Lia Block celebrates maiden F1 Academy win after restart masterclass

ART Grand Prix F1 Academy driver, Lia Block, backed by the Williams Formula 1 team, secured her maiden victory in the all-female racing series in Race 1 in Singapore.

The American driver started from pole position for the reverse grid race and successfully defended her position and managed two safety car restarts perfectly.

“I feel great,” Block said after the race. "It wasn’t a great qualifying or start to the weekend yesterday, but topping it off with a win, so I can go home now! Just kidding, I still have another race.

“It was a difficult first half of the race. Thankfully, there was a lot of fighting behind me, so I could just focus on myself. I figured some stuff out, got some more time out of the car and chilled to the end.

“I was looking in my mirrors a couple of times to see how close Maya was, but I just kept focusing on myself. It was pretty easy to the end, no squabbles, one lock-up, but we did it.”

There were two safety car restarts during the race on lap 3 and 10.

Lia Block, ART Grand Prix

Photo by: Colin McMaster / LAT Images via Getty Images

“Here it’s just about trying to catch people off guard because there are not many places to strategically do a restart," she continued. "I was just waiting for Maya to weave in my mirrors and then floor it from there. Both of my restarts were pretty good. I was happy about that — gave me some breathing room for sure.”

Looking ahead to Race 2 tomorrow, the Williams Driver Academy driver added: “It’s full circle now. I started from the bottom and now we’re at the top. It feels really good. Just means I have to work 10 times harder tomorrow to get another good result, but super happy with this.”

Block made her F1 Academy debut in 2024. With just Race 2 in Singapore and Round 7 in Las Vegas remaining in the season, the 19-year-old driver is yet to confirm her racing plans for 2026.