The British driver secured second place in Sunday’s F1 Academy race after scoring points in Saturday’s contest. Chambers, who delivered a remarkable comeback drive to fifth position in the opening race, was unable to take the start in the second race due to a mechanical issue. Ferreira returns to the points on Dutch soil
It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for Campos Racing and its drivers in the fifth round of the 2025 F1 Academy season held at Circuit Zandvoort. While Alisha Palmowski claimed her fourth podium of the campaign at the wheel of her Red Bull Racing Academy Programme car, teammate Chloe Chambers suffered the bitter side of racing when her car refused to fire up ahead of Sunday’s race. Chambers, a member of the Red Bull Ford Academy Programme, had put in a stellar performance on Saturday, but was denied a potential podium fight in the all-female series by mechanical gremlins. Brazilian racer Rafaela Ferreira, flying the colors of Visa Cash App RB Academy in her Tatuus, returned to the points with a solid performance in Sunday’s race.
Friday opened with two free practice sessions. In the first, Palmowski set the pace with a benchmark time of 1m38.196s to top the timesheets, with Chambers in third. In the afternoon session, rain midway through provided valuable wet-weather experience. Chambers ultimately went fastest with a superb 1m36.873s set before the rain arrived.
The wet laps on Friday proved decisive as Saturday’s qualifying began on a damp track following overnight rain. This made for a tense session with drivers initially running on wet tires. After an early red flag for an off-track excursion, a second stoppage came with nine minutes to go, just as the track was drying and slick tires were being fitted. Times tumbled rapidly, with Palmowski and Chambers consistently in the fight for pole. Ultimately, Palmowski secured P2 with a 1m38.872s lap, a mere 0.039s behind polesitter Maya Weug. Chambers set a 1m39.114s to line up fourth, while Ferreira claimed P11 with a 1m40.011s.
Saturday afternoon’s Race 1, run over 17 laps, featured a reversed grid for the top eight qualifiers, placing Chambers fifth and Palmowski seventh. Chambers made an excellent getaway, drawing alongside Doriane Pin at the end of the straight. However, contact with the French driver forced her wide, costing three positions. At the end of lap one Palmowski ran seventh, just ahead of Chambers. On lap two, an off for Tina Hausmann brought out the safety car. Racing resumed three laps later with Palmowski pressuring Weug, but Chambers surged past her teammate for sixth and then overtook Pin to move into fifth. She then chased down Ella Lloyd in fourth, pushing hard for a podium, but ultimately settled for fifth at the flag. Palmowski came home seventh, while Ferreira, who had run in the top ten for much of the race, finished 11th.
On Sunday, contrary to forecast predictions, the weather was cool but dry. As the formation lap began, Chambers’ car failed to get going. Despite the best efforts of her mechanics to push the car to the pit lane for repairs, she was forced to retire before the start. When the lights went out, Palmowski was passed off the line by Lloyd, dropping to third. However, Lloyd was handed a five-second penalty for a jump start. With overtaking at Zandvoort notoriously difficult, Palmowski shadowed her compatriot throughout the race to secure second place at the finish. Ferreira managed the race well, navigating the incidents around her to take eighth and return to the points.
After five of seven rounds, Chambers sits third in the Drivers’ Standings with 93 points. Palmowski is fifth with 73, while Ferreira holds 11th with 11 points. In the Teams’ Championship, Campos Racing remains second with 179 points.
The championship now enters a five-week break before resuming at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore on October 4–5.
Chloe Chambers (Campos Racing driver in F1 Academy): “Sunday didn’t go as planned. I couldn’t even make to the formation lap as the battery had died in the car and it wouldn’t start or keep running. The car just kept shutting off. Nothing I or the team could do about it. It was just very unfortunate. We lost plenty of points but I think we tried everything as a team this weekend until this point. On Saturday, we managed to put in a strong comeback. The race craft is there and we now have a month ahead until Singapore, so we will have to continue working hard for it.”
Alisha Palmowski (Campos Racing driver in F1 Academy): “We are happy to bring a P2 home here in Zandvoort. We completed a very solid weekend with a very high race pace, particularly on Sunday in comparison with Saturday. We really worked hard as a team going through data trying to understand as I can improve as a driver and the balance of the car. A huge thank you to the whole Campos Racing team because they have done a great job, definitely we made a clear step forward. There are plenty of positive to take away from Zandvoort.”
Rafaela Ferreira (Campos Racing driver in F1 Academy): “It was a positive race weekend here in Zandvoort overall. It didn’t start in the best possible way as I hit the wall in qualifying and I couldn’t improve a P11. Then, Saturday’s race was ok. Finally, I managed to improve in Race 2 what I needed to improve. Definitely we improved our race pace for Sunday. We are getting there and it’s time to continue working in the same way.”
Photos credit: Getty Images
