F1 Academy: a pole and two podiums for Weug in Shanghai

Maya’s 2025 season got off to a strong start with pole position followed by a third and second place finish. Nobels was very unlucky, retiring from both races.

Maya Weug produced a very strong performance in the opening round of the Formula 1 Academy season. At the Shanghai circuit, the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy student took pole position going on to finish third in Race 1, which started with the top places on the grid inverted. Points are awarded from 10 down to 1, with an extra point for the fastest race lap. Weug rounded off the weekend coming second in Race 2, for which points are awarded as in Formula 1. She therefore came away from the Chinese round, second in the standings on 26 points, just five behind the leader Doriane Pin.

A good weekend. “It was a positive weekend,” commented Maya. “My pace in qualifying was very good and for the few laps in Race 1 that we were actually racing, I managed to move up from eighth to third. I made a mistake in the second race at the rolling start, as I didn’t get the final corner onto the main straight quite right and that cost me the lead. Of course I’m not happy to leave Shanghai without a win, but overall it was a good weekend, it’s going to be a long season and we can head to the next round in Jeddah knowing we have everything we need to aim for the win.”

Unlucky Aurelia. Aurelia Nobels’ weekend ended without her even seeing the chequered flag. She had to retire from both races after being hit by another driver. “It’s really discouraging,” commented Nobels. “I want to forget this weekend as quickly as possible and hope to finally show what my real potential is when we get to Jeddah.”