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STANDOUT STARS: Who banked on Zandvoort success in Round 5?
There was double Dutch delight across Round 5 of the 2025 F1 ACADEMY season in Zandvoort as Maya Weug reigned supreme on home turf and reignited the title fight.
A rollercoaster 24 hours for Nina Gademan culminated in a heartwarming first trip to the top step, but the Alpine racer wasn’t the only driver the sun was shining on at the weekend…
MAYA WEUG
Maya Weug showed exactly how to get a title-contending campaign back on track as she treated her MP Motorsport team and the jubilant crowds to a dream weekend.
The all-Dutch combination came out fighting from the get-go. Comfortably inside the top two through both Practices, she pipped Alisha Palmowski to pole by 0.039s. Demonstrating that overtaking is more than possible at Zandvoort, the Ferrari driver stormed from eighth to third in Race 1 and was the only driver to lap inside the 1:36s.
Brushing off Ella Lloyd’s advances on the opening lap of Race 2, Weug claimed the first Grand Slam of her F1 ACADEMY career and the first of the season – with her 7.333s advantage the second-largest winning margin in the series’ history.
A pivotal and much-needed moment after her heartbreak in Montreal, Weug has shown she’s not going to let the title slip out of her hands if she can help it. Crucially, Chloe Chambers’ DNS in Race 2 has promoted her back up to P2, 20 points back from Doriane Pin in the Standings.
Inching ever closer to the Mercedes driver and buoyed by the belief that she and MP are stronger than ever, another weekend like this in Singapore and the battle will blow wide open for the season finale in Las Vegas.
NINA GADEMAN
A moment that looked almost impossible midway through the weekend, Nina Gademan etched her name into the history books with her first single-seater victory in Race 1.
The seventh different winner in 10 races, the Alpine driver almost had to watch her home weekend from the sidelines after being declared unfit to drive in FP2. Fortunately, she passed further checks and earned reverse grid pole for Race 1 with a P8 result in Qualifying.
Holding the unfortunate record of having led the most laps without a win – after being on course for victory in Shanghai Race 1 and Montreal Race 2 – Gademan took her 44th leading lap in style, delivering a home victory on her 22nd birthday.
Two years ago, Gademan witnessed the Dutch Grand Prix as a fan before making her F1 ACADEMY Wild Card debut there last season. Overjoyed on the radio and emotional on the podium, it was a full circle moment for her.
LIA BLOCK
Lia Block’s long-awaited maiden podium finally arrived and is an achievement that’s been a season and a half in the making since her arrival to the paddock and the world of single-seaters.
A tidy lap for P6 in Qualifying placed her on the second row for the reverse grid Race 1, a spot she quickly capitalised on. Swooping around the outside of Tina Hausmann at the Turn 1 hairpin, she snatched P2 away from the Aston Martin driver and opted to save her tyres while still keeping Gademan in her sights.
READ MORE: Palmowski credits tireless overnight work for a ‘big step forward’ with Zandvoort podium
That decision paid off as a charging Weug caught up to the Williams junior with three laps to go, forcing Block to put on a valiant defence. Taking the chequered flag 0.127s ahead of Weug, Block celebrated her podium as a moment of redemption after a sophomore campaign full of unlucky moments.
Singapore next time out will be a welcome return for Block, who narrowly missed out on the podium there last year. With one achievement ticked off, can Block bring home a win in the penultimate round of her F1 ACADEMY journey?
ESMEE KOSTERMAN
Another home hero had a weekend to remember as Esmee Kosterman became the first points-scoring Wild Card of the 2025 campaign.
Steering clear of trouble in a Qualifying session that came down to their final attempts, Kosterman qualified in a respectable ninth. Driving the #86 TeamViewer car, she was unlucky to miss out on a shot at points in Race 1 after being instructed to head to the pits on the formation lap.
Brushing off the disappointment, Kosterman had Block right on her tail throughout Race 2 and her stern defence was rewarded with a P7 finish. Earning valuable points for Hitech TGR, who have endured a tricky start to life in F1 ACADEMY, the 20 year old managed to outscore five full-time drivers in the Standings.