Palmowski and Pin Take Victories in F1 Academy 2025 Round 1 in Shanghai

The F1 Academy 2025 season got underway last weekend, with Round 1 in Shanghai as part of the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix weekend. Alisha Palmowski took her maiden victory in Race 1, with Mercedes driver Doriane Pin taking her first win of 2025 in Race 2.

Doriane Pin, Maya Weug, Alisha Palmowski and Chloe Chambers were the stand-out performers from Shanghai, with Chloe Chambers and Maya Weug both taking podiums in Race 1 and 2, with Alisha Palmowski taking the win in Race 1 and Doriane Pin taking the win in Race 2.

Round 1 of the 2025 F1 Academy season saw the 2025 drivers take to the track for the first time across a race weekend.

Doriane Pin and Maya Weug on track

Doriane Pin gains her first victory of 2025

Doriane set up her weekend in the practice session with the fastest lap, setting a time of 2m 04.198. She then followed it up with the second quickest lap in the qualifying session with a 2m 03.876. However, she only managed to finish P4 in Race 1 after the reverse grid meant she started seventh but took her first win of the 2025 season in Race 2.

Pin made a massive statement as she crossed the line over two seconds clear of Weug in second in Race 2, to bag 26 points for the victory and the point for the fastest lap, putting her five points ahead of Weug in the championship standings. 

Pin said after the race, “I’m really happy with this achievement. We put everything together, but we also aimed for this victory at the end of the weekend because we know it was the race where we score most of the points and we did it.”

Doriane Pin Race 2 winner

Maya Weug achieves her first pole position

Weug finished the practice session with a time that was only good enough for fourth on the leaderboard, but she didn’t let that get her down. Weug bounced back and set the quickest lap time in the qualifying session with a 2m 03.379 and, with it, a start from pole in Race 2. Weug said after gaining pole, “definitely something I really wanted last year and never came”.

In the reverse grid of Race 1, Maya started in P8 but quickly made her way up the grid, sitting in P5 by the end of the first lap and started the season with her first podium, finishing in P3.

Maya started on pole position for Race 2, which was more challenging because of the addition of an extra formation lap and a rolling start after an oil spill on the track. 

However, Weug couldn’t hold onto the race lead and was quickly overtaken by Pin but managed to finish the race in P2, standing on the podium for the second time during the race weekend.

Maya Weug with the pole trophy

Chloe Chambers makes it a double podium

Chloe Chambers started the weekend with the third-fastest time in the free practice session with a 2m 04.450 lap time, which set her up nicely for qualifying, where she finished in P4 with a fastest lap time of 2m 04.083.

In Race 1 with the reverse grid, Chambers started fifth and managed to get ahead of Joanne Ciconte off the line and put pressure on those ahead of her. She moved in third after a side-by-side overtake on Emma Felbermayr into Turn 1 early in the race.

Chambers continued her podium success in Race 2 with a third-place finish after a late gamble on a move to get past Alba Larsen.

Chloe Chambers

Alisha Palmowski gets her first F1 Academy victory

Alisha Palmowski secured her first F1 Academy race win in Race 1 after sneaking up the inside of an early overtake attempt by Chambers on Felbermayr, leaving just enough room for Palmowski to pass them both.

The Red Bull driver defended incredibly to hold onto the top spot after a two-car battle for victory between herself and Chloe Chambers, gaining Campos Racing’s first 1-2 victory in F1 Academy. Still, it wasn’t easy with three safety car restarts.

After the race, Alisha said, “I’m feeling over the moon to be honest,” and expressed how tough the race was “It feels like a whirlwind, I just feel like everything just happened so quickly. It was a difficult race. Obviously, a lot of Safety Cars, which is tricky to get into your rhythm because this is such a momentum-based circuit that you like to get in a flow and be consistent with your lap time.”

Alisha Palmowski on the podium

Shi Wei becomes the first Chinese Wild Card driver

With Round 1 of the F1 Academy season taking place in Shanghai, it was only fitting that a Chinese driver join the grid as the first Wild Card driver of the season. Shi Wei was first introduced to racing in 2020 and gained experience in GT racing and Formula 4.

Before the race weekend, Shi said, “For me, participating in this event is not only a breakthrough for Chinese women in motorsports, but also an important step in breaking the stereotype that motorsports are male-dominated. I hope to prove through my performance that women can also achieve outstanding results in motorsports and encourage more women to bravely try racing.”

Shi Wei finished 17th in qualifying and didn’t finish Race 1 after a Lap 2 spin ended her race chances after she became beached at Turn 14. Shi finished Race 2 in 14th place.

Shi Wei

Race Results

Qualifying: 1) Maya Weug 2m 03.379

2) Doriane Pin 2m 03.876

3) Alba Larsen 2m 04.006

Race 1: 1) Alisha Palmowski

2) Chloe Chambers +0.206 Fastest Lap

3) Maya Weug +1.316

Race 2: 1) Doriane Pin Fastest Lap

2) Maya Weug +2.010

3) Chloe Chambers +4.536

Alba Larsen and Chloe Chambers on track

2025 Season Standings After Round 1

1. Doriane Pin 31 points

2. Maya Weug 26 points

3. Chloe Chambers 24 points

4. Alisha Palmowski 18 points

5. Alba Larsen 14 points

6. Emma Felbermayr 10 points

7. Ella Lloyd 9 points

8. Rafaela Ferreira 8 points

9. Lia Block 2 points

10.  Avia Anagnostiadis 1 point

11.  Nina Gademan 1 point

12.  Chloe Chong

13.  Courtney Crone

14.  Tina Hausmann

15.  Joanne Ciconte

16.  Shi Wei

17.  Nicole Havrda

18.  Aurelia Nobels

Emma Felbermayr and Alisha Palmowski on track

F1 Academy is back for Round 2 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on April 18-20, alongside the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend.

All images are credited to F1 Academy Limited.