Up Next
Williams has become the second Formula 1 team to announce which driver it will support in the second year of the all-female F1 Academy series.
The team will back Lia Block – daughter of late motorsport legend Ken – in 2024, placing her with single seater behemoth ART Grand Prix.
Every F1 team will support at least one driver in the second season of F1’s all-female championship, which will support seven rounds of F1’s season next year.
McLaren was the first team to announce a driver – 18-year-old Bianca Bustamante – and inducted her into its young own driver programme.
Williams has followed suit by enrolling 17-year-old Block into its driver academy alongside the likes of Abu Dhabi FP1 debutant Zak O’Sullivan and Indy NXT driver Jamie Chadwick.
Block began her motorsport career at age 11 and soon began dovetailing karting with off-road racing.
She's competed in rallies at a national level over the past two years and competed in two Extreme E events alongside two-time DTM champion Timo Scheider earlier this year.
Her most high-profile rally success came this year when she became the youngest driver ever to win a major American rally championship, when she claimed the Open 2WD title.
The first round of next year's F4-spec F1 Academy is currently set to mark her single-seater debut.
She will be team-mates with Bustamante at ART GP next year alongside a third, unconfirmed driver.
The inaugural F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia won't return for a second year, having secured the funding from F1 Academy to step up to Formula Regional Europe next year.
The Sauber-backed runner-up Lena Buhler won't return either, likely leaving Hamda Al Qubaisi as the highest-placed returnee.
