Rodin Motorsport’s Ella Lloyd and Emma Felbermayr were left to rue a frustrating Qualifying session at the third round of the 2026 F1 Academy season at Silverstone. Lloyd, who qualified P6, and Felbermayr, who qualified P8, admitted that their pace was not on par with the frontrunners of the session, while Wild Card entrant Chiara Bättig stormed to pole position with a 2:01.775. Earlier this year, Lloyd looked comfortably in front and competitive during the in-season testing at the same venue, but just a few months later, the wider picture is very different.
Lloyd: Car did not feel the same “as it did during the test”
Speaking after the session, the McLaren-backed driver said track evolution was less than anticipated after six sessions took place on track between Free Practice and Qualifying. Noting that she started the weekend on the back foot after not feeling fully comfortable with the car in Free Practice, Lloyd believes there was little left in the bag in terms of what they could have achieved.
“The track obviously gripped up a little bit, but I don’t think it was very significant. There was quite a bit of wind and the direction changed from earlier as well, so I was just having to adapt to that.”
“We didn’t really have the best car in Free Practice, which put me on the back foot a little bit just coming in not really expecting what the car’s going to be like and the grip level. I think there was maybe a little bit more in there but not much more.”
“It’s a bit annoying. I topped the times in testing and the car has just never felt the same coming here this weekend as it did during the test.”, she admitted. “That’s kind of a downside, but obviously it’s the best Qualifying of the year so far, so I’ve got to take it as a bit of a positive.”
While the result marked her best Qualifying finish of the season so far, Lloyd knows she has the pace to fight through the field, as she often demonstrated this year.
“I know I can race, I think you’ve seen in all the races until now that I’ve moved forward in every race. I have good starts, so that’s all I can hope for really — a good start to keep it clean and make as many moves as I possibly can.”
Felbermayr: Rodin “need to analyse what happened”
On the other side of the Rodin garage, Audi-backed Felbermayr echoed similar sentiments to Lloyd, noting their lack of competitiveness. Reflecting on her session, the Audi driver said: “Not a clean session. The first outing we had was pretty strong, but the second one was just too slow. The first one felt really good, the second one not so much.”
“I don’t know, we need to analyse what happened. It was really close to P4, within two tenths so it’s not too far off. I got one of my laps deleted, the faster one which is also not optimal. I just need to see and improve for tomorrow.”
Having had her best time deleted due to track limits, Felbermayr looks to capitalise on the opportunity, starting on Reverse-Grid pole later today. Noting that it has made their weekend harder, she believes there are still opportunities to make up places in both races.
“Just having a clean race, trying to improve the pace. For Sunday, I have to make a few places up, so there are some opportunities to overtake here. It’s not ruined the weekend, but definitely a bit harder than I wanted it to be.”
Having led the Drivers’ Standings in the opening rounds of the season, Felbermayr will be hoping to close the gap to championship leader Alisha Palmowski, who sits 25 points ahead of the Austrian driver.
