Williams has confirmed the 2025 line-up of its Driver Academy, as seven young hopefuls make the next step in their careers.
The academy has gone from strength-to-strength in recent years, adding several up-and-coming talents and seeing each driver further their development.
Building on its tradition of supporting young drivers, which most recently saw Franco Colapinto graduate to a full-time Formula 1 seat, the academy will continue to offer best-in-class support to drivers through every stage of the motorsport ladder.
After his F1 weekend appearance in Abu Dhabi when he drove the FW46 in FP1 for Williams, Luke Browning will make his full-time debut in Formula 2 with Hitech GP for the 2025 season. This follows a strong 2024 campaign in Formula 3, achieving two Feature race wins in Bahrain and Austria, then securing a seat in F2 for the final three races of the season, where he scored points on debut.
Lia Block will continue to represent the team for the 2025 F1 Academy season, racing with ART Grand Prix. Her debut year in open-wheel racing saw her achieving fourth-place finishes in both races at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Alessandro Giusti will be stepping up to Formula 3 with MP Motorsport following a hard-fought fourth-place finish in the Formula Regional European Championship last year. Achieving wins at Imola and Paul Ricard, plus five podium finishes, he will look to continue this positive trajectory.
Oleksandr Bondarev’s promising performances in karting and Formula 4 have earned him a seat with PREMA Racing in Italian and UAE F4. He has seen multiple successes in his career so far, being crowned CIK-FIA European Champion OKJ in 2023 and taking home the WSK Champions Cup in 2024, before stepping up to Italian F4 with PREMA Racing from Barcelona onwards.
Four academy drivers will continue in karting for 2025. Sara Matsui, who completed her first season of OKNJ racing in Europe last year and made the transition to OKN, will compete in the OK class for 2025. New additions to the Academy, Dean Hoogendoorn and Will Green, will compete in the OKJ series, while Lucas Palacio will race in OKJ-N.
“We’re excited to confirm our Williams Racing Driver Academy drivers for this year, and proud to showcase the amount of talent and promise in each of our drivers,” said Sporting Director, Sven Smeets. “The Academy is central to our commitment to shaping the future of our sport, supporting them both on and off the track. We’re looking forward to following all the drivers’ progress throughout this 2025 season.”
