RACE 1: Block in full control to take maiden F1 ACADEMY victory in Singapore

Lia Block was untouchable on the streets of Singapore, overcoming two Safety Car restarts to earn her first victory in F1 ACADEMY with a lights-to-flag drive in Race 1.

Ferrari’s Maya Weug scored vital points for her title fight, climbing from eighth on the grid to P2, while Chloe Chambers fought hard to round out the podium.

There was a delayed start to the race following barrier repairs to Turns 12 and 13 from an earlier session. Once racing got underway, it was second-place Aurelia Nobels who got the better getaway and eyed up a move on Block up the inside of Turn 1. Going side-by-side, the PUMA driver went deep, forcing the pair to go wide but they rejoined with Block remaining in front.

Weug benefitted from the opening corner chaos, sneaking through up the inside of Turns 1 and 2 into fifth. Further back, Nicole Havrda went wide into the barrier, which brought out the Safety Car at the end of Lap 1.

Block opted to go early on the Lap 3 restart, flooring it out of Turn 16 to put a comfortable distance between her Williams car and Nobels. Chambers tried to pull off a move on third place Emma Felbermayr around the outside of Turn 1 but had to abandon the move and take to the run-off.

Eventually getting the overtake to stick a few corners later, Chambers immediately lost out once again, locking up and narrowly missing the wall, allowing Weug through to fourth.

Having already dropped down to P8, Lisa Billard was tagged from behind by Alba Larsen at Turn 1, with the Tommy Hilfiger driver handed a 10-second time penalty for the incident.

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On Lap 6, Weug made the most of Nobels’ slipstream. Taking the outside line at Turn 15, the Ferrari driver snatched the inside line and P2 into the following corner and set about closing the 1.8s gap to Block out front.

Her advantage was wiped out one lap later after Alisha Palmowski hit the barrier on the entry to Turn 9, having made her way up from P18 to P9. Meanwhile, Billard was also forced to retire with damage.

Bunching up the field behind the Safety Car, Block left it as long as possible on the Lap 10 restart. Behind her, Nobels and Chambers went side-by-side into Turn 1, with the PUMA driver going wide across the run-off.

Doriane Pin was also looking for a move, dispatching Felbermayr for P6. One lap later, the Mercedes driver found her own way past Nobels. Nobels then repaid the favour after a wide moment for Pin opened up a gap for the Brazilian. Further back, Rafaela Ferreira retired after receiving a Black and Orange Flag following several stops on track.

Onto the penultimate lap, Weug was on Block’s tail, forcing the Williams driver to pick up the pace to take the chequered flag six tenths clear. Weug scored her seventh podium of the season in second ahead of Chambers.

Nobels held on to her best F1 ACADEMY finish in fourth ahead of Pin and Felbermayr. Ella Lloyd had reached the finish line in fourth, but a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage demoted her to P7, as Nina Gademan rounded out the points in eighth.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Weug will have back-to-back Race 2 victories in her sights when she lines up on pole for Sunday’s race, which gets underway at 15:25 local time (UTC+8).