The Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy’s Maya Weug had a great weekend in the
Netherlands, coming away with a second and a third place in the fourth round of the F1
Academy. Fellow SFDA student Aurelia Nobels is making progress, finishing both races in
the points.
After a troubled previous round in Barcelona, Maya Weug’s Prema team had changed her chassis for this round which clearly did the trick, as she finished both races on the podium at what was her home event, as she races on a Dutch license.
Qualifying and Race-1. Maya qualified fourth for Race-1 and third for Race-2. Both races
ended up being run on Sunday with a two hour break in between, as Saturday afternoon’s
one had to be postponed because of heavy rain falling just prior to the start. Maya
maintained fourth place at the start of the first one, in the lead bunch for all 13 laps, before inheriting third place after Dorian Pin was given a penalty.
Race-2. The second race was also very linear with few changes of position. Weug got a
very good start to pass Abbi Pulling and once established in second place she fended off
the series leader without making any mistakes, finishing the 17 lap race less than two
seconds behind the winner, Pin. “I am very happy to have twice finished on the podium this
weekend,” said Maya. “After a difficult weekend in Barcelona we needed a strong showing
and we did it. The results of qualifying slightly hampered my chances of fighting for the
win, but over the course of the weekend, the positive we can take away is that my race
pace was very strong. It’s very difficult to overtake at Zandvoort, as is following the car in
front very closely, because of the dirty air that affects the handling of the car, but in the
end, we managed to do the best possible with two very strong finishes.” Weug is now fifth
in the standings on 84 points. “These were very important points, not just for the
championship, but also as a validation of all the work we did prior to this Dutch round. Now
I’m looking ahead with confidence to the next round in Singapore.”
Aurelia. In Zandvoort Aurelia Nobels also did well. In qualifying, the 17 year old Brazilian
was comfortable with the slippery conditions on track, securing fifth place on the grid for
Race 1 and fourth for Race 2. She finished both races in the points, with a seventh and
fifth – her best performance of the season. She now moves up to ninth in the standings,
having clearly made progress as she was always in the top 7 throughout the weekend.