We had just gotten used to seeing Lia Block sending it sideways in a rally car, just as her father Ken had done for decades. With a 2023 American Rally Association Open 2WD title on the mantlepiece, it was time to make a step up.
What came next was a step few could have predicted. But Lia was thinking big – just as Ken always did. She has a singular target in mind: reach the absolute peak of circuit racing, Formula 1.
What came after her ARA title was F1 Academy, an official F1 feeder series that features a fleet of Formula 4-specification vehicles and a field of 15 women drivers. She’s a member of the Williams Driver Academy, while the team she races for this year, ART Grand Prix, has an enviable history of developing the world’s best racing drivers: Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon rank among its star-studded list of junior graduates.
This is no hopeful venture into the unknown. The switch from rally to single-seaters may be a steep learning curve but the planning has been meticulous; before her big debut in Saudi Arabia in February, she’d already clocked mileage in Formula Winter Series, an F4-based championship in Spain.
After taking O2WD honours in the ARA in 2023, many expected Block to continue her rallying journey, but she instead pivoted to the circuit and towards F1
She’s at the fourth rung of the single-seater ladder for now. But she’s already determined to push higher – F1 Academy is a stepping stone.
“This isn’t the long-term goal,” Block tells DirtFish. “The F1 Academy championship isn’t what I’m going for. I would like to move up to the Formula Regional European Championship, Formula 3, Formula 2, and eventually F1. It’s all about the long-term goal and what can help me get there.”
That means stepping foot in a rally car has taken a back seat for now. But it’s still very much part of the plan – so long as it fits in around her F1 dreams. And that means rallying in Europe, rather than the Americas.
“Nobody can keep me away from off-road,” Block says. “It’s still part of my life and I really enjoy rally. I’m looking to do some one-off rallies in Europe; maybe do some bucket-list rallies. I’ve done everything I can in the US rally scene, winning the [O2WD] championship, so I’d really like to come over and explore the European side.”
What that looks like in practice remains to be seen; those plans remain very open-ended: “Honestly, [I’ll drive] whatever I can get my hands on. I do want some off-road and some gravel because I’ve been stuck on circuit racing these last couple of months. But some asphalt rallies would be really cool because we don’t have any in the US. Then hopefully I can take my experience from single-seater stuff I’m doing this year and maybe apply it into a road rally or something like that.”
Before thinking about hitting the loose stuff again, there’s her new primary goal to worry about. F1 Academy’s season picks up this week in Miami, her home round of the season.
Block's first F1 Academy outing in Saudi Arabia was a baptism of fire, with crashes in both races taking her out of contention
Redemption is a key goal for the second round of the seven-event championship. Block’s debut in Jeddah was marred by having lap times deleted in qualifying and crashes in both races; the first was a self-inflicted error but the second was pure dumb luck, given Lola Lovinfosse drove directly into Block’s path when the Rodin driver was trying to recover from a spin.
But the upside from the Saudi Arabia opener was raw pace; she was third-fastest in free practice.
“It was really, really nerve-wracking,” says Block of her F1 Academy debut. “Only having maybe 20 days in a car before Jeddah was a really steep learning curve, having to learn everything from the ground up, a new form of motorsport to me and then all the little ins and outs of it.
“I would love to go back and do it over again. It just was a really good experience. This whole year is a learning process for me: what I’ve learned so far is that I have the speed, it’s just about having that experience to be able to use it. Hopefully I can use what I’ve learned from my mistakes in Jeddah, correct them and have a better run in Miami.”
Extreme E taught Block some racecraft, but it's still a different world to the racetrack
One downside of the switch from rallying to single-seaters is seat time. There’s something of a parallel to the World Rally Championship here; rookies stepping up to the top level are heavily restricted on the amount of running they can conduct in Rally1 cars due to testing limitations. Block is running into the same problem with her adaptation to single-seaters.
“The hardest part for me is not being in the car as much as you would be in rallying,” she explains. “You have big gaps [between events] and you only have a free practice, qualifying and then two 30-minute races. It’s a lot less seat time than you would have on a rally weekend. So it’s balancing how much time I get in the car and having to build up that muscle memory and know that I can do it.
“Rallycross and Extreme E definitely helped with racecraft but this type of wheel-to-wheel racing is very meticulous because you can’t touch each other. In rallycross you can give a little bump here and there. But you’re definitely going to end your race if you touch wheels in a single-seater car. So I’m still getting used to that bit of the racecraft.”
It turns out there were signs that Block was going to take this path. Ken Block may have been a legend of off-road motorsport but in the end, it was Lia’s family introducing her to F1 that started it all.
Driving in F1 Academy isn't the end of Block's rallying journey, but she wants to give her F1 shot her all while the opportunity is there
Where does it go next? We won’t find out for a while yet – this year is about learning and nothing more. But it’s clear that Block will be pursuing the F1 dream until she runs out of road.
“It opens up the world of motorsport in a different way, especially on the European side, having grown up watching F1,” says Lia of her single-seater move. “Being able to step back and see all of Williams’ history and be a part of that future is really cool.”
She may yet be part of rallying history too, some way down the line. But that can come later. There’s the small matter of an F1 dream to try and tick off first.
