Doriane Pin has been crowned F1 ACADEMY champion after finishing fifth in the season finale, as Chloe Chambers controlled Race 2 in Las Vegas to win ahead of Alisha Palmowski and Pin’s title rival Maya Weug.

As the Red Bull Ford driver led every lap with confidence, taking advantage of battles behind her to extend her advantage to over four seconds by the chequered flag, Pin’s fifth place was more than enough to net her the points that confirmed her as this season’s champion, beating Weug to the honour.

Before the race even got underway, Kick Sauber driver Emma Felbermayr was left stranded on the grid in near-identical fashion to Race 1, in which she suffered a clutch issue that Rodin Motorsport were confident was fixed.

She prepared for a pit lane start ahead of lights out, when attention switched to the polesitter Chambers. After the heartbreak of her Race 1 DNF, she executed a fantastic start and confidently led the field on the opening laps, with Palmowski similarly maintaining her P2 spot.

Tommy Hilfiger driver Alba Larsen was the first to come under pressure as she drifted wide on the opening lap, allowing Pin to close up and challenge for third place. The 16-year-old was able to defend, which opened the door for Weug to get involved and boldly tried to pass her title rival on Lap 2.

The top five remained as they were, but there was drama further down the field as Joanne Ciconte and Wild Card entry Payton Westcott collided and spun in sync. Both cars sustained damage, forcing an appearance from the Safety Car while they were recovered from the circuit.

With the field neutralised, racing resumed on Lap 5. Chambers elected to bunch up the pack and pulled off a strong restart, but Larsen lost out to both Pin and Weug in quick succession through two masterful overtakes.

The Mercedes driver was getting ever closer to securing the title, but Chambers was doing everything she needed to in order to maintain her lead. She was not, however, escaping up the road – with slim margins separating the top four, the final result was far from set in stone.

This came to fruition when Weug darted around the outside of Pin, clinging on to snatch P3 with just a few laps remaining. She then set her sights on second place and launched a prolonged challenge on Palmowski, who repeatedly defended her position.

Despite the Red Bull Racing driver’s best efforts, Weug squeezed past, but it only took a handful of corners for Palmowski to fight back and reclaim P2, forcing the Ferrari racer to then defend from Pin.

The battle helped Chambers to extend her lead to over four seconds and allowed Larsen to join in, overtaking Pin and demoting her to fifth place. This was nevertheless good enough for her to outscore Weug in the Drivers’ Standings and become F1 ACADEMY’s third champion.

McLaren driver Ella Lloyd crossed the line in P6 ahead of Nina Gademan and Tina Hausmann, with Rafaela Ferreira and Aurelia Nobels taking the final points on offer in the finale.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The 2025 F1 ACADEMY season has come to a thrilling end, but the series will return next year to crown another brand new champion.