Free Practice for round 5 of the 2026 F1 Academy season at the United States GP in Austin has been completed, view the full report here.
For this weekend, the 17 regular drivers were joined by Wild Card Alexia Danielsson of Sweden. As always, the one-off entrant joins Rachel Robertson and Ava Dobson at Hitech.
As was the case in Montreal, there is an extra race held this weekend. The Opening Race takes place on Friday, with the Reverse Grid contest on Saturday, followed by the Feature Race on Sunday.
It is a home race for Peyton Westcott, Kaylee Countryman and Ava Dobson.
Instant issues strike for Mathilda Paatz in 2026 F1 Academy Free Practice at the United States GP
Unfortunately for Mathilda Paatz, she did no laps due to a technical issue with her PREMA machinery.
A 2:10.992 from Nina Gademan put the Dutch driver on top early on, 0.3s clear of Alba Larsen. She then lowered it to a 2:10.059 on the next attempt, with the Dane staying 2nd but slightly closer at 0.237s away.
In the esses, Alisha Palmowski had a massive slide in Turns 4 and 5. Unsurprisingly, she did a yellow first sector. Alba Larsen had a similar moment later in the session, forcing her to take to the run-off.
The first one into the 2:09s was Alba Larsen as the Ferrari backed driver logged a 2:09.733 to go quickest by 0.326s. Palmowski, Gademan, Ferreira and Westcott was the top 5 halfway through F1 Academy Practice at the 2026 United States GP.
Once Larsen improved to a 2:09.612, the top 2 in the standings came to play. Alisha Palmowski initially went top, before a cracking 2:09.223 put Emma Felbermayr put her 0.266s clear of the points leader.
At Turn 19, Peyton Westcott carried a bit too much speed, lost the rear and spun.
More changes inside the final five minutes
Championship leader Alisha Palmowski responded to the Austrian by clocking a 2:09.127 to go quickest by 0.096s. However, a stonking middle sector from the Audi backed driver saw Felbermayr clock a 2:08.949 to end up fastest.
Gademan pulled out a late lap to go 3rd, ahead of Westcott, Robertson, Larsen, Billard, Granada, Stevens and Ferreira.
