F1 Academy Preview: Zandvoort

Meghana Sree
Aug 28
4 min read

After a long-drawn summer break, F1 Academy is back in action. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of a title-deciding round at Zandvoort, including championship news, a recap of Zandvoort’s in-season testing and more.

Maya Weug will be racing at her home Grand Prix, hoping for a return to form | Credit: F1 Academy

Fresh after enjoying plenty of weeks to reset and gear up for the final phase of the season, the F1 Academy paddock is now all revved up to deliver thrilling racing action as we resume the chase to crown the 2025 F1 Academy Champion.

Competing alongside the Formula One Dutch Grand Prix, F1 Academy returns to Zandvoort with its famously undulating terrain and twisty high-speed layout.

Key Stories

Jumping into the latter half of the season, the exciting three-way championship battle is now well and truly on between Doriane Pin, Chloe Chambers and Maya Weug.

After being treated to three racing sessions in Montreal courtesy of a cancelled race in Miami, the drivers’ standings have seen a huge swing in points that favours championship leader Pin.

Weug meanwhile had a disastrous Canadian round, after being plagued by a recurring mechanical issue throughout the weekend. This also gave Chambers the opportunity to leap to second in the standings after clinching a clinical Race 3 victory, trailing Pin by 20 points.

Chloe Chambers took her first win of the season in Montreal | Credit: F1 Academy

However all is not yet lost for Weug who is currently behind Chambers by 17 points. The Ferrari junior will be banking on a dominant weekend and a return to her consistent form as glimpsed in Jeddah to reclaim the championship lead from Pin.

With all three title contenders in their final year of F1 Academy, the stakes have never been higher this season, given that only three rounds remain.

Another F1 Academy weekend means another highly anticipated Wild Card entry, which was announced as Esmee Kosterman, representing TeamViewer with a bespoke livery.

The 20-year-old Dutch driver has previously competed in the Dutch Supercar Challenge, BMW M2 Cup and the Lamera Cup, winning the Best Female Driver accolade in the latter series.

Kosterman then stepped up to the Indian Formula 4 championship last year at the Madras International Circuit, where she scored points in her debut season. Since then, the Dutch driver has competed in the British F4 series, driving at her home track in Zandvoort last month.

Making her F1 Academy debut this weekend, Kosterman will be supported in the No.86 Hitech by the software technology company TeamViewer with a livery that celebrates their Visibility Drives Change campaign.

Track Preview

So far the only track to have hosted F1 Academy since the maiden season in 2023, Circuit Zandvoort is something of a welcome home for the series paddock.

A lap around the twisty track is often described as a high-speed, adrenaline-inducing rollercoaster – packed with 14 corners and 4.259km in length, the circuit snakes through the sandy landscape of northern Zandvoort.

Famous for the cambered first turn known as Tarzan corner, the scene of Doriane Pin and Nerea Martí’s wheel-to-wheel duel in Race 1 last year, the circuit is a delight to watch racing action at and is sure to produce some tense moments across the weekend in the lead up to the three-way title fight.

In-Season Testing Roundup

Fortunately for the grid, especially the large cohort of rookies, the in-season testing that took place at Zandvoort from 22nd to 23rd July gave drivers a good opportunity to familiarise themselves with the track layout.

Packed with 12 hours of track time split across the two days, drivers were able to test the limits and get up to speed with Zandvoort’s unique challenges, collecting valuable data in the process.

Day 1 of testing was topped by rising rookie Alisha Palmowski with a 1:38.074, as she sets her sights on reclaiming the position of the highest placed rookie in the Drivers’ Championship from Ella Lloyd.

Palmowski’s Campos teammate Chambers was also rapid around the track, delivering an electric fastest lap in the morning session that marked Campos’ dominant form on Day 1.

The final day of testing saw more drivers build confidence and begin to break into the 1:37s, but the rest of the field’s attempts were swiftly defeated by Weug’s mighty lap time of 1:36.789.

Setting that lap time early on in the morning session and later sweeping the afternoon session too, Weug’s form remained unbeatable on Day 2 as she took the fastest lap overall from Zandvoort’s in-season testing.

Weug’s rapid pace and comeback was the key highlight from in-season testing, giving us an early taste of the Dutch driver’s determination to hang on to her title hopes.

The Championships

With the number of races in F1 Academy steadily dwindling for the second-year drivers, the pressure has no doubt mounted, especially for the top three drivers of Pin, Chambers and Weug.

Pin and Chambers enjoyed a healthy haul of points across Montreal’s three races, relegating then championship leader Weug to third after the Dutch driver was hindered by persistent mechanical issues.

Pin leads with 109 points, Chambers behind by just 20 points. With both drivers demonstrating competitive form and consistent results, anything could tip the scales in either drivers’ favour this weekend.

Doriane Pin took the lead off the championship from Weug last round | Credit: F1 Academy

Weug’s comeback is not to be ruled out either, as the Ferrari driver will be eager to impress her home crowd with another win this season to reclaim the championship lead that slipped out of her grasp in Canada.

Meanwhile, the Teams’ Championship is just as close. Campos enjoyed a strong lead until Montreal, when Pin’s win and podium along with Nina Gademan’s back-to-back podiums boosted PREMA to the top.

Separated by 22 points and with MP Motorsport 56 points behind the lead, the battle in this championship too is far from over with six points-scoring sessions remaining.

Another dramatic weekend awaits F1 Academy in Zandvoort from 29th to 31st August, so make sure you’re caught up on the season so far in time for Round 4.