Alisha Palmowski takes second F1 Academy pole of 2026 in Montréal

Written by Liam Ploetner

Credit: F1 Academy

For the second time, F1 Academy visited the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montréal, Canada, and it was Alisha Palmowski who took pole position for both the Opening and Feature Races, her second pole of 2026.

Red Bull-supported Palmowski was the first to complete a time, but McLaren’s Ella Lloyd quickly moved up to the top by 0.174 seconds. Lisa Billard went third for ART ahead of Campos’ Megan Bruce in fourth and Aston Martin-backed Mathilda Paatz in fifth.

Lloyd and Ferrari’s Alba Larsen both made errors on their second laps, which meant Palmowski, Racing Bulls’ Rafaella Ferreira and Billard were now in the top three, with Bruce fourth and Lloyd fifth.

After 10 minutes, most drivers came back into the pits, but Larsen improved to go second following an excursion at the final chicane. This meant the top ten was Palmowski, Larsen, Ferreira, Billard, Kaylee Countryman, Rachel Robertson - who massively clipped the wall at the exit of turn nine, Bruce, championship leader Emma Felbermayr, Ava Dobson and Lloyd.

With 15 minutes to go, wildcard entry Autumn Fisher moved up from 12th to 11th on her debut.

Bruce went back into second behind Campos teammate Palmowski, emulating the result from last year’s qualifying, which saw Chloe Chambers take pole ahead of Palmowski. Palmowski, Bruce and Ferreira all improved on their times, with a Campos 1-2-3 at the front of the pack. Ferreira had moved into second behind Palmowski, albeit 0.580 seconds back.

The 1-2-3 didn’t last long though, as Payton Westcott progressed to second for Prema. Palmowski continued to improve, showing her speed around the Canadian streets. Paatz moved up to fifth, while Ferreira went second again and Larsen jumped from seventh to sixth, replacing Countryman.

Felbermayr hadn’t been on the pace initially, but the Audi-backed Austrian went sixth with eight and a half minutes left in the session.

Green sectors were lighting up the timing screens. Bruce went third briefly before being displaced by Westcott, Larsen was now in fifth. With seven minutes to go, Palmowski led Westcott, Ferreira, Bruce, Larsen, Paatz, Felbermayr, Countryman, Billard and Natalia Granada.

Palmowski, Bruce and Paatz all continued to lower their laptimes, as Bruce went behind Palmowski onto the provisional front row, and Paatz went fifth, later improving to fourth to surpass Ferreira..

Replays showed Lloyd having a moment at the entry of turn one and on the exit of turn four, and Williams’ Jade Jacquet locking up at turn seven. Lloyd later came into the pits, and didn’t set another lap.

Another improvement for Wescott came, who, along with Countryman, was doing well in their home continent of North America, being in second and ninth.

Esmee Kosterman, similarly to Lloyd and Jacquet, made an error at turn seven and briefly brought out the yellow flag, spinning before getting going again.

Dobson moved back into 10th ahead of Nina Gademan, and Felbermayr jumped ahead of Billard and Larsen to go into sixth. The latter improved though, going fifth. Westcott went off at turn one with a snap of oversteer, but got back onto the track quickly.

Felbermayr was pushing the limits of the track, and improved to fourth ahead of Paatz and Larsen. Gademan crucially improved to eighth, which would be reverse grid pole as it stood. Countryman stole reverse-grid pole from Gademan however, making it two Americans in the top eight positions. 

Palmowski took her second pole of the season, beating Westcott by almost four tenths. Bruce scored her best qualifying result in F1 Academy, with Felbermayr, Paatz, Larsen, Ferreira, Countryman, Gademan and Billard making up the rest of the top ten.