Here's the thing about championship charges: sometimes you don't need to win the race to take the ultimate prize. Alisha Palmowski has officially been crowned the 2026 F1 Academy champion in Austin after a brilliant drive from eighth on the grid to finish in second place.
Out front, Ferrari driver Alba Larsen executed a stunning race to claim her maiden victory in the series, winning by a margin of 2.3s after having already finished on the podium in each of her previous three races. Reverse Grid polesitter Rafaela Ferreira kept the lead initially, but a collision between the Racing Bulls driver and Jade Jacquet brought out an early Safety Car, with Wild Card Alexia Danielsson also hitting the stricken Williams machine. Larsen pounced on the chaos to take the lead and never looked back.
At the restart, Gatorade driver Lisa Billard surged into second by passing the damaged car of Ferreira around the outside of Turn 1. Meanwhile, the championship fight was well and truly alive further back. Red Bull Racing driver Palmowski entered the weekend with a 63-point advantage over closest rival Emma Felbermayr, starting immediately ahead of the Audi driver in eighth. Both contenders carved their way through the traffic, overtaking Nina Gademan along the way, before a penalty handed to third-place Natalia Granada for a starting procedure infringement promoted Palmowski upward. The Briton then cleared Billard for second, sealing the drivers' title with three races still remaining in the season.
Behind the podium finishers, Felbermayr crossed the line in fourth, followed by Gademan in fifth, and Mercedes representative Payton Westcott in sixth. Megan Bruce took seventh, while Ella Lloyd grabbed the final point in eighth.
With the championship battle now settled, focus shifts immediately to Sunday's Feature Race at 1200 local time. Newly crowned champion Palmowski will start from pole position, hunting down what would be her sixth win of the 2026 campaign.
