^{The cast and competitors from F1 Academy will make their way to Las Vegas to race on the Strip next year. (Image: courtesy of F1 Academy)}

Formula 1 is growing its footprint in the Nevada desert. The Las Vegas Grand Prix 2025 will feature three races during its marquee November weekend, highlighted by the addition of an all-female F1 Academy event to the lineup.

F1 announced the dates for the F1 Academy’s entire 2025 schedule on Monday. The F1 Academy, a women-only racing series aimed at developing young talent in open-wheel racing, will make its Las Vegas debut as a support race on Nov. 20-22, 2025. 

This will mark the final race of the Academy’s third season and adds to an already stacked race week in Las Vegas. 

See also: F1 Las Vegas 2024 - The Essential Guide

Unfortunately for fans of open-wheel racing, neither Formula 2 nor Formula 3 will join the F1 Academy in Las Vegas next year. But it will add a third race to the 2025 calendar for the weekend before Thanksgiving. 

The second race in the lineup will be the Ferrari Challenge, which is making its debut in Las Vegas this week at the 2024 Grand Prix.

“The addition of [these support races] further demonstrates our commitment to delivering an even bigger and better racing event than ever before,” Silvia Bellot, VP of Sporting and Race Operations at Las Vegas Grand Prix, Inc., said. “Last year we made the dream of racing down Las Vegas Boulevard a reality, and we are thrilled that we can now offer fans twice the racing action for the price of a single ticket.” 

What is F1 Academy?

F1 Academy is more than just another open-wheel race division. It’s an all-female series that was launched in 2022 by Formula 1 to help prepare and develop female drivers to race in the big leagues.

The series provides the drivers with track time and all forms of support from technical to physical and mental. Make no mistake, this isn't just training. It's a competitive racing series. 

There are currently five F1 Academy teams with three drivers each. Abbi Pulling from Alpine (pronounced AL - PEEN) is dominating the standings this year with 250 points. She’s nearly 100 points ahead of second place Doriane Pin.

Susie Wolff, Managing Director of F1 Academy, commented on the addition of Las Vegas to the calendar next year.

“Finishing our season in Las Vegas will be an iconic moment," Wolff said, "and its addition to the calendar is testament to the wealth of support we receive from Formula 1 and Liberty Media.”

This year, F1 Academy race weekends consist of one practice, one qualifying session, and two races. Each event takes about 30-40 minutes. The schedules for next year haven’t been released yet.

F1 Academy isn’t available on traditional broadcast TV in the US. Anyone who wants to watch the series can watch on YouTube, X, or F1 TV.

F1 Season Coming to an End

Las Vegas is the 22nd of 24 rounds of the F1 season. The series will move on to Qatar next and conclude in Abu Dhabi on Dec. 8.

Last year's LVGP winner, Max Verstappen of Red Bull, is currently leading the F1 standings with 393 points. Lando Norris of Maclaren with 331 points is the only driver with a chance to catch Verstappen but he has a lot of work to do beginning with Las Vegas.

The current gap between the drivers is 62 points. Verstappen can win the championship by obtaining two more points than Norris during the LVGP.

If Norris is alive after the LVGP Norris will have to sweep every point from the remaining two race weekends. In addition to winning both races, he’ll have to win a Sprint race and the fastest lap in all events.

The 2025 F1 season will kick off on Feb. 18, 2025, when the teams unveil their liveries in England.