Alisha Palmowski has entrenched herself as a driver to watch this F1 Academy season. The 18-year-old made her debut in late 2024 as a Wild Card entry for Round 6 in Qatar. The Campos Racing driver currently lies fifth in the F1 Academy standings with 53 points.
The talented racing driver has stormed to points every race of the season thus far, with the exception being Race 1 in Canada. Palmowski has not only shown great talent, but also an amazing consistency throughout the year. The Red Bull Academy driver has honed her skills through experience, explaining: “This is my 10th year in racing. I started off in 2015, just before I was nine years old, so it feels like my whole life!”
The moment she wanted to be a racing driver
The British driver has achieved amazing accomplishments in racing. Notably, grabbing the Junior Vice Champion title in the Daniel Ricciardo Series for two consecutive years, in 2020 and 2021. The following year, Palmowski took 10 podiums in the Ginetta Junior Championship, before becoming the BRDC Rising Star in 2024.
With a long list of accomplishments, the Red Bull Academy driver has many incredible memories from racing. However, she still remembers the first moment she realized this is what she wanted to do, expressing:
“It’s a funny story! It was from a TV advert for the Formula 1 game, which is really funny because I never realised that I could be a racing driver just due to the lack of female representation. I’ve always been a huge Formula 1 fan but had never realised that it was an avenue that was potentially open to me.
“I’d never even heard of a PlayStation or anything, so I asked my parents ‘what’s this about? Could I get this?’ and they said ‘yeah, you could even be a racing driver’ and I was like ‘oh, really?’. I actually realised that night that I could do this and that’s when I really wanted to get involved.”
The 18-year-old acknowledging the lack of representation for women in Formula 1 in prior years truly helps explain why she was not aware racing was a possibility for her. With the magnificent effort of Susie Wolff, managing director of F1 Academy, the possibilities for women in motorsport opened doors. Now, Palmowski herself is becoming someone for little girls and women to look up to, becoming the representation she longed for in her younger years.
Fun facts beyond the track
While many know Palmowski for her on track endeavors, F1 Academy wanted to showcase the person behind the helmet as well. The British driver was asked a series of fun facts about herself. As racing drivers must adhere to a strict diet for most of the year, the Brit was asked about her favorite cheat meal.
“I love hotdogs, but nothing on the hotdog — no mustard, no ketchup, just the hotdog. A few chips as well, but I’m an elite athlete so I don’t normally have that obviously!”
Additionally, the Campos driver answered a question regarding hobbies outside of racing, in which she humorously responded:
“I hate this question because I’m actually quite a boring person! My life just revolves around racing — everything I do is racing-related. It’s not really a hobby but I’ve got a little dog called Pip.
“He’s a 12-year-old Shih Tzu and I’m an only child so he’s like my brother that I never had. I go everywhere with him, I walk him every day and just play with him. I don’t do anything else, just annoy Pip. That’s it, I can’t give you anything more exciting than that because there’s nothing else. A bit of karaoke here and there.”
Unsurprisingly, as she has a dog, the driver continued on to reveal that she prefers dogs over cats, simply stating: “Dogs. I’m a dog person.”, when asked.
Best part of racing
The young driver has proved herself to be a great driver with plenty skills. In Round 1 in China, the Brit claimed her first F1 Academy victory, and has consistently been in the points since. With solid pace and effort in Qualifying, and strong race performance, the Red Bull Junior has shown amazing strengths this year.
The Campos driver appeared hungry for more victories and aims to finish the season off strong, expressing the best part of racing for her:
“I love the feeling of success. When you win a race, there’s no other feeling like it. There are no words to describe it. The big thing for me is the driver seems to get a lot of the limelight. They’re the ones that go up to the podium, they get all the praise but actually there’s a whole team of people behind the driver that are the whole reason we’re there and succeeding.
“It’s not only the feeling of satisfaction for yourself and doing yourself proud but also doing the whole entire team behind you proud as well because so many people put so much effort into success so I’d say the feeling when you win is the best.”
Entertainment outside of the track
While Palmowski decided she wanted to be a racing driver from a young age, she was asked about her career aspirations if she was not racing, in which she candidly responded:
“I’d like to be a singer but I haven’t got the vocal skills! I do genuinely think I would have been a musician of some sort, I don’t know how because I’ve got no skills around that, but I’d love to have been maybe not a singer, but a piano player or learn to play a musical instrument just because I love music. I should say an engineer or something like that involving motorsport but no.”
Palmowski continued on to be asked a series of questions regarding her life outside of the racing track. Firstly regarding school and if there were any subjects she was good at, before diving into discussion about her favorite tv show.
“I was quite good at maths actually. I liked business and computer science — quite technical subjects, I did think about being an engineer but I wasn’t any good at physics, so that went out of the window. I’d say more of a musician for me rather than an engineer. I’m not clever enough.”
“That’s a great question! I like all sorts but what’s my favourite? I love Strictly Come Dancing! This is a new love I’ve uncovered in like the last year. Love The Traitors as well on the BBC, that’s awesome. I can’t dance, I’ve got no interest in dancing, I can’t do it, don’t know anything about it but I feel like an expert when I watch Strictly, I judge all of them, tell them they’re doing it wrong. I don’t know how to do it myself but I love a bit of Strictly.”
“(Asked if she’d rather be a faithful or a traitor) Faithful because I’d just burst out laughing if I was a Traitor. I’d let it go straightaway. You know Linda, how she straight away turned her head? That would be me!”
Pre-race routine
After revealing her go-to karaoke song, the driver described her pre-race routine, or the lack of one. While some drivers are superstitious or adhere to a strict pre-and-post-race routine, Palmowski appeared more relaxed about the physical aspect of preparation.
“My go-to karaoke is Greatest Love of All by Whitney Houston. I can’t sing, I don’t have the vocal ability to sing that song, but what I lack in vocal ability I make up for with passion when I perform the song. I’m versatile, I can do Take That as well but my go to is Whitney!”
“There isn’t one, to be honest. We do a very intense warm-up with Sarah Harrington (the Red Bull Academy Programme Manager). It’s like a full-on workout, so that’s challenging. What I like to do is just take myself away and have some time to myself just to get myself in the zone. I use visualisation a lot as well to mentally prepare more than physically prepare — that’s what I find helps me a lot. I just need time to myself to get rid of any distractions and get focused.”
Palmowski continued on to be asked if she is usally five minutes early or five minutes late, in which she revealed that she needed to be honest as her mum was sat in the room, stating:
“I’d like to say five minutes early but my mum’s sat behind me, so I’m normally five minutes late. I’m normally actually on time — if you say you’ve got to arrive at 09:00, I’ll walk in at 09:00. That’s how I roll, to the minute. That’s what I aim for anyway, sometimes it’s late but I aim to be on time.”
The support of Red Bull Racing
The F1 Academy season still has three rounds to go, with Round 5 in Zandvoort being the nearest one. As Palmowski lies fifth in the standings, it is undoubtable that she will give it everything to finish even higher and secure more points the last three rounds. With much more to look forward to, the Brit revealed her excitement for the last race weekend in Vegas, stating:
“I’ve got to say Las Vegas. It’ll be a bit of a bittersweet weekend because it’s obviously the end of the season but I think the whole event will just be a really cool atmosphere and great to be involved in. The temperature as well. It’s super hot for a lot of the rounds this year so I’m looking forward to it just being freezing — it’ll be like being at home so I think that’ll suit me more. I’m looking forward to this weekend (in Jeddah) genuinely as well. I really loved this track in testing so looking forward to getting back out on track here.”
Furthermore, the Red Bull Academy driver was asked about the highlight of her career thus far. The 18-year-old gratefully expressed:
“Securing an F1 ACADEMY seat and joining the Red Bull Racing Pepe Jeans Academy Programme. It’s an opportunity I never thought I’d get in my career. The support network that I now have around me is unparalleled, to be honest. The access that I’ve got from Red Bull to the facilities in Milton Keynes, the driver development support that I’ve got, the media support, the fitness support — it’s incredible. I’d say the opportunity I’ve got right now this year is the highlight for me.”
Having the support of a Formula One team as successful as Red Bull Racing is a fantastic achievement. If the Brit continues to impress as she has done thus far this year, the possibility of more open doors in the future seems bright.
Inspiring drivers and naming cars
As all young drivers, Palmowski has been a huge fan of plenty of F1 drivers and been inspired by them for years. When asked who she would pick if given the chance to race against any driver in history, the Brit excitedly responded:
“You’ve put me on the spot. I’m a huge fan of Niki Lauda. He was obviously an incredible driver. I actually did meet him at his last ever F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone in 2018. I was in the paddock, so I actually did meet him which was incredible. The perseverance and character that he had, he achieved the greatest sporting comeback in history. It would have been amazing to compete against somebody with such mental strength like that. That would have been awesome.”
On a different note, the young driver confessed she names her cars, stating:
“I do, I’ve been waiting for this question! It’s Gary, because my road car is called Barry, so they’re Barry and Gary. If Gary Barlow comes to a round, I can meet him and he can meet Gary.”
Advice for young girls in motorsport
As Palmowski previously mentioned, at a young age she found that there was a lack of female representation in motorsport. This lack of representation makes it difficult for girls to realize that they do have a space in the sport and can be hugely successful racing drivers if they put their mind to it. Palmowski candidly expressed her advice to young girls with a desire to get into racing.
“Some advice that I’d give to young girls would be to never give up and to persevere. It sounds like the total obvious answer to say but in motorsport there are many highs and many lows.
“The highs are extremely high, the lows are extremely low but there are often many more lows than highs. I think it can be easy to lose motivation and feel that the world is against you. If you put the hard work in behind the scenes then luck will start to come your way and it will get better. Never give up and keep going.”
Lastly, the Campos driver confessed that her ambition for the 2025 season was to win more. Her competitive spirit and aim for more clearly shows through her excitement for the thrill.
“To win more! I’d love a win here this weekend. It was obviously great to start the season off with a win but I’m feeling more confident coming into this weekend. The track suits my natural driving style a lot more. Throughout testing we had a much nicer balance in the car that personally suited myself, so if we can get that balance again then I’m sure we can be up there in the fight for the win again this weekend. That’s the aim.”
