In her penultimate race in F1 Academy, Lia Block has claimed her maiden victory in a dominant style at the Singapore Grand Prix, leading every lap of Race 1 at Marina Bay.
Block soared to victory on the streets of Singapore, as she started on reverse grid pole.
With her team-mate alongside her, the American was able to defend her lead on the opening lap and several safety car restarts.
Block had a clinical victory, as she managed to hold off the championship hopefuls of Maya Weug and Chloe Chambers on the final few laps of the race.
The Williams-backed driver spoke post-race on how excited she was to have turned her weekend around.
After Free Practice, Block sat in 14th, placing her outside the reverse-grid for the races; however, she was able to find more pace during qualifying, elevating herself to eighth and on reverse-grid pole.
Block remained excited about her Saturday result, as a win on Friday morning seemed nearly impossible.
“I feel great,” she emphasised.
“It wasn’t a great Qualifying or start to the weekend yesterday, but topping it off with a win, so I can go home now! Just kidding, I still have another race.”
Despite the composure Block showed at the front of the field, the Williams driver revealed that inside the cockpit, it was a difficult race to manage. particularly in the first half of the race, where she had to hold off a mounting threat from her teammate Aurelia Nobels behind.
“It was a difficult first half of the race. Thankfully, there was a lot of fighting behind me, so I could just focus on myself.
“I figured some stuff out, got some more time out of the car and chilled to the end.”
Keeping cool in the cockpit
Block also highlighted the challenges at the end of the race when both Weug and Chambers were challenging her lead.
A late lock-up could have been costly for the 19-year-old; however, she managed to escape with no damage done to her race result.
“I was looking in my mirrors a couple of times to see how close Maya was, but I just kept focusing on myself. It was pretty easy to the end, no squabbles, one lock-up, but we did it.”
For Block, her Safety Car restarts were crucial in helping her secure her victory in Singapore. Whilst discussing her approaches to the restart, the Williams driver revealed
“Here, it’s just about trying to catch people off guard because there are not many places to strategically do a restart. I was just waiting for Maya to weave in my mirrors and then floor it from there. Both of my restarts were pretty good. I was happy about that — gave me some breathing room for sure.”
Block’s result also marks a special milestone for Williams, whose academy drivers have now claimed multiple victories this season.
For Block, though, the triumph is about more than points on the board; it’s a reward for her perseverance throughout a challenging weekend and a signal of what might be to come as she continues her journey up the motorsport ladder.
“It’s full circle now,” she said.
“I started from the bottom and now we’re at the top. It feels really good. Just means I have to work 10 times harder tomorrow to get another good result, but super happy with this.”
READ MORE – Lia Block claims maiden win in F1 Academy Race 1 at Singapore
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