Maya Weug

 

Maya Weug is a Spanish-Dutch-Belgian driver who was the winner of an FIA Women in Motorsport single-seater talent search in 2020. She was accepted into the Ferrari driver academy as a result. Throughout her short career, she has represented all three countries, having been born in Spain to a Belgian mother and a Dutch father.

She was entered into the 2021 Italian F4 championship by the Iron Lynx team as part of her development. The squad is part of the same team that runs the all-female “Iron Dames” sportscar operation. Her best finish in the opening rounds was a 15th place at Paul Ricard, which was a rookie class win. She was later twelfth overall at Misano and came close to a top ten at Vallelunga. 

Her six guest races in German F4 gave her a debut top ten: ninth at the Red Bull Ring. 

Her second season in Italian F4 started with her first top ten finish, at Imola. She was tenth in Race 1 and sixth in Race 2. By the end of the season, she had racked up six more top-ten finishes at Misano, Vallelunga, the Red Bull Ring and Spa, the best of these being a pair of sevenths at Misano and the Red Bull Ring.

Her guest spots in the German series did not go so well to start with, although she scored another ninth at Zandvoort.

The FIA’s support is long-term and seems to be paying off; Maya was not on the pace right away, but she improved rapidly in her second year.

She moved up to Formula Reginal Europe (FRECA) in 2023, driving for KIC Motorsport. She was the Finnish team's only full-time driver and the highest-performing of the five who raced with them that year. She began as a midfielder but gained confidence mid-season, breaking into the top ten at Spa with a seventh and sixth spot, the first of six top-tens earned in the middle three rounds of the series. She was 17th overall.

For 2024, her links with the Ferrari F1 team led her to a rather odd move: a seat in the F1 Academy all-female F4 series as a Ferrari supported driver.

Previously, she competed in international karting between 2013 and 2020 and won a junior title in 2016. She began karting in Spain in 2011, when she was seven.

(Image copyright Maya Weug)