Chloe Chambers has experienced contrasting fortunes and impressive growth between her 2024 and 2025 F1 Academy campaigns. In her rookie season last year, the American finished sixth overall, securing one victory and four podiums. She continues her second season with Campos Racing, now representing Red Bull Ford. With just three rounds remaining, every point is crucial in her pursuit of the championship.
Currently sitting second in the Drivers’ Standings, Chambers has recorded one win and four podiums, keeping her firmly in contention. She remains determined to fight down to the wire for the championship, trailing Prema Racing’s Doriane Pin by only 20 points.
After strong performances in the first three rounds of the championship, Chambers feels she could have potentially be leading the standings at this stage, though she acknowledges that the first half of her season was still rather positive.
“The first half of the year has gone well, I think I had some misfortunes here and there. I definitely had the possibility to be leading the Standings right now, so it’s a little bit disappointing to not be leading and to have that point deficit.”
“With three rounds still left and the pace that we’ve shown so far this year, there’s definitely a good chance that we’ll be able to make it up and then head into the last round in the fight for the title.“
With Vegas being the American’s home race and the season finisher, she is eager to hopefully win the title in front of her home crowd.
“It’d be really cool to win the title at home in Vegas! I’m just keeping my spirits high, working on each race weekend as its own and trying to maximise everything each weekend.”
Her strength in Qualifying in 2025
Chambers has shown significant improvement in qualifying sessions during her 2025 F1 Academy campaign, marking a major growth from her rookie season. Faster and more confident this year, she has also contributed over half of Campos Racing’s 151-point tally.
Her current 89 points could have been even higher. In Jeddah, she lost out on a Race 2 victory after receiving a 5-second time penalty for forcing Maya Weug off track. In Montreal, contact from teammate Alisha Palmowski in Race 1 cost her the chance at a win, while an ambitious move on Doriane Pin in Race 3 further hampered her results. Despite these setbacks, Chambers has maintained a strong championship challenge.
“My biggest strength has been my Qualifying performance. As a whole, my race performances have been good. In the races, there are some external factors that play into some of my results, but I think overall the pace I’ve shown this year has been much better than last year. I think that’s where I’ve really grown a lot.”
Chambers’ lap pace has been among the fastest in the field, providing the consistency that was missing in her 2024 season. Last year, she reached the top five in qualifying only five times out of 15, three of which came at the season finale in Yas Marina. In 2025, however, she has already claimed three consecutive pole positions, earning an extra six points that could prove crucial in the tight championship battle.
“Coming into this year, people weren’t expecting me to be running at the front again. Last year, I had little spurts of running at the front and being quick, but this year I’ve been way more consistent with it and I think that’s what has put me into P2 in Standings.”
Current outlook on Zandvoort
F1 Academy Round 5 at Zandvoort this weekend presents the perfect opportunity for Chambers to showcase her growth from 2024 to 2025. In the past, the Dutch circuit has not been one of her strongest, with P6 and P12 finishes in 2024.
However, recent testing at Zandvoort has suggested a significant improvement. Chambers was consistently in the top three across three sessions, demonstrating her progress this year.
“I came into the test just wanting to improve on what I did last year. This is one of my weaker rounds and weaker tracks last year, so as long as I showed improvement and was able to be somewhat on the pace I would have been happy. But to be up at the front was definitely a good feeling and I’m feeling way better now going into race weekend.”
“Even still this week, while I was quick in all the sessions, I still had to work a lot on adapting my driving to what the track needed. With the trickier conditions yesterday with the track being in not as good shape, I think that definitely was a good experience to get all of that out of the way before the race weekend.”
