Here is the thing about a wet-to-dry qualifying session: it chews you up, spits you out, and demands perfection right at the death. That is exactly what we got in F1 ACADEMY at Zandvoort, where Red Bull's Alisha Palmowski snatched pole position for the Feature Race with a stunning last-ditch effort.
It was not a clean march to the front, mind you. Palmowski made things properly difficult for herself early on with an unscheduled excursion into the gravel. She also had intense pressure breathing down her neck from both Alba Larsen and Ella Lloyd as the track evolved. But when the clock was down to its final few seconds, she delivered a blistering 1:40.911 lap to rocket straight to the top of the timesheets.
That last-second heartbreak belonged entirely to Larsen. Having dominated the first half of qualifying and held the top spot inside the final five minutes, Larsen looked well on her way to the ultimate prize. She ultimately had to settle for second, losing out by 0.864s. Behind them, Natalia Granada put together her best-ever qualifying performance to lock down third place.
Further down the order, Emma Felbermayr settled for fourth, just ahead of hometown hero Nina Gademan in fifth. Rachel Robertson grabbed sixth place, a performance that also secured the Wild Card driver a fantastic P7 and a front row start for Saturday's Reverse Grid Race. Megan Bruce joins her on that front row, set to start Saturday's race from pole position.
Rounding out the top ten, Payton Westcott qualified in ninth, while Williams’ driver Jade Jacquet took tenth. The action at Zandvoort rolls on with the Reverse Grid Race scheduled for 14:30 local time on Saturday.
