Alisha Palmowski crowned F1 Academy champion with three races to spare

“A dream come true”: Alisha Palmowski was crowned 2026 F1 Academy champion in Austin with three races still to run. The British driver secured the title after building an unassailable advantage over her closest challenger, Emme Felbermayr.

Palmowski first won Friday’s Opening Race at the Circuit, then finished second in the Reverse Grid Race behind Alba Larsen. Those results left her 70 points clear of Felbermayr, with a maximum of 67 points still available. At 20, she is the youngest F1 Academy champion.

As she celebrated, Palmowski praised the people around her. “We did it, guys! It’s incredible. I don’t know what to say. I’m trying not to cry!” she said. She also highlighted the work carried out away from the spotlight: “There’s been so much hard work behind the scenes, not just from myself, but from all the people you won’t see.”

The champion credited the collective effort of Campos Racing and Red Bull Racing, as well as her engineer Diego. “We have worked so hard as a team […] We have left no stone unturned,” she said. Palmowski also said she had learned a great deal with Red Bull over the last 18 months to two years, and had matured both as a driver and as a person. “It’s a dream come true,” she added.

The title comes in her second full campaign, following a 2025 rookie season in which she won the opening race and claimed four more podiums. Previously, former F1 Academy champions Marta Garcia, Pulling and Doriane Pin went on to compete in other categories, including endurance racing and Formula Regional.

Palmowski said she wanted to climb as far as possible up the single-seater ladder, while recognising that motorsport is decided by results. She also set out her belief that, in a car, “the helmet goes on, the car doesn’t have a gender and we are fighting for the same thing”.