Red Bull-backed Alisha Palmowski continued on her strong run of form at the third round of the 2026 F1 Academy season in Silverstone, claiming victory in the Feature Race to win on home soil. The 19 year-old converted a front-row start into a lights-to-flag victory, securing his third victory of the season with the result.
Despite missing out on pole position by 0.177s on Friday, Palmowski controlled the Feature Race from the front and remained unbeaten, while Wild Card entrant Chiara Bättig and Emma Felbermayr completed the podium on Sunday.
Reflecting on her race and weekend, Palmowski said: “It’s incredible. This weekend has been a big challenge for us as a team and me personally as well. I just had no confidence in the car to be honest, especially in the beginning of the weekend.”
“In all honesty, it was a miracle that we qualified P2 because of the struggles that we had. The team worked so hard.”, she explained. “We’ve made such a big step forward in the last 12 months that throughout the weekend every lap I did in the car, it seemed to improve and I gained more and more confidence.”
Palmowski details “crucial” start and battle with Bättig
“It’s very difficult to follow and overtake around this circuit, as we saw yesterday in the Reverse Grid Race, so I knew the start was crucial.”, Palmowski said. “I practiced it many times, I was basically practising in my sleep the start procedure but managed to get it right and get the lead off the line.”
“Chiara [Bättig] kept the pressure on the whole way. She didn’t let me breathe, so congratulations to her as well.”
The Red Bull-backed driver highlighted the advantage of running in clean air. While Bättig remained close by and benefitted from a tow in certain sections, Palmowski shared how she was able to build a gap through the high-speed corners and kept her out of overtaking range.
“Having the clean air being out in front and not having the aerowash from the car ahead, the car felt so much nicer. Equally, I was towing Chiara around the whole way, so she was catching in certain areas of the track.”
“But then in the high-speed section in Sector 2, that’s where I was able to break away. She never really got close enough to get an opportunity to overtake. It’s been a big challenge, but I think we’ve learnt a lot as a team across this weekend, so hopefully we can come back even stronger in Zandvoort.”
Winning home race and extending championship lead “a nice cherry on the cake”
Overwhelmed by the atmosphere at Silverstone, Palmowski spoke about how special it was to experience the support from the home crowd and passionate fans, as the visit marked F1 Academy’s first official race weekend at the venue.
“I totally see myself as one of them. I’ve been one of the fans there at 6am every morning waiting to see the cars go past. Now to actually have won on that same weekend, it’s incredible.”
“I’ve actually been staying in my caravan on the site in the BRDC Farm this weekend. It was literally 6:45am when I woke up this morning, I looked outside and everybody was there with their deck chairs already lined up ready to go. The British fans are the best, I’m biased but we’re the best. They’re the most passionate, most supportive fans ever.”
However, the Briton’s latest victory has extended her advantage in the Drivers’ Standings, with Felbermayr currently sitting in 2nd, 30 points behind.
Discussing her increased advantage in the standings, she explained: “That was obviously the main aim for me coming into this weekend. Of course, it’s my home Grand Prix and I really wanted this trophy, really wanted to take the win home.”
“Equally, the main objective was always to maintain or, even better, to extend the Standings lead, which we’ve managed to do. We’ve done both actually, so that’s just a nice cherry on the cake.”
