F1 Academy: Maya Weug claims home pole in thrilling mixed-conditions

In a thrilling mixed-weather F1 Academy qualifying at Zandvoort, Ferrari junior Maya Weug snatched pole position in the final seconds beating Alisha Palmowski and Ella Lloyd, while fellow Dutch racer Nina Gademan secured reverse grid pole on her birthday.

Photo credits: Ferrari

An action-packed F1 Academy qualifying session in mixed-weather conditions rewarded local stars Maya Weug and Nina Gademan, as the Dutch racers secured pole position for Race 2 and reverse grid pole for Race 1 respectively, as the drying track made for thrilling final minutes at Zandvoort.

With Campos Racing drivers Chloe Chambers and Alisha Palmowski leading the two practice sessions on Friday – in both dry and mixed-weather conditions – the two Red Bull-supported drivers were among the most anticipated ahead of qualifying on Saturday morning, together with championship contenders Maya Weug, in her home race, and Doriane Pin.

Wet weather at the challenging, twisty, and technical Dutch circuit meant another close qualifying was expected to set the grids for the two weekend races.

After missing second practice on Friday – having been declared unfit to drive by the medical delegate – Nina Gademan underwent further assessments and was cleared to return on Saturday. On the day of her 22nd birthday, she was back at the wheel of the Alpine-liveried Prema car, aiming to return to the front one year after making her F1 Academy debut as a wild card.

As the green flag waved, cars went out on Pirelli wet tyres after overnight rain, though the sun was starting to break through. The track, however, remained very damp, as proved by an unfortunate accident between Hitech teammates Nicole Havrda and Aiva Anagnostiadis: Havrda slid under braking and hit the Australian, who ended her qualifying in the gravel, bringing out the first red flag.

The session resumed with 26 minutes left. Aurelia Nobels set the first representative time in the 1:48s, soon topped by Ella Lloyd and Maya Weug, with Hausmann slotting into third. Weug found more time in the first sector and improved to a 1:48.053, extending her gap to Hausmann to half a second. Conditions remained tricky, and several drivers – including Chambers, Gademan, Larsen, and Lloyd – went slightly deep into Turn 1 but rejoined without issue.

Series leader Doriane Pin nevertheless set a 1:47.784, and with the track quickly drying, conversations started on the radios about the imminent switch to slicks. Gademan improved to third, while Chloe Chong – strong in FP1 with a top-five showing – moved up to P5.

Block, Felbermayr, and Pin were the first to gamble on slicks with 15 minutes to go, soon followed by many others. While it took a couple of laps to get the tyres up to temperature, purple sectors began to appear on the timing screen.

Aurelia Nobels was the first driver under the 1:47 mark, soon topped by Alisha Palmowski with a 1:45.441 to take provisional pole – only for her lap to be deleted for track limits at Turn 3. Conditions remained very difficult: both Ferreira and Hausmann brushed the wall at the banked Turn 3, before Nobels went off and beached her Puma-liveried ART GP machine, bringing out the second red flag. Lia Block led the session with a 1:46.195 ahead of Emma Felbermayr when the clock stopped with nine minutes remaining.

When the session resumed, drivers lit up the timing screens with personal bests. Ella Lloyd went fastest with a 1:41.645 before Chloe Chambers improved to a 1:41.524 with a purple final sector. Weug and Felbermayr also found time but remained third and fourth.

Lia Block’s 1:41.263 briefly held the lead before Doriane Pin – and then Ella Lloyd again – alternated at the top. Rookie Felbermayr, however, became the first driver to break the 1:41 barrier, ahead of Palmowski and Chambers with less than three minutes left.

Pin used a slipstream in the final corners to go fastest, but Lloyd, Chambers, Weug, and Block all improved in rapid succession. With the clock ticking down, home hero Maya Weug recorded a 1:38.975. Chambers improved but fell short of toppling the Ferrari driver, before Palmowski and Lloyd further lowered the benchmark.

Weug, however, was not done yet: on her final attempt she snatched pole position with a 1:38.834, just five hundredths clear of Palmowski and Lloyd in an action-packed and dramatic finish to qualifying.

Palmowski narrowly missed out on her first pole of the season and will start second, with Ella Lloyd and Chloe Chambers sharing the second row. Championship leader Doriane Pin will line up P5 after being slowed by traffic at the start of her last attempt, and will start alongside Lia Block on third row.

Tina Hausmann was seventh fastest in a strong qualifying effort for the Swiss driver – which also secured her a front-row start for the reverse grid race. Nina Gademan was eighth fastest, thus earning Race 1 pole position on her birthday.

Wild card Esmee Kosterman also had a remarkable run to ninth, missing out on reverse grid pole by just 0.05 seconds. Emma Felbermayr completed the top ten.

After strong work from the Campos team, Rafaela Ferreira had her rear wing replaced in the pits and rejoined, eventually taking P11 ahead of Chloe Chong, Courtney Crone, and Alba Larsen. Nicole Havrda was classified 15th but will serve a 10-place grid penalty for a red flag incident in FP1, therefore promoting Joanne Ciconte, Aurelia Nobels, and Aiva Anagnostiadis.

The first race of the weekend, featuring the top-8 reverse grid order, will go green in the afternoon at 17:05 local time.