F1 ACADEMY: Weug takes maiden series victory to secure PREMA the Teams’ title

Ferrari’s Maya Weug secured her maiden F1 ACADEMY win in the final race of the 2024 season, with her victory helping PREMA secure the Teams’ Championship for a second consecutive year.
After some intense wheel-to-wheel battles with pole-sitter Abbi Pulling, Weug took the lead with just over half the race distance to go. From there, she created a 10-second gap ahead, before a Safety Car on the penultimate lap brought the grid back together.
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Nevertheless, she executed the perfect restart to hold onto first place and bring home the victory, helping PREMA Racing to win the Teams’ title in the process.
Pulling continued her run of top three finishes, having never missed a podium across the 2024 F1 ACADEMY season, to finish in second. Tommy Hilfiger’s Nerea Martí also ended her year with a third place.
Having started from pole for all three races in Yas Marina, Pulling knew what to do at the race start as she got off the line well to maintain first place. Fellow front-row starter Chloe Chambers also got off the line well but was usurped by the lightning quick Doriane Pin, with the Mercedes driver moving into second.
However, as the the pair made their way into Turn 1 they collided and were both sent spinning off and down the order.
As a result of that collision, Hamda Al Qubaisi was subsequently elevated two places into second with Ferrai’s Maya Weug going from sixth to third in just a matter of corners. By the second lap, Weug was on the back of Al Qubaisi and placed her Ferrari up the inside at Turn 6 to go ahead. From there, she hunted down Pulling, and would get a chance for the lead on Lap 5.
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Weug once again tried a move down the inside at Turn 6, but this time Pulling would bail and found herself on the runoff, with the Alpine-backed driver needing to give the position back to Weug, or risk a penalty for gaining an unfair advantage.
After securing the lead on Lap 6, Weug would drive off into the distance with Pulling now fending off a determined Al Qubaisi for second place.
Behind them Lia Block was also on a charge, having started in eighth. Although needing to serve a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, the Williams junior made moves on McLaren’s Bianca Bustamante for fifth before progressing to fourth after a mistake from Martí.
Hamda Al Qubaisi in third soon had Block in her mirrors with three laps of the race to go, but a nudge from Block into the rear of Al Qubaisi sent the Emirati driver spinning and out of the race. Block was given a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision and a Safety Car had to be deployed as a result.
With the grid now bunched together thanks to the Safety Car, the race would go green on the final lap as Weug expertly held onto first place to take her very first F1 ACADEMY victory in style. Pulling secured second, with Martí ending Race 3 in third place after Block’s penalties were applied and dropped her to 15th.
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Aston Martin’s Tina Hausmann achieved a career-best result of fourth, with American Express driver Jessica Edgar in fifth, though a post-race five-second penalty would drop her to P12. Amna Al Qubaisi was another top drop down the order after finishing seventh on the line, as a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage took her out the points.
That would leave Pin in P5 after a great comeback driver, with Kick Sauber’s Carrie Schreiner P6. Lola Lovinfosse, Aurelia Nobels, Emely De Heus and Hamda Al Qubaisi rounded out the top 10.