Gademan takes victory at final F1 Academy race in Austin as Palmowski and Larsen retire after contact
Nina Gademan took a commanding victory after seizing the lead from Alisha Palmowski, as the Red Bull driver battled with Alba Larsen for much of the race before contact between the pair ended their races early—promoting Payton Westcott and Natalia Granada to the podium.
Race Report
As the lights went out, Westcott got the better launch of the top three drivers from second, but Gademan smoothly swept around the outside of Turn 1 to steal the lead from Palmowski from third on the grid.
Into the second lap of the race, the race lead was maintained by Gademan, followed by Palmowski, Larsen moving up two places, Payton Westcott, Natalia Granada, Jade Jacquet, Emma Felbermayr, Lisa Billard, Rachel Robertson and Ella Lloyd.
On Lap 4 of 13, Rafaela Ferreira pulled into the pits with front wing damage, while back on track, a battle for the race win was gaining traction. While Gademan managed to pull away from Palmowski initially, F1 Academy’s newly crowned champion Palmowski steadily began to close the gap to the Alpine driver, with Larsen joining the pair too.
The three-car battle continued into the Lap 6, as Larsen was told to be “decisive” with her move as the Ferrari driver attempted to pass Palmowski. Meanwhile, the Red Bull driver was told to “remain calm and collected”, as she juggled both attacking Gademan for the lead and defending from Larsen.
On Lap 7, Palmowski and Larsen almost went wheel-to-wheel as the Ferrari driver attempted to lunge past Palmowski into Turn 1 but the championship-winner closed the door and held onto second place. This battle gave Gademan some breathing room, but the top three remained glued to each other into Lap 8.
Further back, Jacquet and Felbermayr were battling for sixth place, with the Williams driver finding herself defending from Felbermayr all the way through.
Things were heating up once more between Palmowski and Larsen as the Ferrari driver squeezed Palmowski on Lap 9 and momentarily took second place but Palmowski switched back swiftly as the pair went wheel-to-wheel once more.
Once again, this allowed Gademan to distance herself from her rivals, with the gap going from under a tenth to over a second.
On Lap 10, Larsen once again dived down the inside of Palmowski’s car but clipped her front left and Palmowski’s rear suspension, taking both drivers out of the race after a well-fought battle and bringing out the Safety Car.
The Safety Car continued into the penultimate lap, with Gademan in the lead, followed by Westcott and Granada now promoted to the podium spots. The rest of the points-scorers were occupied by Jacquet, Felbermayr, Billard, Robertson, Lloyd, Megan Bruce and Ella Stevens.
The pack returned to green flag conditions with one lap remaining, with Gademan nailing the restart while Westcott failed to react on time to seize the lead. As Gademan pulled away from the rest, several moves further down saw Esmee Kosterman take the final points position from Stevens.
As the chequered flag fell, Gademan took an effortless victory after her well-calculated race start and Safety Car restart, while Westcott and Granada completed the podium.
The final top 10 saw Jacquet in fourth followed by Felbermayr, Billard, Robertson, Lloyd, Kosterman and Bruce.
Looking Ahead
The F1 Academy paddock travels to Las Vegas for the season finale, and with our 2026 champion already crowned, the runner-up places and the Teams' Championship remain to be settled in the final two races.
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