INDIA in F1

Tag: Maya Weug

  • Ferrari Driver Academy 2021 starts with 8 drivers

    Ferrari Driver Academy 2021 starts with 8 drivers

    Maranello, 8 Feb 2021: This morning marked the twelfth year of courses for the Ferrari Driver Academy, the Prancing Horse programme established in 2009 with the aim of preparing talented youngsters to one day drive for Ferrari in Formula 1.

    Seven young men and Maya. This year, there are eight young drivers that will be trained and supported by the Ferrari Driver Academy, six of whom were in Maranello this morning. Mick Schumacher was absent with the good reason that he is working with the Haas F1 Team with whom he will make his Formula 1 debut this season. Dino Beganovic will join his fellow students tomorrow as he is returning from Abu Dhabi, where he took part in the second and third rounds of the Formula 3 Asian Series. As at the start of any academic year, the more experienced drivers who, partly because of the pandemic, had not seen one another for a while, spent some time before the bell sounded to recount what they had been up to over the winter. For two of them, this was a more nerve wracking and serious moment: Australian James Wharton is just 14 and was selected at the FDA Scouting World Finals, as the best of the youngsters from around the world and 16 year-old Dutch girl Maya Weug, who very recently won the FIA “Girls on Track – Rising Stars” to become the first girl to join the FDA. They make up the 2021 intake.

    Busy week. Welcoming the students was Head of FDA, Marco Matassa, Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto and Sporting Director Laurent Mekies. This week the drivers will take part in the usual start of the year Camp, consisting of five demanding days of lessons on various topics, from technical matters to regulations, marketing and communications, as well as some physical and mental aptitude tests, as well as sports and two days of karting on the Lonato track, run by Tony Kart, a long time partner of Maranello’s young driver programme. Over the course of the year, the FDA will follow each driver personally with support on and off the track, organising specific activities, depending on their level of experience and the type of race category in which they will be competing.

    Programmes. Mick Schumacher will continue his development in Formula 1, at the wheel of the Haas F1 Team car. The arrival of the German means there are now four FDA members past or present on the F1 grid: apart from Charles Leclerc, one must not forget Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll. Also on the scene and present at several races will be Callum Ilott in his role as the Scuderia test driver. The youngster from Cambridge will still enjoy the thrill of racing as he will also be taking part in a GT programme, at the wheel of a Ferrari for some of the most famous sports car races.

    Formula 2. Robert Shwartzman and Marcus Armstrong will race in the junior category. The Russian stays with the Prema team and his clear goal is to win the title, given his 2020 performance in the category when he took four wins, the most of any driver, as well as proving to be very consistent. Marcus, who drove a Ferrari Formula 1 car for the first time two weeks ago in a test at Fiorano, has recently switched to the DAMS team and is more determined than ever to be a front runner.

    Formula 3. Last year, Arthur Leclerc finished second in the Formula Regional championship, even though he took more poles and wins than anyone else. His performance has earned him a step up to Formula 3 for this year. Arthur can once again count on the support of the Prema team and right from the start he should be a protagonist.

    Formula Regional. Last year, Ferrari Driver Academy students did very well in the European Formula Regional championship and this year, the Maranello marque can again count on a very quick driver in the shape of Dino Beganovic. The Swede, born in 2004, made his single-seater debut last year and made a very positive impression in the Italian F4 Championship certified by FIA, taking his first win at Imola and demonstrating consistency on his way to third in the championship. Over the past two weeks, as part of his training, Dino competed in the Formula 3 Asian Series, which uses the same car that he will race in Europe in Formula Regional. He has already demonstrated a clear affinity for the car, finishing on the podium four times from nine races.

    Maya and James. Lastly, two new arrivals, Maya Weug and James Wharton. The Dutch girl had her first taste of a Formula 4 car during the FIA “Girls on Track – Rising Stars” programme and will continue in this category. As for James Wharton, his age means he has to continue racing in karts in 2021 and so the FDA has prepared a programme to get him ready for single-seaters, including a series of tests in the second part of the season. Have a good year guys!
    Mattia Binotto Team Principal & Managing Director Scuderia Ferrari
    quoteToday marks the official start of the new season for the Ferrari Driver Academy. It’s an important moment, not just for the eight participants in the 2021 academic year but also for the whole Scuderia. We have always said that the FDA is not just a school that has to help the best youngsters make it to Formula 1, but that above all it must train those that one day will be the standard bearers for Scuderia Ferrari in the top level category of motor racing.
    We achieved that with Charles Leclerc and we are pleased that this year, another driver who grew up with us, Mick Schumacher, will also make his F1 debut. Apart from the well known names of Callum, Robert, Marcus, Arthur and Dino, listed in order of their ages, I am very pleased to welcome the two new students, Maya Weug and James Wharton, who join the Academy this year. Their arrival is important because it also confirms the effort we are putting in when it comes to making motorsport more inclusive.
    I wish all of them the very best of luck and hope that they will progress and be successful during this season which they should tackle with humility, determination and with a desire to learn, without ever forgetting that they are following their dream.quote
    Marco Matassa Head of Ferrari Driver Academy
    quoteThe start of a new year for us at the Ferrari Driver Academy is always a very special moment. We are pleased to see our drivers again and say welcome to our new intake knowing that we can expect an intense season. In 2020, our drivers got excellent results and that can only spur us on to try and do even better in 2021, because looking for continuous improvement is the basis of Ferrari’s and therefore also the FDA’s philosophy.
    I want to extend a special welcome to our newcomers, James Wharton and Maya Weug, whose arrival signals new frontiers for the Academy. James is actually the winner of the first FDA Scouting World Finals. This event featured six finalists battling it out for a place on our programme, chosen from a large group of very young drivers from around the world, thanks to our collaboration with ACI, Tony Kart, Motorsport Australia and Escuderia Telmex.
    Maya is the first girl to join the FDA through our partnership with the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission’s global programme to find the best young female drivers, a project we really believe in. We can’t wait to start working with all these youngsters to prepare the groundwork for another year of good results.
  • Maya Weug, first woman driver to join Ferrari Academy

    Maya Weug, first woman driver to join Ferrari Academy

    Maranello, 22 January 2021 – 16 year-old Maya Weug is about to make history with Ferrari. The Dutch girl, born in Spain, with a Belgian mother and a Dutch father, is the first woman driver to join the Ferrari Driver Academy. Maya outshone the other girls at the evaluation camp which took place last week at the Scuderia headquarters in Maranello, as the final stage of the FIA “Girls on Track-Rising Stars” programme. The initiative was set up by the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission, in conjunction with the FDA. It aims to promote women in motor sport and support the most talented young girls between the ages of 12 and 16 on the road to a career as a professional driver.

    Potential. The four girls – Weug along with France’s Doriane Pin who just turned 17 and the Brazilians, Antonella Bassani, 14, and Julia Ayoub, 15 – were fully immersed in Academy life and underwent a series of tests to assess not only their pure speed, but also their potential, a key factor for the FDA experts, given how young the candidates are. 

    Passion. Maya inherited her passion for motor sport from her father, tried a kart for the first time at the age of seven and fell in love with it. For Christmas in 2011, she was given a kart of her own and from then on, nothing could keep her away from racing. She reckons she is very determined and loves the adrenalin rush that comes from racing. She also says she puts her heart into everything she does, trying to learn and improve all the time. Her favourite driver is of course a former FDA talent: the current Scuderia Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc. 

    Next step. Weug was told she had won the FIA “Girls on Track – Rising Stars” competition at a final event with everyone linked in remotely, including all four finalists and Scuderia Ferrari Sporting Director, Laurent Mekies; the President of the Women in Motorsport Commission, Michèle Mouton; the FIA Social Responsibility Programmes Manager, Barbara Silva and the Head of FDA Marco Matassa. The announcement was broadcast on-line on the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission and the Ferrari Driver Academy social media channels. Maya will therefore be back in Maranello in a few days time for the start of the 2021 academic year. Awaiting her is a busy training programme, which includes taking part in one of the F4 Championships Certified by FIA. 

    Challenge Test. It was not easy choosing a winner, as all candidates performed extremely well. Because of this, Ferrari has decided to offer all of them a test in a 488 Challenge EVO, a car that puts out over 700 horsepower and is used in the famous Ferrari Challenge. The one-make series runs globally with championships organised on three continents, Europe, North American and Asia-Pacific, with a regional one in Great Britain. 

    Another competition. The first edition of the FIA “Girls on Track – Rising Stars” has only just come to an end, but entries will be soon open again for the second one on the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission portal. The procedure thus starts over, with four new female candidates eventually coming to Maranello, to fight for a place as the second young girl to join the Ferrari Driver Academy.

    Jean Todt, FIA president said: “This is an important moment in Maya Weug’s career, and I extend my warmest congratulations to all four drivers who reached this final selection. The FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars programme is key to our commitment to supporting gender diversity in our sport. I would like to thank Ferrari Driver Academy all our partners who have joined us in embracing such an innovative and positive initiative.”

    This is a key moment in the history of Scuderia Ferrari and its Academy, the FDA, set up in 2019 to shape the drivers of the future for our Formula 1 team. Now, thanks to the partnership with the FIA in the “Girls on Track-Rising Stars” programme, for the first time, a female driver will join the Ferrari Driver Academy. She is Maya Weug and over the course of this year, she will progress along with us and also take part in one of the F4 Championships Certified by FIA, the category seen as the first step in single-seaters on the road to Formula 1. Maya’s arrival is a clear indication of the Scuderia’s commitment to making motorsport increasingly inclusive, in line with the hashtag supported by the entire Formula 1 community, #weraceasone.
    This project is therefore a new element to mark the start the year for the FDA, which is proving to be a great success: five of its 19 students have made it to Formula 1 and four of them, 20% of the entire grid, will be racing this coming season in the top level of motorsport.