PREVIEW: F1 Academy heads to Silverstone | F1 Academy

F1 Academy is back for Round 3. The series returns this weekend (3-5 July) in Great Britain, with drivers racing around Silverstone for the first time as part of the iconic Formula 1 British Grand Prix race weekend.

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.

Round 2 of the F1 Academy season took place in Montreal in May. Alisha Palmowski took her second F1 Academy victory of the season in the Opening Race, with Mathilda Paatz taking her and Aston Martin’s first-ever F1 Academy victory in the Reverse Grid Race. Palmowski rounded off her incredible weekend of racing with the Feature Race win and set the biggest winning margin in F1 Academy history, finishing a massive 10.955s ahead of her closest rival.

This weekend, keep an eye on Wild Card driver Chiara Bättig, who took a podium finish at Silverstone in British F4. Nina Gademan, Esmee Kosterman, and Ella Lloyd have also taken to the track in British F4. Megan Bruce, Alisha Palmowski, Rachel Robertson, and Ava Dobson have all also raced around the circuit in the GB4 Championship and the Radical Cup UK.

The drivers also completed two days of in-season testing at Silverstone back in April, where Palmoski, Lloyd, Payton Westcott and Megan Bruce all found incredible speed around the circuit.

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

Round 2 of the 2026 F1 Academy season saw the 2026 drivers return to the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve for the second time, with Canadian driver Autumn Fisher joining as the wild card. Drivers faced wet and cool track conditions, with plenty of action across the three races.

Alisha Palmowski, Megan Bruce, Kaylee Countryman, Payton Westcott and Mathilda Paatz were the standout performers of the weekend. Rookies Bruce, Countrymann and Paatz took their first podiums, with Paatz also taking her F1 Academy victory, in the Reverse Grid Race, and Bruce taking P2 in the Opening Race and P3 in the Feature Race.

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, following last season’s reform of the Sporting Regulations.

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 3 begins on Friday, 3 July, with practice at 07:45 and qualifying at 18:00

The Reverse Grid Race will take place on Saturday, 4 July at 18:05 and the Feature Race will take place on Sunday, 5 July, at 10:00.

All times are in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT+1).

Chiara Bättig has been selected as the Wild Card entry for Round 3 in Silverstone. The 16-year-old Swiss driver will make her debut with the #6series‘ car operated by Hitech, representing the series’ Official Partner, Wella Professionals, whose livery features the bespoke red Wella design.

The former F1 ACADEMY DISCOVER YOUR DRIVE karter finished runner-up in the OK-N Senior category of the 2025 Champions of the Future Academy Program International Series.

The Red Bull Junior claimed six top-10 finishes in the F4 Saudi Arabian Championship, claimed a podium finish in the 2026 Formula Winter Series and took a podium finish at Silverstone in British F4.

2026 marks the first time F1 Academy will be racing at the iconic Silverstone Circuit as part of the British Formula 1 Grand Prix race weekend.

Silverstone is 5.891km long, with 18 corners and is located in Silverstone, Great Britain. The two races will cover a distance of 76.583km over 13 laps.

1. Alisha Palmowski – 78 points

2. Emma Felbermayr – 53 points

3. Megan Bruce – 37 points

4. Payton Westcott – 36 points

5. Mathilda Paatz – 35 points

6. Nina Gademan – 30 points

7. Rafaela Ferreira – 27 points

8. Ella Lloyd – 23 points

9. Alba Larsen – 23 points

10. Natalia Granada – 17 points

11. Kaylee Countryman – 14 points

12. Lisa Billard – 12 points

13. Ella Stevens – 4 points

14. Ava Dobson – 1 point

15. Esmee Kosterman

16. Rachel Robertson

17. Autumn Fisher

18. Jade Jacquet

19. Shi Wei (WCD)

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.