Ella Lloyd enters the summer break of her second F1 Academy season sitting fifth in the 2026 Drivers’ Standings with 39 points. The McLaren backed driver was arguably last year’s top rookie, having taken victory in Jeddah and finishing fourth in the standings. The consistency that defined that debut campaign has remained a feature of her 2026 season, but a return to the top step has so far eluded her as Alisha Palmowski‘s dominant title charge has set a standard that has been difficult for anyone to match.
A clean but disappointing start in Shanghai
Lloyd got her 2026 F1 Academy season underway with a composed opening weekend in Shanghai. A ninth place finish in the Reverse Grid Race was followed by a sixth in the Feature Race, giving her 13 points from Round 1. It was not a headline grabbing start, but it was the kind of clean, points-scoring weekend that has become the hallmark of her racing.
Lloyd shows front-runner pace in Montreal
The Montreal round introduced a three-race format for the first time and gave Lloyd further opportunities across the weekend. She made the most of them in the Opening Race, finishing fifth for eight points. The Feature Race added two more with a ninth-place finish, keeping her season moving in the right direction.
The Reverse Grid Race was more difficult. Lloyd finished 13th in the final classification after receiving a five-second post-race time penalty for causing a collision with Robertson. It was a costly result that ruined what could have been a productive second race of the weekend. It left her without points from a chaotic race that saw multiple incidents and penalties affect several drivers.
Silverstone delivers Lloyd’s strongest round of the 2026 F1 Academy season
Silverstone proved to be Lloyd’s best round of the year so far, even if it did not start that way. Qualifying left her frustrated, with Lloyd admitting the car never felt the same as it had during the in-season test at the same venue earlier in the year. She qualified sixth, which did not reflect the pace she had shown in testing.
The races, however, told a different story. Lloyd moved forward in both, finishing seventh in the Reverse Grid Race and sixth in the Feature Race to collect 16 points across the weekend. It was the clearest demonstration yet of what she can do on race day, and a reminder that her race craft remains one of her strongest assets.
What the second half of the 2026 F1 Academy season holds for Lloyd
Lloyd carries 39 points into the second half of the 2026 F1 Academy season, level on points with Megan Bruce but behind her on results. Three rounds remain at Zandvoort, Austin, and Las Vegas, and improving her qualifying pace will be the priority. Silverstone showed what she can do in the races, but starting further up the grid would give her a much cleaner path to the front. A victory is the obvious next target, and the ability is clearly there to achieve it.
