PREVIEW: F1 Academy is back in Montreal for Round 2 | F1 Academy

F1 Academy is back for Round 2 after an unexpected two-month break, following the cancellation of the Jeddah race weekend. The series returns this weekend (22-24 May) in Montreal, with drivers racing at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve for the second time.

Round 1 of the season took place in Shanghai in March, with Nina Gademan winning her first race of the season in the Reverse Grid Race and Emma Felbermayr winning the Feature Race for the first time, in a well-fought last-lap battle with Alisha Palmowski.

This year, after the conclusion of the Shanghai race weekend and the news of the cancellation of Round 2 in Jeddah, the 2026 race weekend format was slightly adjusted. The weekend will begin with either one or two Free Practice sessions (up to 40 minutes each), followed by a 30-minute qualifying session, to determine the grid for each race.

To make up for the cancelled races, Montreal and Austin will each have a third race, otherwise known as the Opening Race. This will be the first race of the weekend, with the grid being decided from the drivers’ second-fastest lap times.

Keep an eye on Emma Felbermayr, Nina Gademan and Ella Lloyd this weekend. Lloyd finished second in all three races last season, Felbermayr took the Race 2 victory and Gademan finished third in two out of the three races.

So let’s have a look at the drivers, the new race weekend format and what we can expect from Montreal.

The 2026 F1 Academy season once again started with Round 1 in Shanghai on 13-15 March.

Emma Felbermayr, Alisha Palmowski, Natalia Granada, Payton Westcott and Nina Gademan were the standout performers of the weekend. Gademan took her first victory of the season in the Reverse Grid Race, with Granada taking her first podium on her race debut.

Felbermayr took her first-ever Feature Race win, narrowly fighting off first-time pole sitter Palmowski on the final lap.

Six teams are joining the series once again, with MP Motorsport, Hitech, Rodin Motorsports, PREMA Racing, Campos Racing, and ART Grand Prix all back on the grid.

The 2026 F1 Academy calendar has six rounds, starting with Round 1 this weekend in Shanghai on March 13-15. Each round is featured alongside the Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends.

The races will take place across five countries – China (Shanghai), Canada (Montreal), Great Britain (Silverstone), the Netherlands (Zandvoort), the United States (Austin) and the United States (Las Vegas).

The 2025 season introduced a change to the weekend format, which continues for 2026, with racing split into three days: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

There can be up to two practice sessions on Friday, each lasting up to 40 minutes. A 30-minute qualifying session will take place on either Friday or Saturday, depending on the number of practice sessions allocated.

Saturday will host the Reverse Grid Race, and, following last season’s reform of the Sporting Regulations, it will be a reverse-grid race.

The Reverse Grid Race (previously known as Race 1) means that the top eight drivers from qualifying will be reversed on the grid, while the drivers that finish between P9 and P18 will start from the position they qualify in. In this race, only the first eight drivers will earn points, and the driver who records the fastest lap and finishes in the top eight will score an extra point.

Reverse Grid Race points allocation:

• P1 – 10 points

• P2 – 8 points

• P3 – 6 points

• P4 – 5 points

• P5 – 4 points

• P6 – 3 points

• P7 – 2 points

• P8 – 1 point

The Feature Race (previously known as Race 2) has no changes from previous seasons, with drivers starting from the positions they qualified for. The first 10 drivers to cross the chequered flag will earn points on a sliding scale from 25 points to the winner and down to one point to the driver finishing in P10.

The driver who earns pole for Race 2 will earn two extra points. The driver who sets the fastest lap will earn an additional point if they finish the race within the top 10.

Feature Race points allocation:

• P1 – 25 points

• P2 – 18 points

• P3 – 15 points

• P4 – 12 points

• P5 – 10 points

• P6 – 8 points

• P7 – 6 points

• P8 – 4 points

• P9 – 2 points

• P10 – 1 point

For Montreal and Austin, there will be a third race, otherwise known as the Opening Race, to ensure that the two cancelled races from Jeddah still take place. This will be the first race of the weekend, with the grid being decided from the drivers’ second-fastest lap times.

Opening Race points allocation:

• P1 – 25 points

• P2 – 18 points

• P3 – 15 points

• P4 – 12 points

• P5 – 10 points

• P6 – 8 points

• P7 – 6 points

• P8 – 4 points

• P9 – 2 points

• P10 – 1 point

Two points will be awarded for the pole position for the Feature Race, but not the Opening Race or the Reverse Grid Race.

A point will be awarded for the fastest lap of all three races, provided they finish within the top eight for the Reverse Grid Race or the top 10 for the Opening Race and Feature Race.

Round 2 begins on Friday, 22 May, with practice at 14:00 and qualifying at 23:00.

The Opening Race will take place on Saturday, 23 May, at 14:45; the Reverse Grid Race will also take place on Saturday at 23:05; and the Feature Race will take place on Sunday, 24 May, at 15:45.

All times are in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

Canadian driver Autumn Fisher will make her F1 Academy race weekend debut as the Wild Card driver for Montreal. 18-year-old Fisher will drive car number 77, which will be sporting a Standard Chartered race suit and livery.

Fisher took part in the 2025 F1 Academy Rookie Test, where she earned the opportunity to take part as a Wild Card driver this season.

The Canadian driver is currently competing in the British Formula 4 Championship and previously competed in the French Formula 4 Championship.

2026 marks the second time F1 Academy will be racing at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve as part of the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix race weekend.

The Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is 4.361km, with 14 corners and is located on Notre Dame Island (Île Notre-Dame) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. All three races will cover a distance of 74.137km over 17 laps, and the fastest lap time is held by Chloe Chambers in 2025 at 1:38.125 seconds.

1. Emma Felbermayr – 31 points

2. Alisha Palmowski – 25 points

3. Nina Gademan – 22 points

4. Payton Westcott – 18 points

5. Rafaela Ferreira – 13 points

6. Ella Lloyd – 13 points

7. Natalia Granada – 8 points

8. Lisa Billard – 7 points

9. Alba Larsen – 4 points

10. Megan Bruce – 2 points

11. Ava Dobson – 1 point

12. Rachel Robertson

13. Ella Stevens

14. Mathilda Paatz

15. Kaylee Countryman

16. Jade Jacquet

17. Esmee Kosterman

18. Shi Wei (WCD)

19. Autumn Fisher

The F1 Academy qualifying session, Race 1 and Race 2 throughout the season can be streamed on F1 Academy’s YouTube, X Channels, F1 TV and Sky Sports F1.

All images are credited to F1 Academy Limited.