Williams has confirmed the 2025 line-up of its Driver Academy, as seven younger hopefuls make the subsequent step of their careers.
The academy has gone from strength-to-strength in recent times, including a number of up-and-coming skills and seeing every driver additional their improvement.
Constructing on its custom of supporting younger drivers, which most just lately noticed Franco Colapinto graduate to a full-time Components 1 seat, the academy will proceed to supply best-in-class help to drivers by each stage of the motorsport ladder.
After his F1 weekend look in Abu Dhabi when he drove the FW46 in FP1 for Williams, Luke Browning will make his full-time debut in Components 2 with Hitech GP for the 2025 season. This follows a robust 2024 marketing campaign in Components 3, reaching two Characteristic race wins in Bahrain and Austria, then securing a seat in F2 for the ultimate three races of the season, the place he scored factors on debut.
Lia Block will proceed to symbolize the group for the 2025 F1 Academy season, racing with ART Grand Prix. Her debut 12 months in open-wheel racing noticed her reaching fourth-place finishes in each races on the Singapore Grand Prix.
Alessandro Giusti will likely be stepping as much as Components 3 with MP Motorsport following a hard-fought fourth-place end within the Components Regional European Championship final 12 months. Reaching wins at Imola and Paul Ricard, plus 5 podium finishes, he’ll look to proceed this optimistic trajectory.
Oleksandr Bondarev’s promising performances in karting and Components 4 have earned him a seat with PREMA Racing in Italian and UAE F4. He has seen a number of successes in his profession up to now, being topped CIK-FIA European Champion OKJ in 2023 and taking house the WSK Champions Cup in 2024, earlier than stepping as much as Italian F4 with PREMA Racing from Barcelona onwards.
4 academy drivers will proceed in karting for 2025. Sara Matsui, who accomplished her first season of OKNJ racing in Europe final 12 months and made the transition to OKN, will compete within the OK class for 2025. New additions to the Academy, Dean Hoogendoorn and Will Inexperienced, will compete within the OKJ collection, whereas Lucas Palacio will race in OKJ-N.
“We’re excited to verify our Williams Racing Driver Academy drivers for this 12 months, and proud to showcase the quantity of expertise and promise in every of our drivers,” mentioned Sporting Director, Sven Smeets. “The Academy is central to our dedication to shaping the way forward for our sport, supporting them each on and off the monitor. We’re trying ahead to following all of the drivers’ progress all through this 2025 season.”
