The best off-track storylines of the 2025 F1 ACADEMY season

It’s been a full-on 2025 for F1 ACADEMY – the third season of the female-only single-seater series. On the track, we were treated to a fantastic title fight between Mercedes’ Doriane Pin and Ferrari’s Maya Weug that went down to the wire in Las Vegas, with Pin emerging victorious after a thrilling weekend of racing. But off the track, the series has grown and grown.

Whether it was a new Netflix docuseries, the myriad of exciting driver-brand partnerships, or best-selling books from icons of the sport, there’s been plenty for fans to get stuck into over the year. Here are some of the best storylines away from the asphalt…

The Netflix launch

Enter the game-changer. May 2025 saw the launch of F1: The ACADEMY on Netflix – the Reese Witherspoon-produced rewind on the 2024 season, setting the tone for 2025.

With unprecedented behind-the-scenes access, the series went deep on what it takes to be an F1 ACADEMY driver – the sacrifices, the triumphs, the person behind the visor – and turned the racers into streaming stars.

If you’re thinking Drive to Survive, think a little different: where DTS delivers on Formula 1’s glamour and drama, F1: The ACADEMY focuses far more on the raw determination of young women fighting for their place in motorsport.

The series proved a hit with the critics – and with the fans, whose deeper connection with the drivers no doubt played a part in the growing audience in the grandstands at races around the globe.

Early in the season, fashion and beauty take the grid

2025 was a statement season for F1 ACADEMY and fashion/beauty brands, and marked many new partners fully committing to the sport for the first time.

Alba Larsen joined the grid backed by Tommy Hilfiger, with her car carrying the brand’s statement red, white and blue colours throughout the season. However, this partnership extended well beyond the livery, with Larsen bringing the ‘Tommy Girl’ identity into the paddock and becoming something of a case study as to how personal style can sit comfortably alongside racing. Racing suits and fashion aren’t mutually exclusive!

Charlotte Tilbury remained involved through driver Chloe Chong, continuing a partnership that has become familiar within the series, including providing the makeup for the drivers for the Netflix premiere. For the female-founded beauty brand, the focus stayed on supporting these young drivers as they develop their careers in motorsport, rather than simply increasing visibility of women in the sport.

Wella Professionals were the major new addition to the grid. The global haircare brand already has a history of backing women’s sport, but has now made the move into motorsport for the first time through F1 ACADEMY. Their involvement added another dimension to the grid, centred on confidence and self-expression, and has been backing up and coming star Joanne Ciconte.

By the end of the season, these partnerships have clearly become a huge part of F1 ACADEMY’s identity. Not a distraction from the racing, but a reflection of the drivers themselves as modern athletes competing at the highest level while defining who they are and want to be out of the cockpit.

Canada & the Wella moment

When Joanne Ciconte rolled out for the Canadian round in her new Wella Professionals livery, the internet collectively cheered as the red, mermaid-inspired design took social media by storm. Here was a global beauty brand that believed in F1 ACADEMY enough to make it their first-ever motorsport sponsorship, which made the moment feel way more special than just a fresh paint job.

The partnership showed up around the paddock too. Wella, OPI and ghd set up styling stations in the Paddock Club, giving guests and drivers a chance to get quick touch-ups before heading out. Hair, nails, the small details that usually sit far away from a race weekend suddenly felt part of it. A few years ago, that might have raised eyebrows. In Montreal, it just felt normal.

The partnership inspired other groundbreaking activations to The Paddock Club over F1 ACADEMY race weekends. Wella, OPI, and ghd set up glam stations where guests – and, of course, drivers – could get race-ready touch-ups all weekend long. Hair styled, nails perfected, and most importantly, confidence boosted before heading trackside. These kinds of beauty services at a race weekend would have been dismissed as frivolous a few years ago. Now, thanks to F1 ACADEMY, they’re not only acceptable but embraced as essential parts of both driver preparation and the fan experience.

For Ciconte, with her long curly hair, the support provided by Wella stretched beyond the track. “I used to be really bad at maintaining [my hair],” she told The Paddock Journal. “When Wella came on board, they taught me so much, which I really needed.” It’s a small detail that speaks to something larger: F1 ACADEMY is choosing partners who bring real change to the grid, helping these young drivers feel confident in every aspect of their lives, not just behind the wheel. Sometimes it’s the off-track details that help everything else fall into place!

The summer of Alba Larsen’s rise

While the championship fight played out on track, Tommy Hilfiger racer Alba Larsen was busy elsewhere too. Still only 15 when she started it, her G.I.R.L. (Girls International Racing Lab) initiative began to gather real momentum during the 2025 season. Events across her home nation of Denmark brought over 400 girls into motorsport spaces that felt welcoming from the start, without the pressure or assumptions that tend to usually come with them. Her goals are even bigger for next year, as Alba aims to reach 15,000 girls globally.

That hard work off the track didn’t go unnoticed by the racing community. In 2025, Alba received the FIA Women in Motorsport Award, as they recognised the impact G.I.R.L. was already having and the pathway it was starting to open up for young girls looking at racing for the first time.

When she wasn’t racing or building a global grassroots movement, Alba was just as busy! Over the summer, she featured in a Vogue Scandinavia profile, she toured with her book The Fastest Girl in the World, and met young fans to sign copies, all while maintaining her racing schedule and making improvements all season long!

Now at just 17 years old, Alba has cemented herself as the template for the modern F1 ACADEMY driver: a racer by weekend, an author and activist by weekday, and a fashion muse year-round. She understood something fundamental that’s reshaping motorsport: cultural impact and track performance aren’t separate careers, they’re two sides of the same ambition. 2025 was the year Alba proved you don’t have to wait until after your racing career to make a difference or an impact off-track. You can do both, simultaneously, and do them brilliantly.

Wild Cards enter the chat

During mid-season, the wild card program delivered one of the year’s best storylines. Esmee Kosterman, the Dutch driver who arrived at F1 ACADEMY as the Zandvoort Wild Card with TeamViewer, had everything to prove and nothing guaranteed beyond that race.

Kosterman became the highest points-scoring wild card driver of the entire season, performing so impressively that LEGO Racing signed her for their 2026 debut season. Her success also highlighted something crucial about F1 ACADEMY’s philosophy: the doors aren’t closed. If you’re fast enough and talented enough, there’s always a way in. The wild card program proved it in 2025, and it will continue to prove it as Esmee takes her LEGO Racing seat in 2026.

Susie Wolff tells her story

In October, as the championship fight intensified on track, off-track, a different kind of milestone was reached. Managing Director of F1 ACADEMY, Susie Wolff released her memoir, Driven, and it didn’t take long for it to climb the Sunday Times bestseller list.

The timing felt perfect – Wolff’s story was arriving to fans just as F1 ACADEMY was becoming more visible both inside and outside the paddock. In the book, she looks back at her own journey through motorsport, including the barriers she ran into and the moments that shaped how she approaches the sport now.

However, it isn’t just a racing memoir; it’s the roadmap for why F1 ACADEMY exists. Every partnership Wolff secured, every wild card driver who got their shot, every girl attending Alba’s G.I.R.L. program, they’re all living proof of the future Wolff envisioned when she created this series.

Wolff’s motorsport journey is at the heart of F1 ACADEMY’s successes. Her story and her presence is a big reason why so many young girls want to join the series because they can see themselves in her story, and now, they can see themselves on the grid.

Las Vegas hits peak pop culture

If there was any doubt that F1 ACADEMY had become a cultural phenomenon, Las Vegas erased it sharpish! When the Hello Kitty partnership was unveiled at the most glittering race on the calendar, fans went wild. This iconic collaboration included a merch line featuring Hello Kitty and friends in racing gear, a sequin jacket that became instantly popular, and yes, even a Hello Kitty dog harness (because why not?).

The Hello Kitty Fanzone served food and drinks in Hello Kitty packaging that promptly became a collectors item. What’s more Hello Kitty even waved the chequered flag following a wild reverse grid race.

But don’t be fooled, this partnership wasn’t just about selling merch. It has become clear that F1 ACADEMY understands something fundamental about modern sports: you can be serious about driver development while also being fun and engaging for all divisions of your fan base. The two aren’t contradictions – they’re complements.

LEGO also made its mark in Vegas, providing LEGO bouquets for the podium. Instead of flowers that wilt, drivers received buildable bouquets they could keep forever, and that fans could buy and build themselves. Even the victory celebrations became shareable, collectable moments. It was another sign of how F1 ACADEMY is rethinking every tradition through a more creative, culturally engaged lens.

As the season wound down, the news didn’t really stop. Gatorade announced it would be coming on board for 2026, with a focus on female athlete performance and a sports science stance. The partnership will see them work closely with Lisa Billard, building hydration support around the specific demands she faces as a driver. This goes above and beyond sponsorship, it’s research and development for women’s sport, using F1 ACADEMY as a testing ground for performance science that could benefit sportswomen across all sports.

The season kicked off with three major announcements that signalled something different was coming. TAG Heuer became the Official Timekeeper, “reinforcing its commitment to shaping the future of racing, ensuring that talent – not gender – determines success on the track.” TeamViewer and More than Equal joined as partners, bringing their platforms and resources to the series. Three significant partnerships before the season even started made one thing clear: F1 ACADEMY 2025 wouldn’t just be about racing; it would be about cultural relevance.

LEGO Racing officially confirmed their 2026 entry with Esmee Kosterman behind the wheel. Alba’s G.I.R.L. program continues its global expansion with ambitious targets. One announcement rolled into the next, and together they painted a picture of where F1 ACADEMY is heading next.

The cultural shift

This season made it clear that F1 ACADEMY isn’t just about what happens on track anymore. Fashion, culture, grassroots projects, and racing all found space to coexist, and the drivers were at the centre of it all! The brands getting involved weren’t there to plaster logos on cars, but wanting to work with the drivers, support them in different ways, and trying new things along the way.

The Gatorade partnership represents the next evolution: Lisa Billard now has hydration and performance support built around her needs as a female athlete, with the research feeding back into broader sports science. The fashion and beauty collaborations have given drivers a chance to express themselves beyond the helmet. Alba Larson’s G.I.R.L. programme continued to grow, connecting hundreds of girls to motorsport in a way that feels tangible and hopeful.

And then there was Vegas. Hello Kitty waving the chequered flag felt playful and a little surreal, but it went down a treat, and a perfect snapshot of what F1 ACADEMY had become in 2025. Racing, culture, and creativity all at once, with plenty still to come next year!