Alisha Palmowski heads into F1 Academy’s Austin weekend 48 points ahead of Emma Felbermayr. With three races instead of two, there is still plenty at stake before the Las Vegas finale.
Alisha Palmowski arrives at the Circuit of the Americas with the strongest championship lead of her F1 Academy career — and the most demanding weekend of the run-in still ahead. The Red Bull Racing-backed Briton has 136 points, with Audi-supported Emma Felbermayr on 88 and Alpine-backed Nina Gademan third on 71.
Austin is the penultimate round of the 2026 season, running from Thursday 22 to Sunday 25 October. It also features a third race, giving Palmowski a chance to secure the title in Texas and her challengers one last sizeable opportunity to bring her back within reach. The unusual format is just as important to the championship as the 48-point gap.
Qualifying has been Palmowski’s biggest weapon
Four of Palmowski’s five podiums this season have been wins. She swept the Opening and Feature Races in Montreal, then won the Feature Races at Silverstone and Zandvoort. Those high-scoring victories explain much of her advantage, but the groundwork has usually been laid on qualifying day.
The official Palmowski–Felbermayr head-to-head puts qualifying at 5–0 in the British driver’s favour. Palmowski has claimed four of the five pole positions available, including Montreal’s separate Opening Race pole. At Zandvoort she was 0.864 seconds faster than Alba Larsen, an exceptional margin for a closely matched single-make series.
Felbermayr’s results tell a different story. She won the opening Feature Race in Shanghai and the Reverse Grid Race at Silverstone, and has outscored Palmowski in all four Reverse Grid Races this year. Stronger qualifying usually helps Palmowski in the Feature Race but pushes her further back when the leading eight are reversed. Felbermayr has made more of those shorter races, which is why Saturday matters.
Neither title contender covered herself in glory in the Zandvoort Reverse Grid Race. Palmowski stalled at the start and finished 12th; Felbermayr was classified 13th after a time penalty. Palmowski answered with another Feature Race win, ahead of Larsen and Gademan, while Felbermayr finished fifth. The result took the lead to 48 points and put the Austrian under pressure to recover ground in Austin.
Further down the drivers’ standings, Gademan is only 17 behind Felbermayr. Larsen holds fourth with 50 points, followed by Payton Westcott and Megan Bruce on 49 each, with Ella Lloyd seventh on 47. Even if Palmowski stays clear, the race for second and the positions behind it remains finely balanced.
Three races, three grids: what changes in Austin?
Austin’s extra Opening Race follows the same experiment used in Montreal. The series introduced it after the Saudi Arabian round was removed from the calendar, restoring the season to 14 races. It makes Thursday qualifying more complicated: the drivers need two quick laps, not just one.
The Opening Race grid comes from each driver’s second-fastest qualifying lap. Her fastest time establishes the Feature Race grid, while the top eight in that classification are reversed for the Reverse Grid Race. A driver can therefore be well placed for Sunday and still face a difficult Saturday.
All three races are scheduled for 13 laps of the 5.513km Circuit of the Americas. The steep approach to Turn 1, quick direction changes through the Esses and long back straight make it a varied challenge. The field gets one practice session before the 30-minute qualifying session, leaving little opportunity to learn a circuit last used by F1 Academy in 2023.
How Palmowski can win the title in Austin
There are 65 points available to a single driver across Austin. The Opening and Feature Races each offer 25 points for a win, the Reverse Grid Race offers 10, Feature Race pole is worth two and each race has a possible fastest-lap point. The sporting rules restrict fastest-lap bonuses to drivers classified in the top ten of the Opening and Feature Races, or top eight of the Reverse Grid Race, with race-distance conditions also applying.
Las Vegas has another 39 points available. That means 104 remain before racing begins in Austin, so Palmowski cannot be crowned after Friday’s Opening Race. She could clinch the title after Saturday’s Reverse Grid Race or Sunday’s Feature Race, depending on how her rivals fare. If she leaves Austin at least 40 points ahead of every other driver, the title is hers regardless of the Las Vegas results.
The Teams’ Championship has its own stakes. Campos Racing leads with 212 points, 73 ahead of Rodin Motorsport on 139; MP Motorsport is third with 127. Palmowski will be central to Campos’ weekend, but points from her team-mates Megan Bruce and Rafaela Ferreira could be important in their fight with Rodin.
The other British drivers and Austin’s wildcard
Palmowski is one of five British drivers in the field. Campos team-mate Bruce is sixth in the standings on 49 points, McLaren-backed Lloyd has 47 for Rodin, Rachel Robertson has 22 and Ella Stevens four. The three-race format gives all four further chances to score, while the reversed grid could bring different names into contention at the front.
Payton Westcott, Kaylee Countryman and Ava Dobson have home support in Texas. Westcott arrives with momentum after taking her maiden F1 Academy victory in the Zandvoort Reverse Grid Race. Sweden’s 17-year-old Alexia Danielsson also joins the field as the TeamViewer-supported wildcard, driving an entry operated by Hitech.
F1 Academy Austin 2026: UK start times
Austin runs five sessions over four days. The official event timetable converts to the following UK times:
- Thursday 22 October: Free Practice at 6.25pm BST; Qualifying at 10.30pm BST.
- Friday 23 October: Opening Race at 11.50pm BST.
- Sunday 25 October: Reverse Grid Race at 12.00am BST — midnight on Saturday night.
- Sunday 25 October: Feature Race at 5.00pm GMT.
The clock change is important. Saturday’s Reverse Grid Race starts at midnight as Sunday begins in the UK, before British Summer Time ends at 2am. The Feature Race is five o’clock on Sunday afternoon GMT. Our 2026 United States Grand Prix preview has the Formula 1 schedule from the same circuit.
How to watch F1 Academy in the UK
F1 Academy streams qualifying and the races free on its official YouTube channel. Sky Sports F1’s Austin listings also include Thursday practice and qualifying and all three races, with Sky Sports available through eligible NOW Sports memberships. The official fan guide lists F1 TV as another way to follow the weekend.
The first two races finish particularly late for viewers in Britain, but Sunday’s Feature Race is at a more manageable time. If you are watching live, check the broadcaster’s listings for any schedule changes. The championship’s final round follows in Las Vegas on 19–21 November.
Tech Torque Verdict
Palmowski has put herself in a commanding position by being consistently quickest when the biggest points are at stake. Felbermayr has not matched that one-lap pace, but she has been the better of the two when the grid is reversed — precisely where a three-race weekend can become awkward for the championship leader.
If Palmowski comes through Saturday without surrendering much of her advantage, she will be difficult to stop. Felbermayr needs to do more than win a single race to change the picture. Austin is a genuine title test, not simply another stop on the way to Las Vegas.
