Prema Racing are the first of the five F1 Academy teams to complete their driver line up for the 2024 season.
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Alongside Tina Hausmann (left), who is the nominated driver for the Aston Martin F1 team and was announced back in November, the team has signed Iron Dame Doriane Pin (centre) and Ferrari Driver Academy racer Maya Weug (right). This has created what will undoubtedly be a very strong line up for the upcoming season, with three extremely talented drivers.
The first of the announcements from Prema this week came on Tuesday, with the team announcing the signing of Doriane Pin. The French driver has also joined the Mercedes-AMG F1 Team Junior Programme and will be representing them as their nominated driver in the series. Pin is already a member of the Prema family, joining them in 2023 for the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship, in which she secured a podium in the LMP2 class at Sebring and won the Revelation of the Year award.
At only 20-years-old she has already had a majorly impressive career so far. Beginning karting in 2013, she became the French karting champion in 2019 before moving up to the Renault Clio Cup in 2020. In 2021 Pin took several GT3 podiums in the Michelin Le Mans Cup and went on to test a Formula 3 car. In 2022, the Iron Dame secured P1 overall in the Ferrari Challenge Europe Trofeo Pirelli , with 9 wins and 13 podiums. She has since gained further experience in the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and the GT World Challenge Cup.
In 2023 Pin also competed in Formula 4 South East Asia, finishing the season as Vice-Champion, with one win and several podium finishes, in addition to the Rookie Cup title. In preparation for the upcoming F1 Academy series, she is currently competing in Formula 4 UAE.
Pin is also a member of the Iron Dames, who are 'Women Driven By Dreams' and are a ground-breaking project committed to promoting and supporting women in sports where they compete on equal terms with men. The project was founded by Deborah Mayer in 2018 and since, as an all-female line up, has racked up many incredible achievements at the pinnacle of world endurance racing, including becoming the first all-female team to win a race in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the first to finish second in the championship.
Speaking on her move to F1 Academy with Prema and Mercedes-AMG F1, Pin said “I am incredibly happy to join the Mercedes-AMG F1 Team Junior Programme and represent Mercedes in the PREMA Team for F1 Academy this year. A new chapter begins, and I am proud to make this next step in such a prestigious team and with the Iron Dames project. I am grateful for their trust and honored to race for their colors. Moving into single seater was a clear objective for my career, and to be in this environment is a great approach. I am working very hard to reach the top level of this sport and I cannot wait to go racing.”
The second of Prema's new drivers announced this week is Maya Weug. The news of the Ferrari Driver Academy star making the move to F1 Academy was released on Thursday morning and was met with a great deal of excitement. She completes the team's line up for its title defence after their dominance during the inaugural season in 2023. She will also be representing Ferrari as their nominated F1 Academy driver this season.
Born in Spain in 2004 to a Belgian mother and Dutch Father, Weug is one of the many great racing drivers currently representing the Netherlands. She began karting at the age of seven and made her move into single-seaters after winning the Girls on Track - Rising Stars Programme in 2020, securing herself a place in the Ferrari Driver Academy. One of twenty candidates, Ferrari Driver Academy have expressed she was picked as the best "on the basis of her outright performance in the car, her hard work and ability to take on instructions she was given." Weug is first ever woman to be a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy.
In 2021 she gained valuable racing experience by competing in the Italian Formula 4 Championship, one of the most competitive F4 championships, and went on in 2022 to achieve several points finishes in the series.
Last year, she moved to the also highly-competitive Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, achieving several top-10 finishes in addition to a rookie victory. In a recent press release, Prema expressed "With so much promise, Weug is now looking forward to a high-profile season in F1 Academy to further boost her growth and chances for the rest of her professional career".
Weug shared her thoughts on the news and the year ahead of her, stating “I’m super excited to get back on track this season! I’m sure it will be a great season working together with such a prestigious team as PREMA in the second year of an interesting category like F1 Academy. It is a great honor to represent Ferrari again this season and I can’t wait to continue the hard work with the Academy and PREMA to prepare the season the best way possible!"
Rene Rosin, Prema Team Principle, added "We deeply respected Maya as a competitor, and we were always impressed by her potential and achievements. We are really delighted to finally get her on board for the second season of F1 Academy, and we think we will do a great job together. Our lineup is really promising, with three outstanding racers and the support of three great Formula 1 teams. We are proud of the trust we received and cannot wait for the season to start,"
Copyright © 2023 - Prema Racing - All rights reserved.
With their line up now completed, Prema are expected to have another strong season defending their Teams Championship title, as well potentially producing another Drivers Champion to follow in the footsteps of the 2023 Champion & Prema Driver Marta García.
More about Tina Hausmann, the first of Prema's drivers announced for 2024, can be read in a earlier Girls Across The Grid article linked here:
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