Wild Card Driver Chiara Bättig becomes youngest F1 Academy pole-sitter ahead of Alisha Palmowski in Silverstone qualifying

Credit: F1 Academy

As F1 Academy makes its debut in Silverstone, the driver making her debut in the series immediately hit the ground running — 16-year-old Swiss driver Chiara Bättig setting the fastest lap times in both free practice as well as the qualifying session ahead of home hero and championship leader Alisha Palmowski.

French driver Lisa Billard completed the top three for the Feature Race, while Audi driver Emma Felbermayr found herself in eighth, taking pole for the Reverse Grid Race.

Here's how an exciting qualifying session at Silverstone played out.

Qualifying Report

The 30-minute qualifying season began after a practice session that saw Wild Card Driver Bättig impressively go the quickest, the Swiss driver having plenty of experience on this track and having a podium under her belt here as well from British Formula 4.

Nina Gademan set off on the first flying lap of the evening, taking to the heavily rubbered-in track and setting the first benchmark as a 2:03.348, which championship leader Palmowski soon pipped by three tenths.

Gademan quickly responded to the Red Bull driver’s lap time, going two tenths quicker, who was then joined by Bättig taking second ahead of Felbermayr.

10 minutes into the session, Bättig took to the track for another push lap, this time improving on her time but just as she was set to best Gademan’s benchmark, she peeled into the pits.

Several other drivers popped into the pits as well for a new set of tyres at this stage of the session, as back out on track, track limits caught out several drivers including Palmowski, Natalia Granada, and Rachel Robertson.

As we approached the halfway point of the session, Gademan remained ahead followed by Bättig, Felbermayr, Billard, Palmowski, Megan Bruce, Ella Lloyd and Alba Larsen in eighth, the Ferrari driver on provisional reverse grid pole.

As more drivers took on fresh rubber and headed back on track with 10 minutes to go, Billard was the next driver to attack the track, lowering the benchmark to 2:02.80 and taking provisional pole.

Bättig then went two tenths quicker as she responded to Billard’s time with an electric lap that saw the Wild Card Driver return to the top spot. Meanwhile, Felbermayr jumped up to second and knocked Lloyd down to fourth, with five minutes remaining in the session.

The lap times continued to come in with Larsen moving up to seventh and Gademan demoting Felbermayr to take third with another confident lap.

Right behind her, Palmowski was on another flyer attempting to find an answer to Bättig’s lap, but a snap of oversteer into Copse compromised her run, the British driver’s lap only good enough for second.

The Red Bull driver quickly went on another push lap in an effort to continue her qualifying dominance, but again fell short of Bättig’s time, not able to improve from second.

With a minute to go, a spin from Esmee Kosterman into the first turn brought out a momentary yellow flag. 

The drivers still pushing remained Palmowski, Felbermayr, and Lloyd. Meanwhile, Bättig exuded confidence, already out of the car and happy with her 2:01.775 lap.

As no one else was able to find an answer to Bättig’s electric lap, the 16-year-old Swiss driver became the first F1 Academy Wild Card Driver to take pole as well as the youngest polesitter of the series in its history, making a dominant statement of intent on her series debut.

Palmowski, Billard, Ava Dobson, Robertson, Lloyd, Gademan, Felbermayr, Bruce and Payton Westcott rounded out the top 10, Dobson and Robertson's laps coming in the nick of time to lift them into contention for points.

Looking Ahead

All eyes will be on the hotshot of the weekend Bättig, who has already impressed many with just two sessions under her belt in the series. Meanwhile, Palmowski will be eager to seize a home victory and extend her advantage in the championship on home soil.

But before the Feature Race, the ever-thrilling Reverse Grid Race is up first at 18:05 GMT on Saturday, where Felbermayr will lead the grid as the lights go out.