The American driver delivered a remarkable comeback drive in Saturday’s race aboard her Campos Racing-run car. Ferreira scored points again on her debut at the southeast Asian street circuit, while Palmowski saw her entire weekend compromised after suffering an accident during qualifying
Campos Racing once again featured on the F1 Academy podium as the series brought its sixth and penultimate round of the 2025 season to a close at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. The Alzira-based squad did so thanks to Chloe Chambers, the Red Bull Ford Academy Programme driver, who secured third place in Saturday’s race.
Brazil’s Rafaela Ferreira finished ninth in her Visa Cash App RB Academy-liveried car in Sunday’s race, which ended in challenging conditions due to rain. Alisha Palmowski endured a difficult weekend after hitting the wall during Friday qualifying, forcing the British driver from the Red Bull Racing Academy Programme to fight her way heroically from the back of the grid on a circuit as demanding for overtaking as Singapore.
In Friday’s free practice, it was actually Palmowski who topped the Campos Racing trio, setting the third-fastest time overall. Palmowski stopped the clock at 2m03.995s, just 0.051s off the pace, and ahead of her teammate Chambers, who was fourth with a lap of 2m04.460s.
Later that afternoon, in qualifying, Palmowski’s chances vanished when she went into the wall at Turn 4 before she could complete a timed lap. Chambers briefly went fastest with a 2m03.761s lap with six minutes remaining, but as lap times improved toward the end, she eventually classified third with a 2m03.642s. Ferreira’s best time of 2m05.324s placed her on the seventh row of the grid, while Palmowski would start from the back on both race days.
Saturday’s race, scheduled for 14 laps and held in sweltering conditions with ambient temperatures above 30°C and over 53°C on track, saw Chambers line up sixth on the grid due to the reversed top eight. When the lights went out, Chambers managed the opening chicane brilliantly and climbed to fourth by the end of lap one. After two laps behind the safety car, racing resumed with Chambers battling hard against Emma Felbermayr. Around that time, Ferreira began to experience technical issues that intermittently stopped her car, ultimately forcing the Brazilian to pit and retire. Meanwhile, Palmowski was charging through the field, even setting the fastest lap and a new category record at Singapore, before her race ended prematurely after hitting the wall under braking on lap seven. A second safety car period set up a restart that Chambers used to perfection, overtaking Aurelia Nobels into Turn 1 to move up to third. From there to the finish, she chased Lia Block and Maya Weug to seal the final spot on the podium.
In Sunday’s second race, run over the same distance but in slightly cooler conditions, Chambers was disadvantaged by starting on the less grippy side of the grid, dropping to fourth as Ella Lloyd snatched third. From that point, the leading quartet, with Chambers at the tail, broke away from the rest of the pack. Within just three laps, Palmowski had climbed to the verge of the top ten after several impressive overtakes, while Ferreira was running 16th. However, on lap nine, light rain began to fall, intensifying as the race progressed. Palmowski was the first to pit for wet tires, followed a lap later by Chambers and others. But an off-track excursion by another car triggered the safety car, which was withdrawn with only one lap remaining—leaving no time to exploit the advantage of the wet tires. As a result, the drivers who had stayed out, including Ferreira, who finished ninth, benefitted from the situation. Chambers came home 11th and Palmowski 15th.
With only one round remaining, Chambers and Palmowski sit fourth and fifth in the standings with 99 and 73 points respectively, while Ferreira holds 12th place with 15. In the teams’ standings, Campos Racing lies third with 187 points.
The championship will draw the curtain on its 2025 season on November 21-22 at another street venue, this time in the city that never sleeps — the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.
Chloe Chambers (Campos Racing Driver in F1 Academy): “It was a very up and down weekend for me. Qualifying was positive. I made good improvements from free practice. P3 in qualifying was a pretty good result. It was good enough to keep me in the fight. The reverse grid was pretty good, started P6, finish P3. So, I was able to make some moves and just race hard. Not much to say about Sunday’s race 2. I was running P4 for most of the race and then in the last laps, it started to rain. We had to try something different and it was really difficult to read how situation was. Just missed the safety car, had to sit behind it and I couldn’t cat up the pack for the restart, so it was nothing we could have done about it. Not a great end to the weekend. But the pace and the progression were pretty good.”
Alisha Palmowski (Campos Racing Driver in F1 Academy): “It was a very tough weekend for me. I think, ultimately, I made a mistake in qualifying, which compromised the whole weekend. We were really unlucky yesterday in the first race, the pace was really strong I’d made up sort of nine positions in the first six laps but then we just had an issue at T9 as a weird bump on the circuit which sent me into the wall. Campos Racing made a huge effort to fix the car, working overnight. The mechanics were here working until 4AM to get me out on track on Sunday. Thanks very much to all of them. The pace was great but it’s time to put our sights on Las Vegas.”
Rafaela Ferreira (Campos Racing Driver in F1 Academy): “After a lot of challenges, we finished this weekend on points! It was a chaotic race, but during the rain we decided not to stop, and that decision helped me score some points. I’m really looking forward to heading to Las Vegas and starting a new weekend. We all know how important qualifying session is, and going straight into qualifying this weekend was hard. We had huge issues with the car this weekend, but considering everything that happened, at least we managed to bring some points home. Thanks Campos Racing for all the effort during this weekend!”
Photos: Getty Images
