Alisha Palmowski claims the F1 Academy title
In F1 Academy we head into the fifth round in COTA with three races instead of two with changes in the championship very likely and almost all of the grid never racing here. So who would come out on top and would Alisha Palmowski claim the championship?
Opening Race
As the lights went out with championship leader Alisha Palmowski on pole and a home race for Mercedes backed driver Payton Wescott starting alongside her. Wescott momentarily took the lead from Alisha Palmowski with both of them having an intense wheel to wheel battle through the first few corners of the first lap before a snap of oversteer unfortunately saw Payton Wescott drop down out of the podium places and Palmowski retaking the lead. As this happened, out of Turn 9 Robertson went for a bold move down the inside of Ferreira leading to a safety car deployment.
Racing resumed on Lap 3, we got going again with Palmowski having a great launch out of the final corner and creating a gap behind her with Nina Gademan behind. Gademan under pressure from Alba Larsen who went round the outside of turn 1 and unfortunately went off track leading to her giving the position back further on in the race. Fighting for points, Kosterman and Jacquet went side by side with the middle of the pack all very close together and with changes in the championship likely who would come out on top?
On Lap 10, there was contact between Dobson and Lloyd leading to another safety car and when we got going again on the final lap, Alba Larsen put pressure on trying to make her way into second place from Gademan with Alisha Palmowski winning the race and gaining 15 points over her closest rival Emma Felbermayr meaning she could win the championship if she was five points clear of her by the reverse sprint race. The podium closed off with Nina Gademan second and Alba Larsen close behind to take third. So could Alisha win it all in the Sprint race with her starting eighth?
Reverse Sprint Race
With Ferreira and Jacquet starting on the front row, we saw both of them get away well with both of them maintaining their positions with the top two in the championship Palmowski and Felbermayr side by side through the first few corners trying to gain positions. Jacquet tried to overtake Ferreira for the lead with contact made between the race leaders and wildcard Danielsson having no space for an overtake on Paatz and ending up with her crashing into Jacquet and unfortunately the wildcard out for the rest of the weekend due to injury from this crash. Before the safety car came out, Larsen would take the race lead off Ferreira but could she hold on?
Racing resumed on Lap 6, we got going again and Ferreira with damage started dropping positions with Lisa Billard now second and Felbermayr and Palmowski having another battle with the British driver managing to hold on with small contact between Gademan and Felbermayr during this battle. Ferreira and Felbermayr had a battle for fourth with Felbermayr trying to hang on for second in the championship and with Ferreira having damage, Felbermayr made an easy move round the outside to try to catch up to Palmowski again. Further back we saw contact between the British drivers of Lloyd, Robertson and Stevens with all three managing to hold on to their positions. Alisha Palmowski trying to claim the championship, went for a move on Lap 10 for second position on Lisa Billard trying to gain those five points she needed to win the championship from Felbermayr and needing to hold on to her position for the next three laps. Alba Larsen ended up with her first win in F1 Academy and Alisha Palmowski with an emotional podium and claiming the F1 Academy championship and becoming the youngest ever F1 Academy champion! The podium rounded off with Lisa Billard coming home in third.
Feature Race
For the feature race, we had the same front row as the opening race with new champion Alisha Palmowski on pole and Payton Wescott starting second who had a brilliant getaway off the line before Nina Gademan made a beautiful move from third round the two cars ahead of her to take the lead of the race around Turn 1. Throughout Lap 2 we saw Payton Wescott and Alba Larsen battling for the final step on the podium with Larsen taking the place.
However, on Lap 7 with confidence after her first win in the reverse grid race, Larsen attempted to make a move on Palmowski for second leading to an amazing wheel to wheel race throughout the next few laps leading to small contact on Lap 8 with Jacquet and Felbermayr further back battling for sixth place and Jacquet fighting for her highest position ever in F1 Academy and maintaining her sixth position.
With the battle between Palmowski and Larsen continuing into Lap 10, we saw contact between Larsen and Palmowski leading to both of them out of the race and a safety car deployed. This ended up with Gademan winning with Payton Wescott and Natalia Granada on the podium with her. The Williams backed driver Jacquet also ended up with her highest finish of fourth and jumped up positions in the championship with race winner Gademan stealing second from Felbermayr in the championship and Alba Larsen and Wescott on the same amount of points tied fourth in the championship. So as Round 5 of the F1 Academy championship comes to an end, who would find themselves on top for the final round of the championship in the tricky street circuit of Las Vegas?
Article Written by Catherine Rammelt ©️ Catherine Rammelt 2026
