F1 Academy started its 2026 season in Shanghai this weekend, with Alisha Palmowski taking her first pole position in the series, Nina Gademan winning the first race of the season and Emma Felbermayr taking her second single-seater victory. Feeder Series reviews everything that happened. 

By Kaylene Lau

For only the second time in series history, the Shanghai International Circuit hosted the season opener of F1 Academy. Pre-season testing took place at the track in February, meaning that all the drivers had some experience with the circuit. 

Gademan won Saturday’s reverse-grid race with a lights-to-flag victory to take her second win in the series. Felbermayr, starting from third, won Sunday’s race and leaves Shanghai as the championship leader. 

Practice and qualifying

Campos Racing’s Alisha Palmowski set the fastest lap time in the sole practice session of the weekend with a 2:04.550, 0.467 seconds ahead of MP Motorsport’s Alba Larsen. Prema Racing’s Payton Westcott rounded out the top three with a 2:05.041 in her first practice session in the series. 

In qualifying, Palmowski took her first pole position in the series by setting a 2:04.182, 0.403s faster than second-placed Larsen. Rodin Motorsport’s Felbermayr rounded out the top three in qualifying with a 2:04.671. Westcott was originally classified in sixth, but it was later determined that her best lap time had been incorrectly deleted for an alleged track limits violation. The Mercedes-backed driver therefore qualified in fourth with a 2:04.680. 

With ten minutes to go in the session, ART Grand Prix’s Kaylee Countryman stopped on track down the back straight, causing a red flag. She was able to get going again but was unable to do another lap after returning to the pits. 

MP’s Gademan qualified eighth, giving her reverse-grid pole for Saturday’s race. 

Race 1

Gademan, starting from pole, got a good launch off the line to lead into Turn 1. Lisa Billard, who started from third, had a poor start, dropping to seventh. Rafaela Ferreira took the opportunity to slot into third as Billard then came under pressure from Palmowski, who passed her for seventh at Turn 8. Behind them, as Ella Lloyd and Ava Dobson fought for ninth, Megan Bruce closed in on the back straight and overtook Dobson for 10th heading into Turn 14. 

On lap three, Palmowski attempted to overtake Larsen for sixth down the inside of Turn 14, but the Ferrari junior defended her position. Meanwhile, Mathilda Paatz had to pit for a new front wing after making contact with wild card driver Shi Wei while disputing 17th. 

On the seventh lap, Larsen was fighting Felbermayr for fifth, but heading down into Turn 3, the Dane made contact with the rear of the Audi junior’s car. Larsen’s front wing came loose a few corners later, and Billard and Lloyd passed her on track before the safety car was deployed to retrieve her front wing. Larsen headed back to the pits only after the safety car period ended, and dropped to the back of the field. 

Gademan maintained the lead after the safety car restart on lap nine, leading Natalia Granada and Ferreira. At Turn 14, Westcott tried to make a move on Ferreira for third, but the American had Felbermayr hounding her and ultimately lost the position heading into Turn 2. Westcott was not giving up, however, and tried to take the position back at Turn 6 but ran wide, which opened the door for Palmowski to overtake her for fifth at the next corner. Billard tried to make a move on Westcott as well for sixth but could not do so and fell into the clutches of Lloyd, who overtook her at Turn 11.

Dobson, who was running in ninth, began to put pressure on Billard as Lloyd muscled past her, but she was also being challenged for ninth by her Hitech teammate Rachel Robertson, who overtook her at Turn 14. A three-way battle ensued between Dobson, Billard and Robertson and Dobson came out ahead at the first corner, but a lock-up at the next corner gave eighth place back to Billard. Robertson saw an opportunity to capitalise on Dobson’s mistake and overtook her again at Turn 6 with a dive down the inside, while Ella Stevens joined in on the battle. 

Felbermayr was still challenging Ferreira for third, meanwhile, and the Austrian driver overtook the Brazilian with a switchback move at Turn 6 on the 13th and last lap to take the final step on the podium. Gademan took a lights-to-flag victory, while Granada finished second to reach the podium on her F1 Academy debut. Ferreira finished fourth, with her teammate and race two polesitter Palmowski behind her. Westcott finished the race in sixth, with Lloyd in seventh and Billard in eighth rounding out the points scorers.

Race 2

Starting from second on the grid, Larsen got a good launch and overtook Palmowski immediately. Palmowski was challenged for second by Felbermayr as the two headed into Turn 1, and Felbermayr came out ahead. Westcott also tried to make a move on Palmowski at Turn 3, but the Briton defended her position.

Behind them, Granada made contact with the rear of Ferreira’s car at the exit of Turn 14 as she battled Gademan for sixth. The Spaniard’s front wing came loose and she pitted for repairs, dropping her to the back of the field. With Granada pitting, Billard closed on Ferreira as she sought to take sixth, with Lloyd not far behind. Heading into Turn 2, Lloyd in eighth saw an opportunity and overtook both Billard and Ferreira down the inside, moving up to sixth.

Out front, Larsen began building a gap between her and Felbermayr, which was up to 2.1 seconds at the start of the third lap. Felbermayr, Palmowski and Westcott were in a three-way battle for second, with Felbermayr defending her position brilliantly. 

On lap five, Jade Jacquet made contact with Esmee Kosterman on the exit of Turn 14, bringing out the safety car. Both drivers retired from the race, and Jacquet was given a five-place grid drop that she will serve in her next F1 Academy race. 

The safety car period ended at the end of lap eight, with Larsen in the lead – but as she exited the final corner, she ran wide and went into the gravel. This handed Felbermayr the lead of the race, while Larsen dropped to eighth, with Bruce hot on her heels for the rest of the ninth lap. 

Behind them, Robertson ran wide into the gravel at the final corner and dropped to the back of the field. She made a move to overtake Granada at Turn 14 a lap later but locked up and made contact with Shi, bringing out the yellow flags. Granada got away unscathed, but Shi had to retire her car. Robertson was given a five-place grid drop penalty for the next race. 

With one lap to go, Palmowski began challenging Felbermayr for the race win, but the Austrian fended her off to take her second single-seater victory, with Westcott completing the podium on her debut weekend. Race one winner Gademan finished fourth, with Lloyd in fifth and Ferreira in sixth. Billard finished seventh, Larsen eighth, Bruce ninth andDobson 10th. 

Felbermayr now leads the standings with 31 points, ahead of Palmowski with 25. Gademan rounds out the top three with 22. Rodin lead the teams’ championship with 44 points, with second-placed Campos just four points behind. MP sits in third with 26, tied on points with reigning teams’ champions Prema. 

The next round of F1 Academy is set to be in Montréal in late May following the cancellation of the round at Jeddah, announced over the weekend. 

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Alisha Palmowski, 2:04.182	Alba Larsen, +0.403s	Emma Felbermayr, +0.489s
Race 1 (13 laps)	Nina Gademan, 28:49.109	Natalia Granada, +0.624s	Emma Felbermayr, +2.553s
Race 2 (13 laps)	Emma Felbermayr, 29:19.520	Alisha Palmowski, +0.252s	Payton Westcott, +0.872

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	Emma Felbermayr, 31	Rodin Motorsport, 44
P2	Alisha Palmowski, 25	Campos Racing, 40
P3	Nina Gademan, 22	MP Motorsport, 26
P4	Payton Westcott, 18	Prema Racing, 26
P5	Rafaela Ferreira, 13	ART Grand Prix, 7
P6	Ella Lloyd, 13	Hitech, 1
P7	Natalia Granada, 8
P8	Lisa Billard, 7
P9	Alba Larsen, 4
P10	Megan Bruce, 2

Header photo credit: Audi Revolut F1 Team