Maya Weug claims first F1 Academy pole in Shanghai qualifying

Photo: F1 Academy

MP Motorsport’s Maya Weug claimed her maiden F1 Academy pole position in qualifying for the season-opening round at Shanghai.

Friday’s track action began with a 45-minute practice session, in which Doriane Pin led a Prema one-two. She set a 2m04.198s to go fastest by 0.099 seconds over team-mate Tina Hausmann, and Campos Racing’s Chloe Chambers was a quarter of a second back in third.

Weug, despite setting more laps, was 0.405s off the pace in fourth and Nina Gademan made it three Prema drivers in the top five but was half a second slower than Pin.

ART Grand Prix’s Lia Block and Campos’s Rafaela Ferreira did not get to lap at a representative pace following a collision between turns 13 and 14, which Ferreira was found guilty for.

Ferreira was weaving to warm her tyres, while Block was coming up behind her on a flying lap. Although Ferreira reacted, she ended up driving into Block’s path and damaged her car. A three-place grid penalty for both of this weekend’s races was handed to Ferreira, while Block was unable to contest qualifying due to her car requiring repairs.

Weug came to the fore in the half-hour qualifying session, and by a siezable margin. It was a two-way fight for pole between her and Pin, although it never truly looked like Weug would be beaten. She went to the top early on, improved several times and found pace at the end while Pin was quickest through sector one but then could not put the rest of the lap together on her final attempt. Having at one point been split by 0.095s, they ended qualifying 0.497s apart.

MP’s Alba Hurup Larsen qualified third, 0.627s off pole, with Campos duo Chambers and Alisha Palmowski next up thanks to late improvements. Joanna Ciconte missed out on fifth by 0.003s, and filling the next two spots – and therefore the reversed-grid race’s front row were Rodin Motorsport’s Emma Felbermayr and Gademan.

Qualifying results