Academy Report: Block gets off the mark in Miami

The Miami GP weekend was, of course, a homecoming race for Logan, but he wasn't the only Williams driver racing on home soil this weekend.

Our F1 Academy representative Lia Block had her first single-seater racing laps in the USA at the Miami International Autodrome.

Lia had a long break since the championship's Saudi Arabian first round and returned to action with her first point-scoring finish in front of a cheering home crowd.

As in Formula 1, qualifying in F1 Academy is incredibly tight, and a single second covered all the full-season racers aside from pole-sitting Abbi Pulling.

For Lia, that meant a P11 and P12 start for each race after setting consistent lap times in the 30-minute qualifying session.

She jumped up two positions in the opening lap of Race 1 to be in the fight for points after overtaking Jess Edgar, but a spin as the race reached its halfway point meant a P15 finish.

Lia brushed off that Saturday error to battle back on Sunday with better performance and plenty of wheel-to-wheel racing experience.

A midfield melee often featuring six cars had Lia keeping out of trouble as others collided, eventually crossing the line in P11.

Any disappointment for narrowly missing out on a top-10 finish didn't last long, though, with a rival's post-race penalty for illegally overtaking Lia promoting our Academy hopeful to P10 to get off the mark in the 2024 standings.

Three of the Williams Racing Driver Academy will be back in the cockpit in a fortnight at Imola to support the Emilia Romagna GP when F2 and F3 kick off their European leg.

Lia must wait a little longer for further point-scoring opportunities, however. F1 Academy's third round will come in support of the Spanish GP.