Academy Report: Lia Fights Back in China

Just one Atlassian Williams Racing Driver Academy member joined Alex and Carlos in China to race around the Shanghai International Circuit.

Lia Block kicked off her sophomore season of F1 Academy at a new track for the series, but it wasn't the dream start she would've hoped for.

Read on to catch up on a rollercoaster three days for our American that saw her score some well-deserved points.

An updated weekend format awaited Lia for her 2025 campaign, with F1 Academy switching to a reverse grid race and standard race for its third season.

Sadly for Lia, an error from one of her competitors during the sole practice session meant she wouldn't even participate in the first qualifying session of the year.

A weaving Rafaela Ferreira didn't realise Lia was moving to pass her on the back straight and crashed into the side of our teenager's car, which smashed into the barriers.

Even though Lia couldn't qualify, a new chassis awaited her for Saturday, and she joined the grid for both races in P18.

Two places in the opening corners of Race 1, plus a place gained from a pit lane start of a rival had the 18-year-old up into P15 by Turn 3, and the advance didn't stop there.

An overtake on Courtney Crone, plus a retirement meant Lia gained five places in a single lap before the first of three Safety Car slowdowns.

She'd finish the first race in P9, just one place shy of the points, after a messy final lap of incidents, but Lia's pace was evident.

A rolling start in Race 2 to clear the track of an earlier oil spill didn't stop another overtaking blitz once the Safety Car peeled into the pits on Sunday.

Lia's P18 turned into P11 at the end of Lap 1 as she made two passes and avoided multiple crashes to gain seven positions in a single lap.

A brilliant Turn 1 overtake on her teammate when green flag racing resumed had Lia into the points-scoring positions, and she ended her race with two points and a P9 classification after a penalty for a driver ahead.