Austin, 24 October 2026: Britain’s Alisha Palmowski has won the 2026 F1 Academy championship, sealing the title with three races to spare at the Circuit of The Americas during the United States Grand Prix weekend.
The 20-year-old, who races for Campos Racing, finished second in the Reverse Grid race after climbing from eighth on the grid. She arrived in Austin with a 48-point lead, and the result put the title out of reach. She is the first driver from the Red Bull Academy Programme to win F1 Academy, the all-women series that runs on Formula 1 weekends.
Four wins in her second season
Palmowski began 2026 with pole position and second place at the opening round in Shanghai. In Montreal she took pole again and won two of the three races. She added a third win in the Feature Race at Silverstone, in front of her home crowd, and a fourth in the Zandvoort Feature Race. She reached Austin with four pole positions and five podiums.
In her rookie season in 2025 she won the Reverse Grid race on her series debut in Shanghai, scored four podiums and finished fifth in the standings with 73 points.
Her route to the title started in karting in 2018. She was twice Junior Vice Champion in the Daniel Ricciardo Series, in 2020 and 2021, and scored 10 podiums in the Ginetta Junior Championship. In 2024 she was named a BRDC Rising Star and finished runner-up in the GB4 Championship with three wins, two poles and 11 podiums, before a wildcard F1 Academy outing in Lusail where she finished fifth. Red Bull signed her ahead of the 2025 season.
‘My dad was my mechanic’
“It’s incredible. Honestly, I don’t know what to say. I’m just trying not to cry,” Palmowski said.
“I started racing when I was eight or nine years old and it was just me and my parents. My dad was my mechanic, and my mum came to every single race I’ve ever done. They’ve made so many sacrifices and really put their lives on pause to allow me to live my dream. I’m just so glad to repay them.”
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said she had shown “exceptional talent, a strong work ethic and a relentless desire to improve” since joining the team two years ago.
