The 2026 F1 Academy reverse grid race at the United States GP has been completed, view the full report here.
With the top 8 reversed, Rafaela Ferreira started on pole position, ahead of Jacquet, Billard, Larsen, Granada, Gademan, Westcott and Palmowski.
Alisha Palmowski could win the title in this race after winning on Friday. She started a place ahead of Emma Felbermayr, 2nd in points. Nina Gademan, the only other driver still in contention, needed a remarkable charge to keep herself in it.
On the formation lap, Natalia Granada stopped out of Turn 12. She did get going but despite dropping to the back, she took her grid spot. A penalty was inevitable.
The 2026 United States GP F1 Academy reverse grid race is underway
The top 7 got away in order, while Emma Felbermayr swept around the outside of the Brit to take P8. They went side-by-side in the esses but the Audi backed driver won out.
It all kicked off from Turn 11 onwards. Larsen and Billard had a fierce battle, with the Dane getting ahead on the long straight on the exit. In the fight for P1, Jacquet got down the inside of Ferreira into Turn 12 for the lead.
Safety Car as the top 2 collide
Then heading for Turn 16, the Brazilian tried to return serve but did an overly ambitious move and spun the French driver out of the lead and the race. Wild Card Alexia Danielsson had nowhere to go and went over the front wing of the Williams backed driver. Both got out of their cars unharmed.
Critically for Palmowski, she cleared Felbermayr through that zone where the incident happened as the Austrian got very deep and went off the track. They had both passed Westcott before that in Turns 11 and 14 respectively.
Larsen took advantage and passed Ferreira into Turn 19 for the lead. Billard, Granada, Gademan, Palmowski, Felbermayr and Westcott was the top 8.
Restart on Lap 6
Walking wounded on the restart, Ferreira was swallowed up and dropped to P8 within two laps of the green flag appearing. She got a 5-second penalty for the incident with Jacquet
Granada, who had been P3, got a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for the formation lap infringement. Palmowski moved into P3 as Felbermayr and the Red Bull driver passed Nina Gademan on the restart.
In a big fight for P9, Ella Lloyd hit Rachel Robertson as they both tried to pass Ella Stevens into Turn 11. The latter driver ended up off the track and dropped to P13, with Robertson suffering a broken front wing.
On Lap 10, Palmowski got a tremendous run on Billard out of Turn 11, was in the slipstream and made the move down the inside into Turn 12 for 2nd.
Larsen takes victory as Palmowski wins the championship in 2026 F1 Academy reverse grid race at United States GP
Alba Larsen drove a perfect race to take the victory, her first in F1 Academy. From 8th to 2nd, Alisha Palmowski drove a superb race to claim the title in style. Lisa Billard completed an historic podium as she bagged her first in the series with P3.
Felbermayr, Gademan, Westcott, Bruce and Lloyd completed the points scorers.
2026 F1 Academy reverse grid race at United States GP results
