Maya Weug proved her fierceness around the track once again by leading both Day 2 sessions during the F1 Academy in-season testing in Bahrain. Putting MP Motorsport on top of the leaderboard, Weug’s time only improved as the sessions went on. The Dutch driver finished the morning session with a 2:04.567, even shaving off a few thousandths in the afternoon, 2:04.517.
With only one round left of the 2025 F1 Academy season, Doriane Pin is leading the Championship. However, Maya Weug is closing in, with only a 9-point difference between the two. If Weug’s testing is not an active threat, it sure raises the expectations for a great title battle in the season’s Las Vegas finale.
Morning session
Coming from the first day of tests, the grid rushed to set their first times around the Bahrain International Circuit. During day 2 of the F1 Academy in-season testing, Nina Gademan laid down the benchmark with a 2:08.683. Her push lap was swiftly beaten by Doriane Pin, seven-tenths quicker than her Prema teammate.
Nevertheless, Maya Weug managed to pick up her momentum from yesterday’s session, starting day 2 with a 2:05.191. The session faced a brief stoppage, however, due to red flags brought out by Alba Larsen. She stopped on the back straight, causing a small interruption.
The restart saw Pin set the fastest time, a 2:05.037, before getting knocked down by Palmowski and Weug, whose laps made it into the 2:04s. With Joanne Ciconte’s 2:04.777, the MP driver took hold of the P1 spot. Yet, not for long, as Maya Weug went on to set the best time of the day 2 morning testing session, 2:04.567.
After a second red flag when Ella Lloyd went into the gravel at Turn 3, the session’s restart showed teams shifting their focus to long run simulations. This benefited the Ferrari Academy driver, as Weug held on to her pole, followed by Ciconte and Campos Racing’s Chloe Chambers. Palmowski, Felbermayr, Lloyd, Pin, Gademan, Hausmann, and Chong rounded out the top 10 that morning.
Afternoon session
Day 2 of the F1 Academy Bahrain in-season testing restarted after a short pause. This time, Pin, Ciconte and Tina Hausmann were the first ones to set competitive times. Within 10 minutes of the session, the lap times had already dipped into the 2:06s. As Larsen managed to go fastest, putting down a 2:06.418, her lap was swiftly overtaken by Hausmann, leaving Pin third.
As the second hour of the test session started, Chambers and Palmowski exchanged the top spot over the rest of the grid, 2:05.752. Nonetheless, as teams were getting ready to pit their drivers, MP Motorsport saw Weug and Ciconte improve their fast laps. The Dutch driver set a 2:05.752 before getting demoted to P2 by Ciconte’s 0.072s advantage.
After a break, ART Grand Prix’s Aurelia Nobels and Lia Block took turns at the top of the leaderboard. Alba Larsen went on to retake the lead for herself and MP, shooting into a competitive 2:04.613 lap time. Yet, in the final laps of the day 2 F1 Academy in-season test, Weug found herself in the lead. She set a 2:04.517, improving from her earlier session.
Her MP teammate, Larsen, was second at the checkered flag, followed by Chambers, Palmowski, and Block, completing the top 5. Felbermayr, Nobels, Ciconte, Pin, and Ferreira kept up their efforts, finishing up the afternoon in the top 10.
