Nina Gademan dominates race 1 to maiden F1 Academy victory at Zandvoort

On her 22nd birthday, Dutch racer Nina Gademan stormed to a lights-to-flag win on home soil in Zandvoort’s opening F1 Academy race, holding off Lia Block and Maya Weug to secure her first career single-seater victory.

Photo credits: F1 Academy Ltd

One year after almost reaching the podium as a wild card, Nina Gademan secured her maiden F1 Academy victory with a lights-to-flag dominant drive on home soil.

Following a dramatic qualifying session in the morning — where Maya Weug secured pole position by just 0.035 of a second ahead of Alisha Palmowski and Ella Lloyd, in quickly improving track conditions after earlier rain — the sun returned over the beaches of Zandvoort for the first race of the F1 Academy weekend. It marked the fifth round of the season and the only European stop in 2025, featuring a reverse-grid start for the top eight.

Home star Nina Gademan therefore started from the front row on her 22nd birthday, lining up alongside Prema teammate Tina Hausmann. Lia Block and championship leader Doriane Pin followed on the second row, after the Frenchwoman — hindered by traffic on her final qualifying run — could only set the fifth fastest time. Other title contenders Chloe Chambers and Maya Weug started from the third and fourth rows respectively.

Despite looming clouds, the track was dry as the cars lined up on the grid. There was early drama for Esmee Kosterman, the local wild card entrant who had qualified an impressive ninth but was called back into the pits during the formation lap, forcing her to start from the pit lane.

At lights out, Gademan launched well and remained unchallenged into the first corner, while Lia Block quickly passed Hausmann to move into second, giving chase to the Alpine-liveried Prema ahead. Right behind, Chloe Chambers was pushed wide into Turn 2 by Pin, forced onto the gravel and rejoining in eighth after losing positions.

Weug meanwhile made a better start than Palmowski and immediately attacked Lloyd, fighting for a place in the top five from the opening lap. Further back, Chloe Chong was tagged by Larsen and suffered a puncture, forcing the unlucky Rodin Motorsport driver to pit at the end of Lap 1.

On the second lap, more drama unfolded when Tina Hausmann crashed into the barriers from third place while running just ahead of teammate Pin. The safety car was deployed.

The neutralization helped Chong and Kosterman recover from their early issues but wiped out the margin that Gademan and Block had been building after a very quick opening lap.

Racing resumed on Lap 4, with Gademan accelerating away cleanly once again. The fiercest battle unfolded just behind, as Lloyd and Weug fought closely. Ahead of them, Pin ran wide into Turn 3, giving McLaren junior Lloyd the chance to slip past into fourth, while Gademan and Block again tried to pull clear.

Further back, Alba Larsen — who had started 14th — navigated the chaos and climbed up to ninth, while Nicole Havrda, recovering from a 10 place grid penalty, made her way into tenth.

On Lap 6, the title fight intensified as Weug dived to the inside at the banked Turn 3. Pin just held on, while Gademan stretched her lead at the front with a 1:37.699, gaining almost a second on Block, who now also had to defend from Lloyd.

Soon after, Weug completed a bold move on Pin to take fourth, just as Chambers showcased her overtaking skills with a clean pass on teammate Palmowski for sixth. Weug wasn’t done — immediately chasing down Lloyd. The pair went side by side down the main straight, and after a thrilling wheel-to-wheel battle, Weug completed the move into Turn 2. Chambers also continued her charge, passing Pin with another decisive overtake soon after.

Larsen’s strong run was then undone by a black-and-orange flag for front wing damage sustained in her Lap 1 contact with Chong. Forced to pit, she also received a 10-second penalty, promoting Havrda to ninth and Rafaela Ferreira to tenth. In the same group, Aurelia Nobels pulled off a late-braking move into Turn 1 to pass Courtney Crone, while Kosterman — having cleared Anagnostiadis and Ciconte — was not far behind.

On a mission, Chambers then targeted Lloyd. The American tried everything to find a way through, the two also making slight contact when Lloyd ran wide, but the Welsh racer held firm.

At the front, Gademan managed her one-second advantage comfortably. The quickest on track was now however Maya Weug, lapping in the 1:37.2s once in clear air and rapidly catching Block, who was holding on for her first-ever F1 Academy podium.

On the final lap, Block defended masterfully her second place, beating Weug by just a tenth of a second across the line.

The top step of the podium, however, went to Nina Gademan, who gifted herself the perfect 22nd birthday present by claiming her first career victory in single-seaters, leading every lap in a flawless performance, a day after being declared unfit for FP2.

Ella Lloyd held off Chambers for fourth, with Pin finishing sixth ahead of Palmowski and Emma Felbermayr. Nobels made another late move into Turn 1 in the closing stages to snatch ninth from Havrda, who nonetheless delivered one of her best performances of the season in tenth.

Rafaela Ferreira finished just outside the top ten, narrowly ahead of Kosterman, who recovered from her pit-lane start with an impressive charge. Crone came home 13th, followed by Joanne Ciconte and Chloe Chong — who showed strong pace but was unable to recover further after her first-lap misfortune.

Aiva Anagnostiadis finished 16th, with Larsen classified 17th after her pit stop.

Although unable to challenge for the podium, Pin still scored points to keep her lead at 19 over Chambers, with Weug closing back in to 31 points adrift.

With full points to be awarded in Race 2 on Sunday morning — in potentially wet conditions — another thrilling showdown awaits, with lights out scheduled for 10:40 local time.