‘The biggest weekend of my career’ – Chambers on returning to Miami fighting for the F1 ACADEMY title

Chloe Chambers was the rookie who delivered Haas’ first podium on a Grand Prix weekend in Miami last year, but in 2025 the American is reaching new heights both on and off the track in her second F1 ACADEMY season.

Now backed by the might of Red Bull Ford as she looks to move her title quest forward on home soil, we caught up with Chambers to reflect on how the increased visibility of Formula 1 in the US has shaped her story and the anticipation of the Netflix docuseries, F1: The Academy, hitting screens next month.

READ MORE: F1: The Academy documentary series to launch on Netflix in May

Heading back Stateside

After an action-packed start to the season, which has seen Chambers test and race in China and Saudi Arabia, the 20-year-old has enjoyed a quick pit stop at home in Indiana before heading back to the track in Miami.

The Miami International Autodrome holds very fond memories for Chambers. The site of her first podium in the series, after she turned a P7 start into a P3 finish in the first race of the weekend, the thought of the American streets brings an instant smile to her face.

“I haven't been home since right at the beginning of February,” she admits. “So I'm really excited to have a day at home before heading to Miami. Miami is one of my favourite races! I love the fans, they’re so amazing, especially to all the American drivers.

“They always like to support the home heroes and I feel like Miami is more of my home race than Vegas because I grew up on the East Coast. I grew up in New York, so it's a little bit more like a home race to me. I've raced go-karts in Florida and Miami growing up, so it's really nice to be able to go back to where it all started.”

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Whilst crowds of fans waiting for a glimpse of their favourite Formula 1 driver isn’t anything new, the reception Chambers and her fellow F1 ACADEMY drivers received was unlike anything she or other support series had seen before.

“It was crazy sometimes because we would look out the side of the garage and see so many people,” she continues. “I don't think I've ever had that many people standing in front of my garage before.

“As a driver, all you want to do is drive but, at the same time, having all those fans there for you, wanting to take pictures, get autographs and knowing who you are in general is so cool. I really won't be able to get over it.”

The Drive to Survive effect

Although Chambers' own passion for racing stems from watching F1 alongside her British-born father as a kid, the 20-year-old knows first-hand how the growth of the sport has shifted in recent years. Crediting Drive to Survive for the boom in popularity, she has begun to slowly reap the rewards this visibility has given American drivers.

“Growing up, pretty much none of my friends at school would really know a whole lot about what Formula 1 really was,” Chambers remarks. “You'd have the odd person here and there that would know what NASCAR and IndyCar were, but Formula 1 was very much a European sport.

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“Drive to Survive was a huge part in making Formula 1 so much bigger in the US. Now there are so many people that I see on the street wearing Formula 1-branded clothing.

“I think that in general, motorsport has grown so much in the US and Formula 1 is really making a big presence for itself having three Grands Prix in the US — I think it’s what the US needs.”

She adds: “It definitely benefited me in a big way. In my last couple of years of school, it was usually a bit of a long story to tell my teachers why I was missing school... Now it's really cool to be able to relate a little bit more to my friends and have some of them understand a little more about what actually happens in my world.”

Chambers is no stranger to media attention or standing out from the crowd. Holding a Guinness World Record for the Fastest Vehicle Slalom, the American also became the first woman to achieve a pole position and win in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship in 2023 and is part of Fernando Alonso’s A14 Management Company — alongside Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.

READ MORE: Weug holds her nerve to inherit compelling victory from Chambers in Jeddah Race 2

Yet her world of fast cars and travelling around the world, whilst juggling her online studies in business administration at Arizona State University is about to be revealed like never before. On May 28, F1: The Academy — a documentary series produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine across the 2024 season — hits screens on Netflix.

Witnessing the ‘Drive to Survive effect’ play out, Chambers is aware of how significant this moment will be in catapulting the grid into the mainstream.

“Personally, I don’t like to watch myself,” she says. “In the Netflix documentary [filming], they asked how I felt about being on such a big stage and seeing myself and I said, ‘I'm okay with it as long as I look cool’ and I'm sure they've done that.

“It’s really cool to have F1 ACADEMY on such a main platform. I can almost use it like a name drop type of situation. People ask ‘what’s F1 ACADEMY?’ I don’t know, go watch the Netflix documentary, it’ll tell you everything you need to know.

“It's worked in Formula 1 so well that it has to work for us… as they say, any publicity is good publicity, right? So, even if people are watching it kind of out of spite, it's still bringing in more viewers, it's still bringing in more attention to F1 ACADEMY and I think in the end, it'll be a really positive thing for all of us.”

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Keeping the title within reach

Two rounds down and it’s clear Chambers and her Campos Racing team have become one of the season’s leading title protagonists. Three podiums in four races, alongside her first pole position last time out in Jeddah, have bolstered her hunt for glory.

Third in the Standings on 47 points, she sits 12 points adrift of Ferrari-backed Maya Weug and five points behind Mercedes junior Doriane Pin. Finishing her rookie campaign in sixth last year, Chambers recognises that this is her only chance at a do-over, with the 20-year-old set to depart the series at the end of her maximum two-season stint.

Asked about her title chances, she responds: “We have a really good shot at both titles, the Teams’ and the Drivers’. Shanghai was a good weekend for us all, but as Gaby (Gabriela Parra, Campos Racing’s Team Manager) said, I think it can still be better. My Qualifying performance wasn't where I wanted it to be, but it was still decent for both of the races.

“My goal is to score as many points as possible, and to do that I need to qualify a bit better and be able to start up front for the main race on Sunday. Saturday is still a reverse grid race, so you're still going to put yourself on the back foot if you qualify at the front, but it's more worth it to go for the big points haul on Sunday’s race.”

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With two rookie teammates in Red Bull Racing’s Alisha Palmowski and Racing Bulls’ Rafaela Ferreira, Chambers has come into her own as a leader at Campos. As the anticipation for her home weekend, F1 ACADEMY’s third round and the Netflix series launch builds, she’s ready to take her place in the spotlight.

“When you take everything that’s happening that weekend and the whole weekend in general, it’ll be the biggest weekend of my career,” she concludes.

“I’m also hoping to be going into there fighting for the title. For American fans to see an American fighting for a title in an F1-support series, I think that’ll be cool for the fans to see.”

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