Maya Weug has won the&nꦯbsp;FIA's 'Girls on Track Rising Stars' initiaꦓtive and earned a place in the Ferrari Formula 1 team’s young driver programme.

Following an intensive selection process, the 17-year-old from the Netherl𝔍ands has been rewarded with a contract for a full season in the 2021 FIA Formula 4 championship which will be funded by the Ferrari Driver Academy, becoming the first woman to win a place in the prestigious academy.

The Girls on Track Rising Stars programme was launched by the FIA and the Ferrari Driver Academy, with the intꦑention of finding the best female junior racing talent agedꦑ between 12 and 16.

A total of 40 girls were eventually whittled down to four finalists - Antonella Bassani (14), Doriane Pin (16), Julia Ayoub (15) and Weug, who recently turned 17. The finalists were cut down from eight drivers who participated in the programme’s three-day tr🦋aining camp at the Circuit Paul Ricard.

Of the eight drivers who took t♑o the track in F4 machinery to see how they compared against a benchmark lap time set by Arthur Leclerc, four successful finalists were picked to attend a final training and assessment programme held at the Ferrari Driver Academy headquarters in Maranello.

Ferrari’s young driver programme has acted as a springboard in recent years to♕ Formula 1, with the likes of Charles Leclerc aꦓnd reigning Formula 2 champion Mick Schumacher progressing up the motorsport ladder.

"Being a driver is within the person's DNA, male or female,” said Marco Matassa, head of FDA. “Charles [Leclerc] was the first FDA driver to go from junior to Ferrari. One of the girls scored ꧒the highest overall ranking 𝓰of all our scouting history!"