'I really needed it' – Weug delighted to bounce back in Zandvoort as she looks ahead to Singapore challenge

Maya Weug bounced back from two tricky rounds as she collected a solid haul of points at her home event in Zandvoort, achieving successive podiums across a weekend of close competition.

In Round 3 in Barcelona, the PREMA Racing driver failed to score points as she retired from Race 1 after an opening lap collision with Amna Al Qubaisi, and she could only cross the line in P13 in Race 2.

Previously, in Miami, she scored 18 points around the street circuit – a significant step down from her performance in the opening round in Jeddah, where she claimed 33 points.

Determined to return to form, Weug found her feet again in Zandvoort, finishing the two races in P3 and P2 respectively to add to an already impressive weekend for PREMA.

Asked about her double podium finish, she said: “I think I really needed it, especially mentally for me. I really struggled after Barcelona and I really needed that break. It was just so tough and not what we were expecting coming into this season – Miami and Barcelona were really, really tough.

“So yeah, especially here at home after a summer break, I really needed a good result and it feels great to get that here in Zandvoort.

“On the in-lap, seeing everyone waving and seeing all the orange was really great, and all the marshals around the track are always cheering for me, which is really cool.”

With a major points haul from Round 4, the Ferrari Academy driver now finds herself in a tight battle for third in the Drivers’ Standings. Currently in P5 on 84 points, she is just one point behind fourth-placed Nerea Martí and five behind third-placed Chloe Chambers.

It was Martí who pipped Weug to the second step of the podium in Race 1, which the PREMA racer described as “disappointing”.

“I was always struggling to stay behind Nerea (Martí),” she explained. “I was close but not able to overtake, with Zandvoort being Zandvoort.

“In Race 2 I had a good start – managed to overtake Abbi (Pulling) at the getaway and then probably pushed a bit too much in the beginning because I knew Abbi was fast. My tyres were not so good in the end, but overall really happy to keep Abbi behind and get some good points for the championship.

“There were some places where I was gaining and some places where she was getting really close, so I had to manage that. I tried to know where my strong points were and tried to make sure that in the corners where I was fast to make it even more so I could maybe pull away a bit more so she couldn’t get past.

“We will look into the data of why she was gaining in those places but for now I’m happy about the weekend. I can’t thank the team enough for all their hard work.”

After competing in two races in less than three hours in Zandvoort, the drivers now face an even greater challenge as they prepare to head to Singapore – a track known for its intense humidity and relentless corners.

The 20-year-old recognised the upcoming task ahead, but is feeling confident that she can tackle it with the help of the team’s simulator – and also her hobby of padel!

“Coming into Singapore, it won’t be easy,” Weug said. “It’s a track some know – I don’t! We only have one free practice of half an hour, which is not so much, so it will be important to just prepare a lot on the simulator.

“Also physically, it’s a very humid and hot circuit so we have to make sure that we push a lot in the gym, make sure that our training and our nutrition is good before we head to Singapore.

“Even just being in summer, I always play padel at 1pm to make sure it was hot or as hot as possible. That was already good training I would say, because I was destroyed after that – after one and a half hours of padel!

“I think from now on with the trainers in Ferrari we will push a lot to make sure our training programme is on point so we don’t have to think about the mental and physical parts of racing.”