F1 Academy: Ferrari junior Maya Weug clinches her maiden F1 Academy victory

Ferrari’s junior driver Maya Weug celebrated her maiden F1 Academy victory in the season-closing round, displaying an utterly dominant performance in Race 3 at the Yas Marina Circuit. F1Technical’s lead writer Balazs Szabo reports on the final F1 Academy race.

As the lights went out for one final time this season, it was pole-sitter Pulling who took the lead going into Turn 1, performing a brilliant getaway.

Haas racer Chloe Chambers started from P2 on the grid, but he got together with Mercedes driver Doriane Pin at Turn 1. The incident saw the pair spint out, and while they were able to continue, they tumbled down the order.

Red Bull driver Hamda Al Qubaisi was able to benefit and moved up into second, with Ferrari’s Maya Weug jumping into P3. The Dutch racer immediately displayed great speed, going past Al Quabaisi on Lap 2, moving ahead at Turn 6.

Weug then continued her march towards the front, closing in on newly-crowned champion Pulling.

Interestingly, the the majority of the drivers were only separated by the tiniest of margins on the opening laps of the 14-lap race. McLaren’s Bianca Bustamante was eager to move up the order, but she made a mistake by locking up into Turn 6. The mistake saw the McLaren racer collide with Al Qubaisi, and although the pair was able to continue, Bustamante received a ten-second penalty for the offence.

On Lap 6, Weug made it past Pulling for the lead. From there, the Dutch driver put her foot down, and started to build a significant gap to those behind.

Having lost the lead to Weug, Al Qubaisi closed in on Pulling. In the meantime, Williams racer Lia Block overtook Bustamante, and made it past Nerea Marti as well after the latter made a mistake.

Block then closed in on Al Qubaisi, but she made a slight contact with the rear of the Red Bull driver’s car which sent Al Qubaisi into a spin. The Williams driver received a ten-second penalty for the incident.

The Safety Car was deployed to recover Al Qubaisi. It had horrendous consequences on race leader Weug as she lost her the 11.5-second advantage due to the neutralisation.

The race resumed for one final lap, but Weug managed to disappear into the distance, capitalizing on her utterly dominant form.

The Ferrari driver clinched her maiden F1 Academy victory, with champion Pulling coming home in second, while Martí took the final podium spot.

Tina Hausmann recorded a career-best result of the season to go fourth, with Jessica Edgar ending the year with a fifth-place result.