History was made at the Circuit of the Americas as Alisha Palmowski officially secured the 2026 F1 Academy drivers' championship during a dramatic reverse grid encounter at the United States Grand Prix weekend. Her remarkable consistency throughout the campaign culminated in a title triumph with a race to spare, cementing her status as a rising motorsport star.
The action-packed reverse grid race delivered intense wheel-to-wheel battles right from the start. Alba Larsen drove a brilliant tactical race to claim her maiden F1 Academy victory. Larsen capitalized on early chaos when Rafaela Ferreira and Jade Jacquet made contact on the opening laps, allowing her to sweep into the lead and control the pace until the chequered flag.
Slotting in right behind the race winner was Palmowski, who crossed the line in second place with a 2.3-second gap to safely secure the championship points she needed. Operating under immense pressure, the Red Bull Racing driver managed her tyres and pace expertly to fend off chasing rivals.

Further down the podium positions, Lisa Billard put in a stellar defensive and offensive drive to claim third for ART Grand Prix, finishing 4.0 seconds adrift of the leader. Emma Felbermayr followed closely behind in fourth for Rodin Motorsport, while Nina Gademan rounded out the top five for MP Motorsport.
The points-paying positions were completed by strong drives from Payton Westcott, Megan Bruce, Ella Lloyd, Mathilda Paatz, and Kaylee Countryman. Meanwhile, early incidents unfortunately brought a premature end to the races for competitors like Jade Jacquet, Alexia Danielsson, and Ava Dobson.



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