F1 Academy Preview – What to look out for in Jeddah
- Bella (letstalkaboutspeed)
- Apr 18, 2025
- 3 min read
After three weeks of not seeing the world’s fastest women on track, F1 Academy is finally back this weekend – racing in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Now the questions are: What will the weekend schedule look like? What to expect this early onto the season and who is this race’s Wild Card entrant?
The Schedule
During the upcoming weekend, F1 Academy as well as Formula 2 are set to race before the Formula 1 sessions as usual. With one free practice session and qualifiying on Friday, Race 1 on Saturday and the second race on Sunday, a fully-packed weekend awaits fans of the female racing series!
Free Practice is set to take place at 2:05-2:45 P.M. and qualifying at 9:30-10:00 P.M. track time (KSA).
Race 1 is starting at 3:20 P.M. on Saturday and Race 2 is starting at 3:05 P.M. on Sunday; both races are set to take 30 minutes á 13 laps.
All times are set one hour prior when translated to Central European Summer Time (CEST).
What to expect?
A hot and dry weekend seems to be ahead for the second of seven F1 Academy races on the 2025 race calendar. But following last week’s in-season testing with similar weather conditions, the F1 Academy pilots are prepared for temperatures of about 30 degrees Celsius.
Succeeding said three days of testing sessions, the drivers are already familiar with the 6.174 kilometer long track consisting of 27 turns in total. Since F1 Academy has a rule that no driver is allowed to race for more than two seasons, there are ten new faces (some more familiar than others) racing this season. But despite never having raced on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit before, new drivers like Alisha Palmowski proved themselves to keep up with their experienced rivals on track.
The F1 Academy lap record of 2:03.472 of Doriane Pin – who also got pole for both races and won one of them – is yet to beat. During the first race of the season, Pin showed that she is ready to take the championship title of the 2025 F1 Academy season after finishing in second place last year; with a gap of 123 points to winner Abbi Pulling.
The Standings
Following the French driver in first place, Maya Weug is second in the championship standings with Chloe Chambers in third. All three drivers are in their second season of the racing series.
| DRIVER | POINTS |
1 | Doriane Pin | 31 |
2 | Maya Weug | 26 |
3 | Chloe Chambers | 24 |
4 | Alisha Palomwski | 18 |
5 | Alba Hurup Larsen | 14 |
6 | Emma Felbermayr | 10 |
7 | Ella Lloyd | 9 |
8 | Rafaela Ferreira | 8 |
9 | Lia Block | 2 |
10 | Aiva Anagnostiadis | 1 |
11 | Nina Gademan | 1 |
12 | Chloe Chong | 0 |
13 | Courtney Crone | 0 |
14 | Tina Hausmann | 0 |
15 | Joanne Ciconte | 0 |
16 | Aurelia Nobels | 0 |
17 | Nicole Havrda | 0 |
Championship Standings after Shanghai (without Wild Card entries); Bold: Drivers in their second season
Taking the In-Season testings from April 4th to 6th into context, in which Doriane Pin only ended up fourth overall, there might be a chance for a change in the championship leadership after the upcoming two races in Jeddah. Especially 18 year old Alisha Palmowski, who is currently fourth overall, seemed to have the pace for a race win during the three days of testing.
This weekend’s Wild Card entrant
Wild Card entry for the Saudi Arabian races will be Saudi driver Farah AlYousef, who has already been taking part in the in-season testing as well. The 22-year-old racer has won the Saudi Women’s Karting Championship in 2022. Having already driven a car similar to the F1 Academy machinery, she has been racing in the 2025 season of the Formula 4 Middle East Championship earlier this year.
With AlYousef being nominated by the Saudi Motorsport Company SMC, the country is showing their also commitment to keep involving young female talents in the sport.
The young Saudi driver is excited to race for Hitech Grand Prix in her home country, saying it is “a dream come true to line up alongside some of the most talented young drivers in the world”.
Comments