Maya Weug makes return to formulas with top-5 on Euroformula debut at Hockenheim
Maya Weug made a highly encouraging return to single-seater racing at Hockenheim, completing her first Euroformula weekend with BVM Racing by steadily progressing through every session and securing a fifth-place finish in the rain-affected final race.
Maya Weug made a highly encouraging return to single-seater racing at Hockenheim, completing her first Euroformula weekend with BVM Racing by steadily progressing through every session and securing a fifth-place finish in the rain-affected final race.
Returning to a formula car after an 11-month absence, with no testing or racing in single-seaters during 2026 and only a handful of GT races in the Belcar Endurance Series to keep her active, Weug quickly adapted to the Dallara 324 and was fighting in the pack from the opening race before ending the weekend inside the top five.
The Hockenheim round marked an important opportunity for Weug, who had found herself without a racing programme for 2026 despite having established herself as one of the leading female talents in the junior formula ladder. Her association with the Ferrari Driver Academy began after she won the inaugural FIA Girls on Track Rising Stars selection, and she subsequently made impressive progress from Italian F4 through FRECA, where she scored points on multiple occasions.
Following her move into F1 Academy in 2024, she finished third in the championship during her debut season before becoming vice-champion in 2025, remaining in title contention against Doriane Pin until the final race.
Despite that success, Weug opened up about the difficulties of finding opportunities after completing her two-year F1 Academy programme, with a lack of funding preventing her from continuing her single-seater career in 2026. She instead moved into GT racing, making a promising start in the Belcar Endurance Series by scoring two podiums across the opening two rounds, although that opportunity also came to an end before the 24 Hours of Zolder.
The chance to return to single-seaters therefore came with BVM Racing for the Euroformula round at Hockenheim, making Weug the first female driver to compete in the championship since Juju Noda in 2023.
The challenge was significant. Not only was this Weug's first experience of the Dallara 324, with no testing mileage in the car, but was also stepping directly into a mid-season race weekend against drivers who had already spent the year racing and testing the car. The focus was therefore placed on progression from one session to the next.
That progression was visible from the very beginning. Weug's first practice session produced a 1:34.779, placing her eighth fastest and around 1.5 seconds from the benchmark, and that deficit continued to reduce in the second session, where she improved to a 1:33.880.
Qualifying provided another significant step forward. Weug initially recorded a 1:33.690 to sit ninth after the opening runs, before the field returned to the pits to prepare for fresh tyres. On her next attempt, the Dutch driver made a particularly large improvement through the first sector while also finding time across the remainder of the lap, producing a 1:32.666 to move into sixth.
She ultimately finished eighth, but the headline was the size of the progression rather than the final grid position, with her best time leaving her only around seven tenths from pole position with no track time for almost a year.
Weug carried that momentum into Race 1 on Saturday. Starting from eighth, she made a strong launch and immediately gained a position to move into seventh, although she then had to defend from Castillo into the hairpin as her rival attempted to fight back. Weug remained attached to the pack while continuing to build her pace, initially recording a 1:34.7 before improving to 1:34.5 and then 1:34.4 by lap seven, with another tenth found on the following lap.
The Dutch driver remained consistent through the second half of the race, precisely following the progression required after such a long period away from single-seaters. She broke into the 1:33s on lap 16 with a 1:33.9 and was now lapping faster than two cars immediately ahead of her, although the race was already approaching its conclusion. Weug ultimately crossed the line eighth, just half a second behind the car ahead, completing a solid first race in which her pace continued to improve throughout the distance.
Sunday morning's second race brought another opportunity to demonstrate that the progress was genuine. Starting from eighth under grey skies, Weug made another excellent launch and immediately attacked Herrera, taking the inside line and completing a smart move into the second corner as the pair switched back. She then found herself directly in the midfield battle under braking for the hairpin, where she also managed to get ahead of Dobrzanski.
The race was neutralised on lap two after contact between Motopark teammates Castillo and Koller, with Weug running seventh by the time the Safety Car was deployed. At the restart on lap five, Herrera ran wide through Turn 2 and Weug immediately capitalised, going side-by-side with her rival after the hairpin and keeping her foot down to secure sixth.
Herrera fought back on lap seven, but Weug remained in the slipstream and continued applying pressure. Her pace was particularly encouraging, with a 1:33.6 lap followed by a further improvement that saw her running faster than the four cars ahead on lap nine. The difficulty was no longer finding speed, but converting it into overtaking opportunities, as Weug became involved in a three-car fight with de la Torre and Dobrzanski for fifth.
Weug was consistently quicker than the cars around her but struggled to find a way through, with Dobrzanski repeatedly closing the available gaps. The fight went all the way to the final lap, when the three drivers went three-wide into Turn 8. Weug was positioned on the outside when contact with Dobrzanski sent the Dutchwoman off, damaging the rear suspension and forcing her to retire just before the chequered flag.
Race 3 provided an entirely different challenge, with the afternoon event starting on a wet track and the field initially running behind the Safety Car in extremely difficult conditions. Heavy rain continued to fall and visibility was severely restricted by spray, while Famularo and Herrera, who had started on slick tyres, were forced to pit at the end of the opening lap to switch to wets, leaving Weug running sixth before the race had even gone green.
Racing resumed at the end of lap three, and Weug made another strong restart, remaining close to Carrasquedo while simultaneously having to contend with the enormous amount of spray being generated by the cars ahead. Herrera was also attempting to recover ground behind her, but Weug was increasingly able to concentrate on the cars in front.
She soon began attacking Koller and completed an impressive move at the hairpin on lap five to take fifth. Weug immediately began pulling away from the cars behind, recording a 1:53.5 and opening a three-second advantage over Koller and Castillo. With clear air ahead, she was able to concentrate on building her own rhythm, and her lap times continued to fall. A 1:52.1 put her ahead of both Carrasquedo and Yeh in terms of pace, although the Motopark cars responded and she gradually lost touch with the battle at the front.
Weug dropped into the 1:50s with a 1:50.856 on lap 11 and continued to lower her times as the race progressed, eventually producing a 1:49.244 before the final lap. Castillo had begun to close the gap slightly, but Weug still carried around a one-second advantage into the final tour.
Weug recorded a 1:49.011 on the final lap, the fastest on that particular lap, and successfully held Castillo behind her to secure fifth place.
The result completed an extremely encouraging Euroformula debut weekend for Weug, who had progressed in every session despite entering the event with no mileage in the Dallara 324 and no single-seater starts for almost a year - to ultimately produce a top-five finish in the wet final race.
More importantly, the weekend provided another demonstration that Weug's speed has not been lost; in a discipline where momentum and seat time are particularly important, stepping directly into a mid-season round and becoming competitive within a single weekend was a significant achievement.
