2025 F1 Academy season
The 2025 F1 Academy season was the third running of F1 Academy, an all-female, Formula 4–level, open-wheel racing championship founded by and organized under the management of Formula Motorsport Limited. For the second year running, it supported selected rounds of the FIA Formula One World Championship, with 10 of the 18 cars sporting liveries sponsored by the 10 Formula One teams.
Prema Racing entered the season as the defending teams' champion after clinching the title at the final race of the 2024 season in Abu Dhabi.
For the first time in F1 Academy, the battle for the drivers' title was decided in the final race. Doriane Pin won the 2025 drivers' championship with Prema Racing, who also won the 2025 teams' championship.
Entries
F1 Academy is a spec series; all teams competing with an identical Tatuus F4-T421 chassis and tyre compounds developed by Pirelli. Each car is powered by a turbocharged 4-cylinder engine developed by Autotecnica.Team changes
- Hitech TGR joined the championship as the sixth team, with two full-time competitors and the third seat reserved for the wildcard drivers, relieving Prema Racing from this duty.
Driver changes
- Rodin Motorsport saw 2024 series champion Abbi Pulling leave the series as she moved to the GB3 Championship, where she continued to drive for Rodin. The team signed Singapore wildcard driver Ella Lloyd, who was backed by McLaren, and previously backed Bianca Bustamante in 2024. Austrian Emma Felbermayr made her F1 Academy racing debut with Rodin, and she drove with Sauber backing, replacing Carrie Schreiner, who was retained by the team as a Brand Ambassador. Chloe Chong returned to the series as the Charlotte Tilbury Beauty supported driver, having previously raced in the 2023 season, replacing Lola Lovinfosse.
- Campos Racing saw Nerea Martí and Carrie Schreiner leave the series. Chloe Chambers stayed with the team and switched to the Red Bull Ford car, which was previously occupied by Emely de Heus. All Red Bull supported cars switched from MP Motorsport to Campos Racing, with Qatar wildcard Alisha Palmowski replacing Hamda Al Qubaisi in the Red Bull Racing car, and F4 Brazilian driver Rafaela Ferreira replacing Amna Al Qubaisi in the Racing Bulls car.
- ART Grand Prix saw Bianca Bustamante leave the series as she moved to GB3 Championship with Elite Motorsport. They signed Miami wildcard driver Courtney Crone, who replaced Chloe Chambers as the Haas backed driver.
- Alba Hurup Larsen replaced Nerea Martí as the Tommy Hilfiger supported driver. Larsen joined MP Motorsport alongside Joanne Ciconte, who made her formula racing debut in 2024 and was supported by Wella Professionals from Round 4 onwards. Both drivers competed in their rookie F1 Academy season.
- Zandvoort wildcard driver Nina Gademan replaced Alpine junior Abbi Pulling in the Alpine supported car. She drove for Prema, taking the seat vacated by Maya Weug, as the latter switched to MP.
- Canadian driver Nicole Havrda joined Hitech, replacing Jessica Edgar as the American Express-supported driver. Alongside her, Aiva Anagnostiadis joined as the TAG Heuer supported driver.
In-season changes
- Aiva Anagnostiadis missed Rounds 6 and 7 due to a fractured left foot. Hitech replaced her with Megan Bruce in Singapore and Rachel Robertson at Las Vegas.
Wildcard entries
- Chinese driver Shi Wei was the wildcard entry for the first round in Shanghai. She previously raced in the F4 Chinese Championship, the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR86 Cup, and the China Endurance Championship.
- Saudi Arabian driver Farah Al Yousef was the wildcard entry for the second round in Jeddah. She was the 2022 Saudi Women's Karting Champion, and raced in the 2025 F4 Middle East Championship.
- American GB4 driver Ava Dobson was the wildcard entry for the third round in Miami, supported by series partner Morgan Stanley.
- German driver Mathilda Paatz was the wildcard entry for the fourth round in Montreal, supported by series partner Gatorade. She has raced in French F4 and F4 CEZ.
- Dutch driver Esmee Kosterman was the wildcard entry for the fifth round in Zandvoort, supported by series partner TeamViewer. She has raced in Indian F4 and British F4.
- French driver Lisa Billard was the wildcard entry for the sixth round in Singapore, supported by series partner Gatorade. She has competed in French F4.
- American driver Payton Westcott was the wildcard entry for the season finale at Las Vegas, supported by Visit Las Vegas. She has competed in Italian F4 and the E4 Championship.
Calendar
Calendar changes
The Shanghai International Circuit joined the calendar, replacing the succeeding Jeddah Corniche Circuit as the season-opening venue to avoid a conflict with Ramadan. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Las Vegas Strip Circuit also joined the calendar, the three respectively replacing the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Lusail International Circuit and the Yas Marina Circuit.After race 2 for the Miami round was cancelled, a third race for the Montreal round was added.
Additionally, a first ever rookie test took place in September 2025, hosting 18 prospective drivers.
Season summary
Round 1: Shanghai
The season started off at Shanghai International Circuit. After a collision between Rafaela Ferreira and Lia Block in free practice, Block was unable to compete in qualifying and Ferreira was given a 3-place grid penalty for both races. Maya Weug took pole position by nearly half a second from Doriane Pin.During the first race, Shi Wei spun out on lap 2, while Block and Aurelia Nobels made contact on lap 5. Chloe Chong also tagged Nicole Havrda on lap 10, resulting in a 10-second penalty. Nina Gademan started on reverse-pole position and lead the race, overcoming three safety car starts caused by the aforementioned incidents. Due to an issue on the penultimate lap, she retired from the race and allowed Alisha Palmowski to take her maiden win, after starting from third on the reverse-grid. Chloe Chambers finished in second, resulting in a 1-2 finish for Campos Racing as Weug finished in third.
The second race began with two extra formation laps and a rolling start after an on-track oil spill, caused by the SRO GT Cup prior to the race. Once the race began, Pin managed to overtake pole-sitter Weug, leading by nearly three tenths before a collision between Gademan and Tina Hausmann on the first lap, resulting in a safety car being brought out and the latter being given a 10-second penalty. Nobels and Havrda also collided, forcing both to retire while Chong clipped Joanne Ciconte in trying to avoid contact. After the safety car restart, Pin led the rest of the race and ultimately won, as Weug stayed in second and Chambers finished in third. The trio left Shanghai as the championship's top three, in the order of their Race 2 finishes.
Round 2: Jeddah
At the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Block clipped the inside wall of the final corner and red flagged the qualifying session. Chambers then took her maiden pole position being two tenths and half a second ahead of championship rivals Pin and Weug respectively.During the first race, Ella Lloyd seized first place from her teammate Emma Felbermayr before leading the race by nearly 3 seconds ahead of Palmowski, who had overtaken Felbermayr too. Block was then tagged by Courtney Crone, and while Block was able to recover, Chong was caught in the crossfire and forced to retire, bringing out a safety car. During this safety car, Farah Al Yousef was given a 5-second penalty for a false start and Crone was given a 10-second penalty for the incident with Block, retiring afterwards. Lloyd maintained the lead over Palmowski despite the safety car restart, who was then overtaken by Weug for second place, allowing Lloyd to take her maiden win as Palmowski finished third.
Chambers held first place in the second race before coming wheel-to-wheel with Weug, who had overtaken Pin for second place. On lap 2, Ferreira tagged Felbermayr and was given a 10-second penalty and after an incident on lap 4 where she forced Weug off the track, Chambers was given a 5-second penalty. Though being given the penalty, Chambers remained first on track and began to extend her lead from the rest of the pack in an attempt to keep as many positions as possible. This resulted in a second-place finish, 5.1 seconds ahead of Pin on track, who came third, while Weug inherited first place and her first win of the season. This left Weug as the championship leader, with Pin falling down to second and Chambers staying in third place.
Round 3: Miami
The Miami International Autodrome featured another pole for Chambers, who narrowly claimed it from Palmowski, Pin and Lloyd, all separated by a mere 7 hundredths. Championship leader Weug qualified in tenth after being caught in traffic.During the first race, reverse-polesitter Felbermayr nailed her start before Lloyd collided into the back of Ferreira, resulting in a safety car and early retirement for the latter. In the chaos, Pin was able to slip into second place and claimed first after a multi-lap battle with Felbermayr, which began at the safety car restart. After being overtaken by Pin, Felbermayr slipped down to sixth place while Palmowski and Nobels fought for second, a fight that was squandered by a safety car caused by a three-wide battle between Ciconte, Chong and Havrda that ended in the latter two making contact. After the second safety car restart, Pin pulled away from Palmowski, claiming fastest lap and the race win, with Chambers finishing in third.
Inclement weather resulted in several formation laps behind the safety car in Race 2, but after the rain worsened and multiple cars slid off the track, the red flag was drawn. ACCUS local regulations stated the circuit was in no condition for racing and Race 2 was postponed to the next round in Montreal. Weug left Miami leading the championship by a single point over Pin as Chambers maintained third.