This weekend marks F1 Academy’s Las Vegas GP debut, as well as the conclusion of the 2025 season. Sitting in P5 in the Championship Standings, every point counts. Following her first outing on the Las Vegas street circuit in Free Practice, Palmowski hunts down her maiden pole position. In the single Free Practice session of the weekend, the Brit finished in fifth, setting a 2:08.906.
While Palmowski’s fastest time sat almost a second slower than Championship leader Doriane Pin, she believes the gap to be closer than it appears. She noted, “I really like the circuit,”. The Brit acknowledged that the circuit is a largely different challenge to previous tracks this season. Grip and track temperatures being a large factor.
With lap times building constantly, lap after lap, Palmowski is confident heading into Qualifying. She noted that there is more time to be found, and believes she is far closer than the timesheets showed.
“It’s a very different challenge to everything else that we’ve had this whole season. The grip levels are a lot, lot lower with the lower temperatures, so it was very slippery out there on track. Just building up lap by lap. We’ve got a lot more time to unlock, so I’m actually really confident heading into Qualifying. I think we’re a lot closer than what the timesheets actually showed at the end of Practice, so I’m quietly confident.”
A key challenge Palmowski found in Free Practice is the braking. She acknowledged that this would only get tougher as the weekend goes. She stated: “The biggest challenge for me that I found in Practice, which is only going to get harder, is the braking,”. The Brit added that judging the braking point, and braking pressure is tough.
Palmowski also spoke on how easy it is to lock up, and with tyre temperature lost down the straights, it continues to be a hurdle. This will be an aspect she will be focusing on improving, noting that everyone is in the same position as her.
“Judging the braking point itself, how hard you actually hit the initial peak brake pressure. It’s so easy to lock up and we lose that much tyre temperature down the straights with them being so long, so that’s going to be tricky. That’s something I’m going to be focusing on, trying to improve but we’re all in the same boat.”
With the season wrapping up this weekend, this remains Palmowski’s final chance at pole position. When asked about her chances for pole, she remarked: “I hope I’m in the fight!”. While her confidence is high, she does believe the session will be challenging, with strengths arising at the session’s conclusion.
“I think it will be very challenging and I think the best laps are definitely going to be towards the end of the session. Naturally, everybody will be learning throughout the whole run. I think it will literally be a last lap shootout pretty much. We’re going to be on our toes the whole session. It’ll be a stressful half an hour, but I’m quietly confident.”
