F1 Academy: Three races for Maya and Aurelia

There’s a busy weekend in store for Weug and Nobels. At Yas Marina, the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy duo will tackle three races, to make up for the one cancelled last Sunday in Lusail.

It’s time for the final round of this year’s F1 Academy and there’s going to be one extra race to make up for the one cancelled in Lusail when some safety barriers could not be repaired in time, following an accident in a race for another category. Therefore, the Yas Marina round could have a major impact on the final classification as there are no fewer than 80 points up for grabs. Weug finished third in the only race to be run at Lusail, even though she was not in great shape. She is also third in the standings, 45 points behind the leader, Dorian Pin and 30 points behind second placed Nerea Marti. 

Ending on a high. Maya’s goals for this round are to claim her first win in the category, to go with her four second places and two third from eleven starts this year, as well as finishing in the top three in the championship. “I started to feel unwell on the Friday,” explained Maya, “and all the way through the weekend, apart from Sunday morning when unfortunately we didn’t race. I’m ready for Abu Dhabi, in qualifying at Lusail we did a good job and third place in Race 1 was affected by a mistake when I tried an overtaking move at a point on the track where there wasn’t enough grip. But overall, the performance was good and I think we are all set to also do well at Yas Marina.” 

Progress. Nobels is also looking to move up the standings, which currently sees her in tenth place. Aurelia scored points in Lusail, proving she has made steady progress over the course of the season. Her ninth place in Qatar puts her on 24 points equal with Carrie Schreiner and her goal now is to finish the championship in the top ten.

Programme. It’s an unusual timetable to fit in the additional third race. Free practice is on Friday at 09.50 (06.50 CET) followed by qualifying at 18.35 (15.35 CET). There are two races on Saturday at 12.15 and 20.15 (09.15 and 17.15 CET), with the third and final race of the season on Sunday at 11.15 (08.15 CET).