Jeddah Race 1: Ella Lloyd takes first career win in F1 Academy

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — For the first time in her F1 Academy career, Rodin Motorsport and McLaren development driver Ella Lloyd took the top step of the podium at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia.

After a stunning battle for first from the start to the checkered flag, Maya Weug climbed up from sixth to second place, coming up one spot short of Lloyd. Alisha Palmowski, the winner of the 2025 season opener in Shanghai, rounded out the podium after stellar battles for the lead.

“I think we’ve had a massive step forward from Shanghai, Lloyd told F1Academy.com. “We were quick in the test here, Qualifying didn’t quite go our way, but we showed our pace in the race. Hopefully, in Race 2, we can just keep pushing and try and make up as many places as we can.”

Before Lights Out

Farah AlYousef, a 22-year-old driver from Saudi Arabia, was the Wild Card entry for the Jeddah race weekend. She won the Saudi Women’s Karting Championship in 2022, finished 26th in the Karting World Finals and has raced in the F4 Middle East Championship.

AlYousef also participated in F1 Academy’s in-season testing at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit before the race weekend got underway. AlYousef’s entry was supported by MUHRA, who drove the No. 4 car for Hitech TGR.

Chloe Chambers took her first pole position in F1 Academy with Doriane Pin and Maya Weug starting second and third, respectively. Since F1 Academy implements a top eight reverse grid for the first race, Emma Felbermayr, Ella Lloyd and Tina Hausmann started Race 1 in first, second and third.

Lia Block started from the back after crashing out in qualifying — this is the second race where she was unable to set a qualifying time.

After Lights Out

Ella Lloyd had a great start as the lights went out, taking first place from Emma Felbermayr. Alba Larsen and Alisha Palmowski were able to get ahead of Tina Hausmann with both drivers side by side.

Palmowski went ahead, placing herself in third place. Aurelia Nobels was able to use Joanne Ciconte’s slipstream to get past the Australian driver.

Wild Card driver Farah AlYousef was noted for a starting procedure infringement for being out of position at the Safety Car line. AlYousef received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for that infringement.

Larsen went wide as Maya Weug took advantage of the Tommy Hilfiger-supported driver to take fourth place. Chloe Chambers was able to catch Nina Gademan to take eighth place. Palmowski passed Felbermayr on the inside to gain second place on Lap 2. Weug was able to go around the outside of Felbermayr on the main straight to gain third place as the race for second kicked off.

Lia Block spun out after contact from behind by Haas-supported driver, Courtney Crone, at the end of Turn 2. Chole Chong got involved in the incident, but she was able to pull away to a safe area off the track.

Larsen gained on Felbermayr on the outside to take fourth place. Weug and Palmowski went wheel-to-wheel for second place as Palmowski was able to hold off the Ferrari-backed driver to keep second place.

Doriane Pin had to back out of a battle against Felbermayr due to a Safety Car to recover Chong’s damaged car. The Safety Car ended on Lap 7 as Lloyd restarted the race, with Pin going around the outside of Felbermayr to take fifth place. Then, Hausmann was able to overtake Felbermayr as the Aston Martin-backed driver moved up to sixth place.

After that, Larsen ran wide and was still able to defend against Pin, as the PREMA Racing driver tried to go around the outside. Chambers was able to go side-by-side with Felbermayr and overtake around the outside of Turn 1, with the American driver taking seventh place from Felbermayr.

Gademan tried to overtake Felbermayr from the inside to enter the points, but Felbermayr was able to defend as Gademan had a small lock-up.

Pin was able to pass Larsen on Lap 9 after a great defense from Larsen. Pin ended the battle in fourth place. Weug tried to go around the inside of Palmowski, but was not successful in getting second place. Hausmann joined the battle for fourth place with Pin and Larsen.

AlYousef got another penalty, five seconds, for moving before the signal on the Safety Car restart. Crone received a 10-second time penalty for causing the crash that took out Chong and spun Block out. Gademan made it into the points after going around the outside of Felbermayr.

Palmowski closed the gap to race leader Lloyd, as the race for first started back up, with Weug joining the fight with three laps to go. Weug completed the overtake on Palmowski on the main straight for second place.

Pin successfully entered the four-driver battle for the win on the last lap as she tried to go around the outside of Palmowski. Weug brought the pressure to Lloyd as they battled to the end, with the Rodin Motorsport driver taking the checkered flag.

Lloyd picked up her first victory in F1 Academy, keeping the lead after a great start at Turn 1. In a drag race to the finish line, Weug climbed up to second place, with Palmowski taking third place.

Race 1 Results

1. Ella Lloyd
2. Maya Weug
3. Alisha Palmowski
4. Doriane Pin
5. Alba Larsen
6. Tina Hausmann
7. Chloe Chambers
8. Nina Gademan
9. Emma Felbermayr
10. Aurelia Nobels
11. Joanne Ciconte
12. Lia Block
13. Rafaela Ferreira
14. Aiva Anagnostiadis
15. Nicole Havrda
16. Farah AlYousef
17. Courtney Crone
18. Chloe Chong