Maya Weug, backed up by Ferrari in F1 Academy, scored another podium to add to her resume as a talented racing driver with great potential. The 20-year-old started the race in P2 and even though she didn’t manage to catch Abbi Pulling in first, at least she didn’t let Doriane Pin behind pass her. She held the position throughout the race to also finish in second place.
Admittedly, there wasn’t much exciting action or fighting going on around her, and it’s exactly like Weug herself admits — the walls of the Marina Bay street circuit were her closest companions and rivals today.
“Yeah, it was quite quiet. I tried to stay close to Abbi [Pulling] in the beginning, and following is quite tough. So I damaged my front tyres quite a lot, which then cost me in the end.”
“That’s why Abbi managed to pull away, but overall the pace was there. We need to find two and a bit [seconds] for tomorrow, but yeah,” the Ferrari driver explained.
“It was a lonely race, just the walls are a bit closer than the drivers, but no, it was fun. It’s always fun to drive around in Singapore.”
Tomorrow, Weug starts Race 2 in P3, basically switching positions with Pin, who will start ahead of her this time. Could something she learned from today help her on Sunday and perhaps take her chances with some overtaking this time?
“Definitely tyre management will be key tomorrow. Today I pushed too much in the first laps and then yeah, then I struggled in the end. So definitely that will be something to keep an eye on, and then we try to fix that.”
“This start was decent but not good enough to make a move, so we’ll try to focus on that for tomorrow,” she concluded.
Weug currently sits third in the overall Drivers’ Championship, 33 points short of Mercedes’ Doriane Pin — so there will definitely be a motivation for a brilliant start in Race 2 to lessen the Frenchwoman’s lead. Catching the favourite to win the title, Abbi Pulling, is likely not a possibility for Weug any more. Even though she originally came into the season with the goal of getting the championship, runner-up would still be a great result for this woman.
