F1 ACADEMY<\/a> career. Three wins in Shanghai, Miami and Montreal alongside four further podiums have boosted the 21-year-old\u2019s hopes, but at times the campaign has proved more challenging than expected, the absence of a pole position the only blot on her 2025 record.<\/p>\nAs expectation and anticipation rises around Pin, her mentality remains unshakeable as she dreams of bringing home the title to the Silver Arrows.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are P1 so we\u2019re the ones leading,\u201d said Pin. \u201cWe are the ones who have to stay cool and do what we normally do. We don\u2019t need to change anything or bring anything. We just have to be fast from Free Practice\u2026 and everything will come naturally, so I\u2019m not very worried about that. It\u2019s the other ones behind that have to worry!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018That\u2019s something a lot of people wouldn\u2019t have expected \u2013 not even Doriane\u2019<\/p>\n
Across the paddock, Maya Weug is dogged in her determination to propel the Prancing Horse to glory. Winning the 2020 Girls On Track \u2013 Rising Stars shootout and beating Pin in the process, Weug became the first female to join the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy.<\/p>\n
Chosen to represent the Scuderia in F1 ACADEMY, the Dutch racer\u2019s debut season saw her become a frequent podium finisher, but she was unable to mount any sort of title challenge \u2013 failing to achieve a win until the final race of 2024.<\/p>\n
Switching from PREMA to compatriots MP Motorsport, Weug was back with a vengeance, dominating the first Qualifying of the season by almost half a second. Although she lost out to Pin in Race 2 in Shanghai, Weug netted a win on Grand Prix Sunday in Jeddah. However, a technical issue in Montreal led to a disastrous haul of only eight points across three races, compared to Pin\u2019s 46, leaving Weug and many fans to contemplate whether her title fight was still on.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, her outright speed and impressive overtakes have reignited the battle, with decisive pole positions and Race 2 victories in Zandvoort and Singapore, alongside four reverse grid podiums to the Mercedes driver\u2019s one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a season of ups and downs,\u201d summarised Weug. \u201cThe weekend in Montreal really put us on the back foot for the whole season. It was not what we needed and it has made our lives very difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a mega comeback in Zandvoort and Singapore to get ourselves within nine points. That\u2019s something that I think a lot of people wouldn\u2019t have expected \u2013 not even Doriane! I think from that side we can be very proud of ourselves and we will push until the end to win this title.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cIt\u2019s not the best position to be in, but in the end, we are in a strong position. We\u2019re coming off a very strong last two races, so we have the momentum. We have the mentality to win. The momentum is the most important \u2013 we\u2019ve been really quick and catching up a lot. We\u2019re in a place where we can give it all because there is nothing to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than just a title<\/p>\n
Entering the final race weekend of their F1 ACADEMY careers on the edge of glory, both Pin and Weug have shown all the attributes of a champion, but only one can write her name into the record books.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinning the title would mean a lot,\u201d said Pin. \u201cIt would be my first title in single-seaters and it would be the result of the hard work we put in behind the scenes. This project was thanks to Mercedes and Iron Dames \u2013 otherwise I wouldn\u2019t be here. It would mean a lot for them and for myself. It would be an amazing achievement and great for my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weug added: \u201cThere has been a lot of work going on, a lot of stress and tough moments behind the scenes that not everyone knows of.<\/p>\n
\u201cFerrari, the team, my family and everyone around me who has been supporting me this year really deserve it. I\u2019m super grateful to have them by my side because even in the tough moments, it\u2019s important to have those people around you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The series\u2019 first visit to Las Vegas adds another layer of unpredictability to an already nail-biting weekend. As they force the fight down to a Race 2 showdown on Saturday afternoon, neither driver will be underestimating their rival as they battle it out one final time\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a relentless battle from the moment Doriane Pin and Maya Weug hit the track for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-290681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}