Maya Weug has already achieved something most young drivers can only dream of. From becoming the first woman to join the Ferrari Driver Academy to fighting for an F1 Academy title, her career has been packed with milestones and plenty of reasons to keep an eye on what comes next.
Across two seasons in F1 Academy, Weug established herself as one of the championship’s strongest drivers, going from a rookie podium finisher to a genuine title contender. She picked up three wins and nine podiums in 2025 alone, finishing runner-up to Doriane Pin after taking the championship fight all the way to the final round.
But Weug’s story didn’t start in F1 Academy. Long before the Ferrari badge, the podiums and the title fight, she was a seven-year-old getting behind the wheel of a kart and beginning a journey that would eventually take her into the world of single-seaters.
From karting to Ferrari
Born in Spain and holding Dutch and Belgian nationality, Weug began karting at seven and quickly established herself in the junior ranks. She became Spanish Championship vice-champion in 2015 before winning the WSK Final Cup in the 60 Mini class a year later.
Her biggest breakthrough came in 2020, when she won the inaugural FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars programme. The prize was a place in the Ferrari Driver Academy, making Weug the first female driver ever selected for Ferrari’s junior programme.
She moved into single-seaters in 2021, competing in Italian and ADAC Formula 4 before stepping up to the Formula Regional European Championship. Her first FRECA victory came at Spa-Francorchamps in 2023, providing another important breakthrough before she made the move to F1 Academy.
Making her mark in F1 Academy
Weug joined PREMA Racing for the 2024 F1 Academy season and wasted little time showing that she could fight at the front. She opened the campaign in Jeddah with P3 and P2 finishes, immediately putting herself second in the championship.
The consistency continued throughout the season, with Weug collecting seven podiums. There was just one frustrating gap in her record: she still hadn’t stood on the top step.
That finally changed at the Abu Dhabi finale. Starting sixth, Weug fought her way through the field and took the lead on Lap 6, only for a late Safety Car to erase her advantage.
That left her with a final-lap fight against Abbi Pulling, but Weug kept her cool to take her maiden F1 Academy victory. It was also her first-ever win in single-seater racing.
She finished third in the Drivers’ Championship behind Pulling and Doriane Pin, while PREMA secured the Teams’ Championship. It was an impressive rookie season, but Weug had clearly shown enough to suggest she could challenge for even more.
A genuine title contender
Weug returned to F1 Academy in 2025 with Ferrari backing, switching from PREMA to MP Motorsport. This time, there was no learning curve to worry about. She knew the championship and knew she could win, so the target was straightforward: the title.
She made a strong start, taking pole in Shanghai before claiming victory in Jeddah. But the championship battle with Doriane Pin was anything but predictable, and a difficult Montreal weekend saw Weug score just eight points while Pin collected 46.
Instead of letting the gap decide her season, Weug fought back with wins at Zandvoort and Singapore. Her Singapore victory was particularly important, with Weug making a last-lap move on Pin in wet conditions to keep her title hopes alive.
By the time the championship reached Las Vegas, Weug still had a chance of taking the crown. Unfortunately, her title hopes suffered a major blow before Race 1 had even properly started.
Contact with Tina Hausmann on the formation lap forced Weug into retirement. She recovered with a P3 in Race 2, but it wasn’t enough to close the gap, and Pin secured the championship.
Weug finished runner-up with three wins and nine podiums, marking a huge step forward from her third-place finish in her rookie season. She hadn’t quite got the championship, but she’d established herself as one of F1 Academy’s leading drivers.
Where is Maya Weug now?
With drivers limited to two seasons in F1 Academy, 2025 marked the end of Weug’s time in the series. She was given a fully funded test in a Ferrari 296 GT3 with AF Corse after the season, opening up a potential route into GT racing.
That opportunity became particularly relevant in 2026, when Weug made her GT racing debut with ART Racing in the Belcar Endurance Championship. Her first weekend at Zolder ended with P2 in the rain, followed by another second-place finish at Assen.
She has sampled Formula E machinery, completing exhibition laps in a GEN3 Evo car at the 2026 Miami E-Prix. But her next step hasn’t been quite as straightforward as her F1 Academy results might suggest.
Weug has spoken about struggling to secure a consistent racing programme in 2026 and described the year as the toughest of her motorsport career. After fighting for a championship just months earlier, she has instead had to piece together opportunities across GT racing, testing and coaching.
She has also returned to the F1 Academy paddock in a different role, coaching Ferrari-backed driver Alba Hurup Larsen at Zandvoort while continuing to explore opportunities outside the single-seater ladder.
A career still in progress
Weug’s journey so far is already an impressive one. She has made history with Ferrari, won races in F1 Academy and pushed one of the championship’s strongest drivers all the way to the final round.
Her career may not have followed a perfectly straight line since leaving F1 Academy, but that doesn’t take away from what she achieved there. Across two seasons, she developed from a consistent rookie into a genuine title challenger and proved she could perform under pressure.
Now comes the next chapter. Whether that takes her further into GT racing, back towards single-seaters or somewhere completely unexpected, Weug has already shown that when the opportunity arrives, she knows what to do with it.
