F1 Academy: Doriane Pin leads opening Miami practice

Doriane Pin kicked off the weekend at the Miami International Autodrome by topping the timesheets in the first of two practice sessions, preceding Alisha Palmowski and Maya Weug.

Photo credits: F1 Academy Ltd

F1 Academy is back on track for the third round of the 2025 season, and Doriane Pin kicked off the weekend at the Miami International Autodrome by topping the timesheets in the first of two practice sessions.

The Miami street circuit hosts the series for the second consecutive year, after witnessing a dominant performance by Abbi Pulling in 2024. The British driver secured double pole position and two race wins that weekend, setting the tone for the championship lead she held until the end of the season.

The 2025 campaign has already seen four different winners from the first four races: Alisha Palmowski, Doriane Pin, Ella Lloyd, and current championship leader Maya Weug.

As the first of two American rounds on the calendar—the only country to host two events in 2025—the Miami round features two practice sessions, as no pre-event testing was allowed at the venue.

The session started under dry and partly cloudy skies. Most drivers immediately took to the track, especially rookies eager to familiarize themselves with the layout, having only experienced it on simulators before.

Ella Lloyd was the first to set a lap time with a 2:03.038, quickly improving to a 2:01.578. Ten minutes into the session, McLaren junior Lloyd led the timing sheets ahead of Pin, Block, Chong, and Felbermayr.

Pin became the first driver to dip below the 2:00 mark with a 1:59.931, holding a narrow 0.2-second advantage over Lloyd.

After 15 minutes, several drivers—including Palmowski, Chambers, Larsen, Ciconte, and Maya Weug—had yet to set a representative lap time.

There was a brief spin for Ferreira, but she avoided contact with the barriers and continued without damage, though likely with flat spots on her tyres.

At the halfway point, Doriane Pin further lowered the benchmark to a 1:59.622 after two purple sectors, extending her lead to over half a second. Chambers moved up to second, Lloyd remained in third, with Palmowski slotting into fourth and Nina Gademan rounding out the top five. Most drivers returned to the pits before final push laps.

Palmowski improved and climbed to second place, while Maya Weug—who had only completed two outlaps—began her first timed lap with 13 minutes remaining. Ella Lloyd responded with a strong lap to retake second and became the second driver to break into the 1:59s, quickly followed by Chloe Chambers.

In the final 10 minutes, Lloyd briefly went fastest with a 1:59.592, but Pin responded with purple sectors and a 1:59.288. She then shaved off even more time with a 1:59.153, extending her lead to three-tenths.

With two minutes to go, Palmowski climbed back to second, as most other drivers struggled to improve in the closing laps. Chong had a minor spin just before the checkered flag but avoided damage.

Doriane Pin ended the session fastest, ahead of Alisha Palmowski, Maya Weug—who found a 1:59.5 late in the session—Ella Lloyd, and Chloe Chambers.

Nina Gademan was sixth fastest, returning to the sharp end of the field after recovering from an injury sustained during testing in Jeddah. She was followed by Aurelia Nobels, who also showed encouraging progress, Lia Block, and Tina Hausmann. Chloe Chong delivered another solid session, rounding out the top ten with a promising start to her weekend.

Emma Felbermayr was 11th, just outside the top ten, ahead of Rafaela Ferreira and Alba Larsen, who had finished three of the first four races inside the top five this season.

Courtney Crone, who made her F1 Academy debut as a wild card at this track last year, returned as a full-time driver and placed 14th for ART GP. She was followed by Nicole Havrda, Joanne Ciconte, and 2025 wild card entry Ava Dobson, who encountered a technical issue in the final minutes and missed the closing runs. Aiva Anagnostiadis completed the field.

The second practice session is scheduled for later today at 15:20 local time.

Additional reporting: Liam Redford