Alisha Palmowski successfully took the F1 Academy championship title this weekend in Austin. The Red Bull–backed driver took one win and another podium on Saturday to claim an insurmountable lead in the championship. Feeder Series was on the ground to catch all the action from the weekend.

By Kaylene Lau

Heading into the weekend, Palmowski already had a 48-point lead ahead of second-placed Emma Felbermayr. The British driver backed by Red Bull just had to leave the weekend without having her lead shrink, but rather than rest on her laurels, she sealed the title in the reverse-grid race after finishing second from eighth on the grid. Palmowski had won the opening race on Friday as well, bringing her total win tally to five. Alba Larsen took her first win in the series in the reverse-grid race, while Nina Gademan won race three to take her second win of the season.

Practice and qualifying

Felbermayr was the fastest in the sole practice session of the weekend with a 2:08.949. She was 0.178 seconds faster than Palmowski, while Gademan completed the top three, 0.252s behind Felbermayr.

For many of the drivers, the practice session was the first time they had raced around the track. This was the case for Rafaela Ferreira, who highlighted that not having official testing around the Circuit of The Americas would be one of the key challenges for the weekend.

“I think something very challenging this weekend will be because we didn’t have any tests here,” Ferreira told Feeder Series. “Some people I know have [done] testing on their own. But I think the most difficult thing is because we just have one FP, so we’re going to do around six laps and then we go straight right to quali. It’s quite hard as the track is so long. , wWe have a few laps so it’s going to be around seven laps, the quali. We need to do two laps as well, as there are three races this weekend.

“I think the most difficult part will also be track limits, to be honest. Because if you do track limits, you’re probably going to get your lap deleted and it’s quite hard on this track. I think putting it all together, the track is very long, around two minutes, so to do a perfect lap will be quite difficult as well.”

Megan Bruce, Ferreira’s teammate at Campos, also said that having one practice session would be a challenge for the weekend given the bumpy surface.

“When I went out to FP, I was surprised by how bumpy it is, to be honest. It’s crazy, the bumps,” Bruce said after qualifying on Thursday. “The first sector is a lot of high speed, fast, flowing, which is really fun, but then you get into the second sector and it’s a lot of slow twisty bits, so it’s just a lot of corners. [With] more corners it’s harder to put everything together on one lap.”

In qualifying, Palmowski took pole with a time of 2:07.714, a lap that was initially deleted for track limits but was later reinstated. Palmowski’s time was only 0.098s faster than that of Payton Westcott, who briefly claimed pole while Palmowski’s time was investigated, while Gademan completed the top three. Natalia Granada qualified fourth, with Larsen in fifth and Lisa Billard in sixth.

Williams junior Jade Jacquet qualified seventh, her best position in the series yet. This result came after she became the first woman to win a race in French F4 in the second race at Lédenon.

“First of all, I think we can be happy with the quali, because I had an issue with the engine in the FP, so I didn’t do the FP – I was driving but slow,” she reflected. “It was discovering the track and the car on quali and being as fast as I can, and I did a good job. P7 is a pretty good place to be, P2 for the reverse grid, and I think we can fight for the win and the podium, so that’s pretty cool. To start P6 and P7, we can score some important points, and that’s the goal for the weekend.”

Ferreira qualified in eighth, awarding her reverse-grid pole. Palmowski also secured pole for the first race of the weekend, with her second-fastest time being a 2:07.955.

Race 1

Within seconds, polesitter Palmowski lost the lead to the fast-starting Westcott as they headed down into the first corner, with Palmowski now also being attacked by Gademan. Aa poor exit out of the first corner on Westcott’s part, however, enabled Palmowski to challenge for the lead once again, and she made the move into Turn 7. Behind them, contact between Bruce, Ferreira and Rachel Robertson at Turn 4 brought out the safety car and forced Robertson to retire from the race.

Meanwhile, Westcott went wide at Turn 9, dropping her down to eighth. Gademan moved into second and Alba Larsen into third.

At the restart, Palmowski was able to fend off Gademan for the lead of the race. Gademan was being challenged by a determined Larsen, with the Dane moving into second as they headed into Turn 2 – though she had gone off track while making the overtake.

On lap five, Felbermayr made a move on Granada for fifth at the exit of Turn 12. Behind them, a three-way battle for ninth ensued between Esmee Kosterman, Jacquet and Ava Dobson. Kosterman built a gap between her and Jacquet, while Dobson challenged Jacquet for the final points-paying position.

Larsen began chasing Palmowski up ahead, and the Ferrari-backed driver was getting increasingly close to the Briton until a yellow flag caused by contact between Ella Lloyd and Dobson at Turn 10 brought out the safety car. Dobson was forced to retire from the race.

Meanwhile, Larsen was told to give the second place back to Gademan to avoid a penalty after she overtook the Dutch driver off track.

The safety car was brought back in just before the final lap, and Palmowski did well at the restart to maintain her lead. Larsen gave back the position to Gademan, while Billard and Felbermayr battled it out for fourth behind. Larsen, who was eager to take back second, tried to make a move down the inside of Gademan at Turn 15, but the Dutch driver defended well to keep the position.

Palmowski crossed the flag first to take her fifth win of the season, inching closer to taking the championship title. Gademan finished in second, while Larsen completed the podium.

Billard took her best finish in the series with fourth, while Felbermayr finished in fifth after starting 11th. Granada finished in sixth, with Westcott in seventh, Kosterman in eighth, and Ella Stevens in ninth. Jacquet took her first point in the series in 10th.

Race 2

Ferreira started on reverse-grid pole for the race on Saturday and led the field as they headed into Turn 1. Jacquet slotted in behind her, with Billard just managing to hold onto third after being challenged by Larsen behind.

Down the back straight, Jacquet and Ferreira ran side by side, with the French driver overtaking Ferreira for the lead as they headed into Turn 12. Larsen overtook Billard to take third at the same corner.

Disaster struck when Ferreira and Jacquet made contact at Turn 15. As the Brazilian driver attempted to make a move down the inside for the lead, she tapped the side of Jacquet’s car and sent her spinning. The Williams-backed driver was stranded on track, and as wildcard Alexia Danielsson battled with Mathilda Paatz entering the corner, she had nowhere left to go but into the path of Jacquet’s car. The contact sent Danielsson airborne and both drivers into retirement.

Both Jacquet and Danielsson were able to get out of the car, but after medical evaluations Danielsson was deemed unfit to race on Sunday as she had injured her wrist in the contact.

As a result of the drama ahead, Larsen inherited the lead. The safety car pitted at the end of lap five, and the Dane had a good restart to keep her position. With damage on Ferreira’s car from the opening-lap contact, Billard cruised around the outside to take second.

Palmowski was running in fifth after the restart, with championship rival Felbermayr battling her for the position. The Briton was able to hold her off, while Gademan also joined in on the battle.

Ferreira was now also under pressure from Granada, who overtook her for third at Turn 12. However, the Spaniard was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which she served at the end of the lap. That, plus a move from Palmowski on Ferreira at Turn 16, elevated the points leader into third. Ferreira too received a five-second time penalty for the collision, but Felbermayr nonetheless swept past her for fourth around the outside at Turn 4 a lap later. Gademan and Westcott followed quick succession.

Behind, contact between Lloyd and Robertson at Turn 11 forced the Scottish driver to pit for repairs as they battled for ninth. Stevens was also involved in the battle and ran wide as the pair next to her made contact.

Palmowski, meanwhile, set her sights on Billard up ahead and managed to make the move down the back straight on lap 10 to take second. With that, she also put herself in line to clinch the championship with Felbermayr running fourth.

After 13 laps, Larsen came home first to take her maiden win in F1 Academy, with Palmowski finishing in second and pulling out a 67-point gap, just enough to secure the title. A delighted Billard joined the two on the podium as she bettered her best finish the previous day with her first podium.

Felbermayr finished in fourth, with Gademan in fifth. Westcott crossed the chequered flag sixth, ahead of Bruce in seventh and Lloyd in eighth to round out the points-scoring positions.

Race 3

Starting on pole, newly crowned champion Palmowski didn’t get the best start and was overtaken again by Westcott, who was eyeing a podium on home soil. Gademan, however, had also gotten a great launch off the start and sent it around the outside of Westcott to take the lead of the race.

On the second lap, Palmowski was challenging Westcott for second, but Larsen wasn’t far behind. The Briton got the move done around the outside of Turn 2, while Larsen also passed Westcott down the back straight. The Dane then set her eyes on Palmowski up ahead as the Campos driver began to chase down Gademan. The top three pulled away from the rest of the field, and by lap eight, third-placed Larsen had built a gap of 2.6s over fourth-placed Westcott.

On lap eight, Larsen saw an opportunity to get the move on Palmowski done as they headed into Turn 15. But Palmowski didn’t give up, and the pair went side by side heading into Turn 16. They remained right next to each other through the next few corners until Larsen went wide at the exit of Turn 19 and had to slot in behind Palmowski.

Larsen bided her time until lap 10, when drama ensued. Larsen attempted to pass Palmowski down the inside of Turn 12 but locked up and ran slightly wide, colliding with the newly crowned champion as she rejoined the track. Larsen was stranded in the grass and had to retire from the race, and Palmowski also parked her car in the gravel to retire with right-rear suspension damage. The incident brought out the safety car and promoted Westcott and Granada to the podium positions.

The safety car period ended at the end of lap 12, leaving only one lap to go. Gademan executed the restart perfectly, building a gap between her and Westcott immediately. Granada however was right behind Westcott and putting the pressure onto the American for second.

Even with just one green-flag lap at the end, Gademan finished one and a quarter seconds ahead of Westcott to take her second win of the season. Westcott took her fourth podium of the season on home soil, while Granada completed the top three. After a staunch mid-race defence against Felbermayr, Jacquet came home fourth to achieve her best finish in the series, with Felbermayr fifth. Billard and Robertson battled for sixth on the final lap, with Lloyd, Kosterman and Bruce completing the points-scoring positions.

Palmowski will head to the season finale in Vegas already crowned champion with 172 points. The battle for second in the championship still continues, as Gademan jumps up to second with 119 points, only six points ahead of Felbermayr.

Campos continues to lead the teams’ championship with 251 points, with MP in second with 207. Rodin completes the top three with 171, only two points ahead of Prema.

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Alisha Palmowski, 2:07.714	Payton Westcott, +0.098s	Nina Gademan, +0.515s
Race 1 (13 laps)	Alisha Palmowski, 30:48.056	Nina Gademan, +1.985s	Alba Larsen, +2.510s
Race 2 (13 laps)	Alba Larsen, 30:20.240	Alisha Palmowski, +2.368s	Lisa Billard, +4.079s
Race 3 (13 laps)	Nina Gademan, 29:28.429	Payton Westcott, +1.250s	Natalia Granda, +1.963

Standings	Drivers	Teams
P1	Alisha Palmowski, 172	Campos Racing, 251
P2	Nina Gademan, 119	MP Motorsport, 207
P3	Emma Felbermayr, 113	Rodin Motorsport, 171
P4	Alba Larsen, 76	Prema Racing, 169
P5	Payton Westcott, 76	ART Grand Prix, 68
P6	Natalia Granda, 58	Hitech, 58
P7	Megan Bruce, 52
P8	Ella Lloyd, 52
P9	Lisa Billard, 41
P10	Mathilda Paatz, 35

Additional reporting by Calla Kra-Caskey

Read the previous round’s report here.

Header photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool