Maya Weug opened the 2025 F1 Academy in-season testing at the Circuito de Navarra by ending both sessions at the top of the timesheets. The Ferrari driver recorded the day’s benchmark time in the morning segment with a 1:46.439, edging ahead of championship leader Doriane Pin. She repeated the feat in the afternoon, pipping her rival to P1 by just 0.082s.
First impressions of Navarra
After completing six hours of running and logging 51 laps on her first visit to the Spanish circuit, Weug reflected on the challenge of adapting quickly. The Ferrari driver explained how she approached the task of learning Navarra’s 4.3km layout, a venue that features 17 corners and a mix of technical sections unlike many on the calendar.
“It’s a new track for me and I think for a couple of others here,” she began. “It was a good day, I enjoyed it. I really like the track. It’s a bit small, it’s smaller than Jeddah or somewhere like that, but it’s definitely very technical. Some corners are special in a way or non-traditional, so it’s really cool.”
“We’ve been able to do our running as we would like and of course it gives you confidence to be topping both sessions. That’s what we aim to do in the rest of the season! It gives you confidence to do it in testing, although that’s not what we’re specifically looking for at the moment. The car feels good on every track so far this year, which is nice.”
Focus shifts to Day 2
Despite her success, the Dutch driver remains convinced that further improvements are available for both herself and MP Motorsport. She emphasised that maximising the final day of testing will be critical to her preparation for Singapore later this month.
“Definitely there’s more pace left,” admitted Weug. “In the afternoon, I think we didn’t really maximise the new tyres. Considering Singapore, we just have to try different setups so that we know what we want to change in case I feel something and we know how this affects the balance of the car and the feeling I have with the car.”
“In the end, it’s very different conditions to Singapore, so we just have to make sure that we are on top of every small setup change that we can then bring into Singapore. In Singapore, we just have to have a good Free Practice and then we see from there.”
With one day of testing still to come in Navarra, Weug will seek to fine-tune her setup and build confidence before taking on the unique demands of the Marina Bay Street Circuit, where a single practice session will decide the preparation for the race weekend.
