Chloe Chambers took a dominant F1 Academy victory around Las Vegas with her team-mate Alisha Palmowski and Maya Weug finishing the podium, while Doriane Pin secured her championship title.
Chambers started on pole and made a strong start into turn one, maintaining her position. Alba Larsen had a slow start in third with Pin closing on Larsen in the early corners.
Unfortunately, Pin was unable to get past initially but settled into fourth. Larsen made a move down the straight on Palmowski, hoping to get past the Red Bull-backed driver, but was unable to do so.
The squabbling for second place allowed both Pin and her championship rival, Maya Weug, to get in the fight, with Weug diving down the inside of the Frenchwoman on Lap 2. The Ferrari driver was just too far back to make the move work.
Weug needed to win Race 2 to win the championship after crashing in the formation lap in Race 1. However, with Pin ahead, the championship leader wasn’t going to let that happen easily.
On Lap 3, the yellow flag was waved as two cars had spun in the early sectors of the lap. Joanne Cicont and Payton Westcott had made contact, with both drivers out of the race. A Safety Car was quickly brought out, with the cars unable to get going.
Before the Safety Car was called, Courtney Crone got past Lia Block, with Block coming on the radio to accuse Crone of passing her off track.
Safety Car restart
On lap 6, Chambers took the grid back racing as the safety car came into the pits. Pin made a dive past Larsen and finally made it stick, moving into third place, and Larsen continued to drop as Weug made it past her, taking fourth place.
However, for Weug, there was still work to do, as Pin managed to grow the gap to 0.8s.
Chambers suffered a small lock-up in the lead, yet she held on to the corner and the position, with the gap to her teammate behind at 0.870s. At the same time, Weug was slowly starting to close the gap to her championship rival.
The Ferrari-backed driver took a look down the inside of the Championship leader, making a move around the outside of the Frenchwoman into the opening corners and making it stick. Moving herself into third place and crucially ahead of her rival.
Chambers built her lead to 1.6s while her teammate found herself under threat from Weug. Once again at turn 1, Weug looked at making a move around the outside of Palmowski, but was just too far back to make it stick.
A final fight for position
The fighting for second allowed Chambers to build a comfortable gap out front, while the gap to second and third fell to nothing.
Weug made a lunge around the outside of Palmowski into Turn 1, taking second place. The duo narrowly avoided contact.
However, Palmowski came back at the Ferrari-backed driver. She reclaimed second. Larsen moved ahead of PIn, pushing the title leader to fifth.
On lap 12, Chambers had the lead with a comfortable 4.1s to her teammate. Further back on the grid, Ella Lloyd made a move up into sixth. With Nina Gademan and Tina Hausmann both fighting with the McLaren-backed rookie.
As the chequered flag waved, Chambers took her second victory in her F1 Academy season with Palmowski making it a Campos 1-2. Weug crossed the line third with Larsen fourth and notably Pin in fifth. The French driver secured the driver’s title with her strong performance.
Lloyd took sixth place, taking the title of the best rookie on the 2025 grid with Gademan, Hausmann, Rafaela Ferreira and Aurelia Nobles closing out the points playing positions.
READ MORE – Doriane Pin claims victory in first-ever F1 Academy race in Las Vegas
Discussion about this post