Race 1 of the 2025 F1 Academy Miami Grand Prix began dry and full of action. Felbermayr led early before Lloyd’s crash brought out the Safety Car. Pin took the lead but lost it briefly to Felbermayr, who later dropped to sixth. Palmowski and Chambers moved up, while a second Safety Car neutralised the race again. Pin held off Palmowski at the restart to win, with Chambers third. Block received a penalty post-race, and Weug retained the championship lead by one point.
Chambers the top performer in the 2025 F1 Academy Miami GP Qualifying session
F1 Academy Qualifying in Miami delivered a stark contrast to the earlier Free Practice sessions, as looming clouds and light rain turned the session into a race against time. All 18 drivers headed out immediately, aiming to set a competitive lap before conditions worsened. Within five minutes, Chloe Chambers laid down the early marker with a 2:00.458. Alisha Palmowski followed just 0.018s behind, while Doriane Pin slotted into third. Maya Weug, the current championship leader, could only manage tenth with a 2:02.234.
Shortly after, drama unfolded as Lia Block ran wide and narrowly avoided contact with Ella Felbermayr. As rain began to fall, grip levels quickly deteriorated. Several drivers, including Chambers, returned to the pits for wet tyres. While a handful ventured back out, the worsening track meant no improvements were possible.
As a result, the early slick-tyre laps proved decisive. Chambers secured pole, followed by Palmowski and Pin. Ellie Lloyd and Block rounded out the top five. Despite her midfield start, Weug remains a threat should Saturday’s race run in similarly damp conditions.
Furthermore, incidents such as Dobson’s near miss with the barriers underscored the challenge posed by the rain-soaked track. With no one able to better their times in the second half of the session, Qualifying ultimately came down to the timing of that crucial first lap.
Felbermayr on pole; Weug in P10
The Race 1 grid for F1 Academy Round 3 in Miami featured a reversed top eight, placing Felbermayr on pole ahead of Ferreira and Nobels. Block, Lloyd, Pin, Palmowski, and fastest qualifier Chambers completed the reversed front four rows, each set to navigate through traffic.
Just behind, Hausmann secured ninth on merit, while championship leader Weug settled for tenth after failing to improve before conditions deteriorated. Crone, Larsen, and Gademan formed a tight midfield group, followed by Chong, Havrda, and Ciconte. Anagnostiadis lined up 17th after struggling for pace.
Meanwhile, Dobson, who had originally qualified 15th, dropped to the back of the grid after receiving a three-place penalty for causing a collision in Free Practice 2. As a result, the starting order promised a dynamic and unpredictable race.
Lloyd crashes out at the start of the dry Race 1
Unlike the earlier Qualifying session, Race 1 at the 2025 F1 Academy Miami Grand Prix began in dry conditions, with all drivers starting on slick tyres. Although clouds hovered above, the track temperature soared to 42.4 degrees Celsius, promising a warm yet potentially slippery race following heavy morning rain. After a clean formation lap, the drivers returned to the grid and slotted into their respective boxes—except for Larsen, who headed to the pitlane.
When the lights went out, Felbermayr launched off the line with an impressive start, pulling ahead despite early pressure from Ferreira. However, the opening lap soon saw drama, as Lloyd crashed out and triggered yellow flags. Although racing initially continued, action was quickly neutralised with the deployment of the Safety Car. Before that, Pin—who had climbed to second after a strong getaway—briefly challenged Felbermayr for the lead but wisely backed out as the caution came.
As the field bunched up behind the Safety Car, Felbermayr retained the lead with Pin close behind in second. Nobels held third, while Chambers had climbed from eighth to fourth with a confident opening stint. Palmowski followed in fifth, just ahead of Weug, who gained four positions to settle into sixth.
A fierce battle up front
The Safety Car peeled in at the end of Lap 2, and Felbermayr wasted no time, making an early getaway to pull clear of the chasing Pin. Nobels also made the most of the restart, gaining ground, while Chambers hesitated slightly and lost time. Although she stayed ahead of Palmowski and Weug, she now faced the task of closing the gap to Nobels.
On Lap 3, Pin dived down the inside to snatch the lead from Felbermayr. However, Felbermayr responded immediately at the start of Lap 4, reclaiming the position as Pin came under pressure from Nobels. Just behind, Palmowski and Chambers went wheel-to-wheel in a tight scrap for fourth. Despite a close call between the two Campos Racing drivers, Palmowski emerged ahead.
At the front, the fight between Felbermayr and Pin intensified, with both drivers running side-by-side. Yet Felbermayr locked up under pressure, gifting the lead to Pin. The mistake also allowed Nobels and Palmowski to slip through, dropping Felbermayr to fourth. Moments later, Chambers took advantage of her rival’s compromised pace to claim fourth, while Weug also passed to move into fifth. Felbermayr, visibly struggling with a suspected issue, fell to sixth and received a black-and-white warning flag for making more than one change of direction while defending.
Pin leading Palmowski with Nobels battling for a podium finish
On Lap 6, Palmowski, running in third, launched a bold move on Nobels for second. The Campos Racing driver, in the Red Bull-liveried car, went side-by-side with Nobels and ultimately came out ahead. Nobels, now vulnerable, immediately came under pressure from Chambers. Meanwhile, further down the order, Ciconte, running in 13th, was noted for a potential false start. Stewards later confirmed she had been out of position on the grid and issued a five-second time penalty.
The following lap saw further drama as Ciconte spun during a three-way scrap with Chong and Larsen. Although she attempted to recover, she was unable to return to the pit lane.
Consequently, Race Control deployed the Safety Car with just five laps remaining, wiping out Pin’s hard-earned lead. Chong, who sustained damage in the incident, returned to the pits and retired from the race. At the same time, Felbermayr—still on track but with an ailing car—received the black-and-orange flag, forcing her to pit for repairs. While she did rejoin the race, she dropped to the back of the field heading into the final four laps.
Pin claims the lead at second restart
Pin held firm at the restart, immediately pulling a gap of over seven-tenths to Palmowski, who later claimed she had been “brake-tested” by the Mercedes Junior driver. Chambers made a clean move to snatch third from Nobels, who soon came under threat from fellow Ferrari Driver Academy member Weug. Nonetheless, Nobels defended well to retain fourth into Lap 11.
Further back, Crone overtook Larsen for tenth as Felbermayr stormed through the pack, climbing to 12th with moves on Havrda, Dobson, and Anagnostiadis. Meanwhile, Weug eventually got the better of Nobels to secure fourth place. Although Nobels remained close behind and capitalised on a lock-up by Weug to close the gap, she couldn’t reclaim the position. Midfield action intensified as PREMA teammates Gademan and Hausmann fought for seventh, with Gademan coming out on top. Block, now applying heavy pressure on Nobels, managed to overtake on Lap 12 but appeared to run fully off track in the process—prompting concerns of a potential penalty.
On the final lap, Palmowski continued to challenge Pin, but the French driver held her nerve to cross the line first, also securing the fastest lap. Palmowski finished second, with Chambers completing the podium. Despite finishing fourth, Weug retained her championship lead by a single point. Post-race, Block received a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage over Nobels, dropping her down the order.
Full results for the F1 Academy Race 1 at the 2025 Miami GP
- D. Pin
- A. Palmowski
- C. Chambers
- M. Weug
- N. Gademan
- A. Nobels
- T. Hausmann
- R. Ferreira
- C. Crone
- L. Block
- A. Larsen
- N. Havrda
- A. Dobson (WCD)
- A. Anagnostiadis
- E. Felbermayr
- C. Chong (DNF)
- J. Ciconte (DNF)
- E. Lloyd (DNF)
