei, will start in 17th position ahead of Lia Block in her home event.
We just have to wait for the moment when the action will get even more concrete; so, wake-up call set for 06:40 a.m. CET tomorrow – March 22 – for the first F1 Academy race, where we will again witness an inverted starting grid.
Photo: F1 Academy.
