Academy Report: Lia's Miami Fightback and Sacha's Season Opener

Encouraging performances happened in more places than F1 for Atlassian Williams Racing this weekend, with Driver Academy representatives Lia Block and Oleksandr Bondarev taking to the top 10 in their races.

It was a busy time on home soil for Lia Block, who joined the team for a Fan Zone appearance, hosted Grid Games, and raced around the Miami International Autodrome.

Things were arguably just as busy for Bondi, too, with the Italian F4 championship seeing 41 entrants and four races in its curtain-raising round.

Three of Atlassian Williams Racing Driver Academy's youngest members were also racing in karting, with Will Green, Lucas Palacio, and Dean Hoogendoorn all on track.

This is how they fared.

Wet weather bookended Lia's competitive track time in Florida as rain interrupted Qualifying and played havoc in Race 2.

A rush to set laps before a downpour in Friday's 30-minute session that set the grid saw all 18 drivers put to the test. Lia's speed ensured a high-starting slot for both races, setting laps good enough for a P5 starting spot.

Frustratingly, that single-lap pace went to waste before the first corner in Saturday's 13-lap race.

Ella Lloyd's mistake into Turn 1 meant Lia couldn't turn in to take the right-hander. Impressive instinctive driving kept our American in the race, but she tumbled down to P12 while avoiding contact.

Undeterred, Lia drove a fightback drive to remember. Rapidly closing the gap, two separate overtakes on Chloe Chong and Courtney Crone in a single lap showed her spirit as she returned to the points.

Rafaela Ferreira was the next to fall before a move around the outside of Nina Gademan at Turn 11 became Lia's best pass of the day.

A Safety Car slowdown just paused the push, and Lia reached P5 after a retirement for a rival and two more passes on Tina Hausmann and Aurelia Nobels to pick up P5.

Despite handing the position back to Nobels after completing the move off the track, Lia re-passed the Brazilian, but the stewards still handed her a five-second penalty, demoting her to P10 and out of the points.

A rained-off Race 2 meant it wasn't a point-scoring trip to the Sunshine State, but Lia can take encouragement from her flurry of overtakes and Qualifying speed for Canada's race next month.

With some 40 drivers for Sasha to beat in Italian F4, the championship split the Misano qualifying sessions and races to accommodate such a deep entry list.

Our Ukranian began his first full-time weekend in the series from the third row in the first of three races he contested over a packed three days. Unfortunately, that P5 start didn't result in points.

A brave move down the inside of Gabriel Gomez early in the race resulted in contact between Bondi's car and the Brazilian. A broken front wing required a pit stop, and Sacha dropped to the back, eventually getting a P22 classification.

Back in action for Race 3, it was a better result for our teenager. Starting P6 for his second race, Bondi kept the pressure on US Racing's Kabir Anurag while keeping his PREMA teammate Newman Chi behind.

Pushy defence from the Singaporean elbowed Oleksandr wide to allow Chi to pass, but measured wheel-to-wheel racing had our Academy hopeful back ahead to cross the line in P6 and picking up his first eight points in Italian F4.

Sunday's final race saw a bumper 36-car grid of the fastest drivers from the 41-car pool, with Sacha starting P11. A stellar start from that midfield slot had Bondi up three places in a single lap to reach the points-paying positions and again stuck behind Anurag.

That early work was enough for Bondi to secure four more points to add to his season-opening weekend. He now sits P10 in the drivers' standings as the third-highest rookie in the order ahead of Round 2 at Vallelunga in three weeks' time.

In the karting world, the FIA Karting European Championship headed to Portimao for its second round, with Williams' Will Green and Dean Hoogendoorn racing around the Algarve's premier karting venue.

Stop-start rain made for tricky conditions, yet our duo remained unphased. Will began the Final from pole position, with Dean just behind on the third row. Split fortunes resulted in vastly different results, however.

A Lap 1 collision dropped Will down to P6. After a fight back up the order to P4, a last lap crash ended Will's race with a retirement. Dean's race pace saw the Dutch driver continually close up the on the lead over the first six laps and claiming an emphatic victory.

Lucas Palacio was racing on the other side of the Atlantic in the X30 Junior category of the United States Pro Kart Series at Carolina's Trackhouse Motorplex.

The American set the fastest Qualifying time to start his Carolina weekend well. Mixed fortunes in the Heats meant a P10 start for the final. Lucas advanced to P6 finish, setting the Fastest Lap, but dropped down to a P8 classification after post-race penalties.