F1 Academy Preview: Austin
The 2026 F1 Academy season is into its final leg taking place in the United States of America, kicking off at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin with plenty of action in store.
Alisha Palmowski heads into the weekend with a comfortable lead in the championship, 48 points clear of second-placed Emma Felbermayr. With four wins so far, Palmowski is the favourite to secure the title but will need a clean weekend to tighten her hold on the trophy.
This weekend also gives the F1 Academy grid points-scoring opportunities, with three races as part of the series’ new weekend format for the earlier Montreal round and this Austin round.
With a bumper weekend ahead of us, packed with three races, here’s your guide to all the storylines as we go into the penultimate round of the championship.
Key Stories
The most exciting narrative this round will be whether Palmowski can secure the title at this round, with her earliest chance being the Reverse Grid Race or Feature Race. However, with 104 points still on the table and Felbermayr determined to put up a fight, the Red Bull driver will need a lot of factors to swing her way for an early celebration.
Palmowski has momentum on her side with her latest Zandvoort win, while Felbermayr has been the more consistent driver across the Reverse Grid and Feature Race head-to-head matchups; leading Palmowski with 0-4 and 4-5 respectively.
Can Palmowski cap her record-breaking season with the ultimate prize or will Felbermayr snatch it away during the final stretch? This crucial weekend will give us the answers.
Elsewhere on the grid, our latest Wild Card Driver is Swedish driver Alexia Danielsson, who took part in the 2026 edition of the F1 Academy Rookie Test in Navarra, topping the afternoon session and going second-fastest overall.
Danielsson had also participated in the 2025 Rookie Test, finishing sixth-fastest in both sessions, showing clear improvement in her performance this year with the step up. Also in 2025, the 17-year-old won on debut in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Scandinavia.
This year, Danielsson is participating in the Formula 4 CEZ Championship for STEP Motorsport and will make her F1 Academy debut in Austin representing the series’ Official Partner TeamViewer in the Hitech-operated car.
Some other news coming into this weekend includes the announcement of Alba Larsen’s return to the series in 2027 for a third consecutive year in F1 Academy. The Ferrari driver’s return is in accordance with a rule change made official last year, wherein drivers whose performance has exponential potential for more growth are granted an additional year in the series, bypassing the limit of two years.
Larsen is the first driver to announce a return to the series with this rule change, and will be coming back to the grid continuing her partnership with Ferrari.
Track Preview
The Circuit of the Americas is a vibrant venue with a track that’s both unmistakable and recognisable in its layout, having taken inspiration from famous corners around the world such as Silverstone’s Maggotts and Becketts for Turns 3 through 6 and Turns 12 to 15 not unlike Hockenheim’s iconic stadium section.
The circuit has been visited by F1 Academy once before in the inaugural season of 2023, meaning that this is still a completely new venue for our 2026 grid.
With only one practice session for drivers to get up to speed with the sweeping layout, it will be critical for them to make those 30 minutes count before the challenge of qualifying and three races.
Session Timings
Free Practice: Thursday, 18:25 (BST)
Qualifying: Thursday, 22:30 (BST)
Opening Race: Friday, 23:50 (BST)
Reverse Grid Race: Sunday, 00:00 (BST)
Feature Race: Sunday, 17:00 (GMT)
Comments