Alisha Palmowski took her first victory of the 2026 F1 ACADEMY campaign, leading a Campos Racing 1-2 finish from lights out to the chequered flag in the Montreal Opening Race.
The Red Bull Racing driver made a superb start from pole and drove off into the distance, comfortably building a gap to finish 10.1s clear of teammate Megan Bruce — the largest winning margin in the series’ history.Bruce fended off Mercedes’ Payton Westcott and Mathilda Paatz to claim her maiden podium, with Paatz capitalising on an error from her teammate to finish third for Aston Martin.
Rafaela Ferreira wound up in fourth ahead of Alba Larsen, while McLaren’s Ella Lloyd charged through the field, gaining 10 places to go from P16 to P6.Rookies Kaylee Countryman and Ella Stevens got their first points on the board in seventh and eighth, respectively. Nina Gademan crossed the line in sixth but the Alpine driver was demoted to P9 after receiving a five-second time penalty for failing to follow the Race Director’s instructions when rejoining at Turn 13.
A disastrous start for Emma Felbermayr saw her stall off the line, with the Audi driver eventually recovering to take the final point in 10th.
Countryman is set to start from pole position for the first time in F1 ACADEMY this afternoon, with the lights set to go out for the Reverse Grid Race at 18:05 local time. Until then, you can read a full report of the F1 ACADEMY Opening Race in Montreal on the series’ official website here.
