Pin holds off Palmowski for second F1 Academy win of 2025

Photo: F1 Academy

Doriane Pin resisted pressure from Alisha Palmowski following a late safety car to win F1 Academy race one in Miami.

Prema’s Pin led home Campos Racing duo Palmowski and Chloe Chambers to take victory by half a second, the trio all making up five positions from where they started.

Rodin Motorsport’s Emma Felbermayr lined up from reversed-grid pole, and she covered off Campos’s Rafaela Ferreira to lead when the lights went out before chaos ensued. 

In the middle of a three-wide battle for fourth, Rodin’s Ella Lloyd misjudged her braking for turn one, narrowly missing ART Grand Prix’s Lia Block in front of her before clattering over Ferreira’s left-rear tyre and into retirement. 

Block was forced wide as a result and tumbled to 12th, while Ferreira avoided car damage but slipped to sixth behind her two team-mates Chambers and Palmowski.

Pin steered through the melee to challenge Felbermayr for the lead, but had to back out when the safety car was deployed to remove Lloyd’s stricken car.

The race resumed on lap three, with Felbermayr remaining ahead initially from Pin and ART’s Aurelia Nobels. Pin dived to the inside later around the lap to grab first place, but Felbermayr wrestled back the advantage into turn one at the start of the next tour.

The pair’s battle created a six-car lead train, and in the middle of it Palmowski swept around the outside of Chambers for fourth.

Felbermayr’s resistance was broken on lap five when she locked up and ran wide at turn one. She dropped to fourth, and then lost further ground in a three-wide battle with Chambers and MP Motorsport’s points leader Maya Weug.

Palmowski wrestled second away from Nobels on lap six, with Pin having edged out a 1.5s lead. The safety car soon returned to track after MP’s Joanne Ciconte and Rodin’s Chloe Chong both retired following a three-car collision that also involved Hitech GP’s Nicole Havrida.

Pin set the fastest lap to edge away once the track returned to green, and she remained in front until the finish despite Palmowski’s late charge.

Nobels lost out to Chambers, Weug, Block and Prema’s Nina Gademan in the closing laps, but she gained one place to sixth at the chequered flag due to Block being penalised five seconds for exceeding track limits.

Race results (13 laps)