Academy Report: A Season High for Lia

Lia Block had a busy return to racing as F1 Academy staged a three-race round in Canada to make up for the cancellation of Miami's Race 2 last month.

Points came for our American teenager who had an up-and-down weekend with a personal best finish and a retirement across the three days.

Here’s a recap of Lia’s weekend north of the border.

A first trip to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve saw a unique racing weekend for Lia, who began her racing with a P4 grid slot earned six weeks ago in Miami.

Heavy rain cancelled the second race in Florida, but Lia could still benefit from a high grid slot as the F1 Academy organisers fit two races into Montreal's Saturday.

Losing out to Ella Lloyd on the opening lap, Lia shuffled back to P6 despite fighting back against her rivals as she got used to the Canadian circuit.

That P6 soon became P5 as the leaders collided, with Alisha Palmowski falling to the back of the pack. More collisions followed later in the race, with Lia needing to navigate a race that ended with two separate Safety Car periods.

She crossed the line in P5, which then became P4 after a disqualification for Emma Felbermayr.

Canada's Qualifying set the grid for Race 2 and 3, and Lia narrowly missed out on a front row for the reverse grid race, and she started P9 for her second Saturday race.

The frantic race had pass-or-be-passed action throughout, and some battles with Maya Weug, Mathilda Paatz, and Aurelia Nobels kept Lia on the cusp of the points-paying top eight positions.

A crash between Weug and Nobels left Lia free to snatch the places after closing in on the pair, and the resulting Safety Car prevented any more passes, ensuring Lia crossed the line in P8 to score another point.

Sunday wouldn't be so fruitful, however. The race began with seven laps behind the Safety Car to reduce any opportunities to fight, and a collision with Rafaela Ferreira prematurely ended Lia's race.

There is a long break for Lia until she next jumps in an F1 Academy car. The series won't be back in action until Zandvoort in support of the Dutch GP at the end of August.

Lia now sits P10 in the standings after picking up 13 points in Montreal to boost her season tally to 15.