F1
Alisha Palmowski charges into 2026 with pole and podium in Shanghai
Alisha Palmowski kicked off her 2026 F1 Academy charge in style at the Shanghai International Circuit by taking her first series pole position and a first podium of the new season.
From the start of the weekend, Alisha looked strong, topping Friday’s practice session and then repeating the dominance in the all-important qualifying session. Untouchable throughout, she repeatedly bested her own benchmarks to eventually seal her maiden pole position with a blistering lap of 2:04.182, a whopping four tenths of a second clear of Ferrari-supported Alba Larsen and Audi-backed Emma Felbermayr.
That put the Red Bull racer in eighth place for the start of Saturday’s reverse grid race and after a poor start from Lisa Billard, a clash between Larsen and Felbermayr, costing the Ferrari driver a front wing, and a strong consistent drive, Alisha climbed to fifth at the flag.
A strong start, but the weekend’s major spoils were on offer on Sunday, and for the main race Alisha lined up at the front of the grid.
However, when the lights went out at the start, the Red Bull driver frustratingly bogged down and that allowed Larsen and Felbermayr to sweep past. Alisha settled into third and began to chase after the leading pair. But, with the gaps at the front spreading and Larsen looking comfortable in the lead, there were few opportunities to apply pressure.
Then, on lap 6, opportunity finally knocked when a clash between backmarking Rachel Robertson and Wei Shi brought out the Safety Car and the field closed up.
On the restart it was Larsen who made a mistake. Desperate to carve a gap to the chasing pack, the Ferrari driver carried too much speed into Turn 16 and slid wide, allowing Felbermayr and Alisha to sweep past.
The Red Bull racer went on the attack, and a race-fastest lap put her within touching distance of victory. However, despite piling on the pressure all the way to the flag, there was no way past, and Alisha crossed the line in P2, just 0.252s behind the Audi driver.
Alisha’s strong opening weekend results – including an additional two points for pole and one for the fastest lap of Sunday’s race – mean she leaves Shanghai with 25 points and in second place in the standings, six behind Felbermayr.
Perhaps not the outcome her early weekend dominance deserved but as she concluded after sealing on Friday, in F1 Academy, it’s the long game that counts.
“I’m here to win the series, not just every single race. Obviously, I want to win every single race, but I’ve got to play a clever game as well. If the win is on the cards, then absolutely, we’ll go for it, but equally I just want to bring home as many points for the team as possible.”