The British driver, who secured pole position on Friday, leaves China with a valuable points haul thanks to her second place on Sunday and fifth on Saturday. Brazil’s Ferreira secured her best result in the category with a fourth-place finish, which together with sixth in the other race places her among the front runners. Bruce also scored points over the weekend
The opening round of the 2026 F1 Academy season highlighted the strength of Campos Racing’s three-driver line-up in the all-female championship. Alisha Palmowski, racing under the colours of the Red Bull Racing Academy Programme, enjoyed a strong start to the campaign, showcasing both pace and excellent race management. Rafaela Ferreira, representing the Visa Cash App RB Academy, produced her best weekend in the category so far, underlining her potential to fight for ambitious targets in the rounds ahead. Meanwhile, Megan Bruce, driving the TAG Heuer-backed car, improved steadily throughout the weekend at the Shanghai International Circuit and left the Chinese venue with valuable points on the board.
Track action got underway on Friday with the free practice session, where Palmowski quickly made her intentions for the weekend clear. At the end of the session, the British driver topped the timesheets with a lap of 2:04.550, enjoying a comfortable margin of nearly half a second over her closest rival. Ferreira also made a promising start to the weekend, finishing fourth with a time of 2:05.176. Bruce placed ninth with a best lap of 2:05.350.
Later in the afternoon, it was time for qualifying, with the aim of converting the strong pace shown earlier in the day into a solid grid position. And that objective was certainly achieved. Palmowski immediately placed herself among the frontrunners, moving into second place on her first flying lap before taking provisional pole with a 2:04.875 on her next attempt. With eighteen minutes remaining, Alba Larsen briefly snatched the top spot, but Palmowski still had plenty of pace in hand. Following a red flag with less than ten minutes remaining after a car stopped on track due to a technical issue, Palmowski launched her final attack. On her second set of tyres, she reclaimed the top spot by just fourteen thousandths of a second over Larsen before delivering the decisive lap moments later. Improving her sector times once again, Palmowski lowered the benchmark to a 2:04.182, securing her maiden pole position and two valuable bonus points. As in free practice, Larsen ultimately ended up more than four tenths behind the Campos Racing driver. Ferreira remained competitive throughout the session and secured her best qualifying result in F1 Academy, finishing fifth with a 2:04.699. Bruce concluded qualifying in fourteenth place with a best lap of 2:05.370.
Saturday featured Race 1 with the top eight positions on the grid reversed and thirteen laps scheduled. Ferreira lined up fourth on the grid, with Palmowski starting eighth. When the lights went out, Ferreira made an excellent start and immediately moved up to third place, while Palmowski also gained a position to run seventh at the end of the opening lap. During the first half of the race, Ferreira remained close to Nina Gademan and Natalia Granada ahead while keeping Payton Westcott behind her under control. On lap nine, the safety car was deployed after Larsen lost her front wing following contact, leaving debris on track. At the restart, Palmowski seized the opportunity to move forward and gained two positions to climb to fifth place. Ferreira, who had been running in podium contention throughout the race, narrowly missed out on a podium finish after Emma Felbermayr overtook her just a few corners from the chequered flag. Ferreira and Palmowski eventually crossed the finish line in fourth and fifth positions respectively. Bruce, who had climbed as high as ninth earlier in the race, ultimately finished twelfth.
Sunday’s race took place under very different conditions compared to the previous day. As the first category on track early in the morning, the drivers faced significantly lower track temperatures. When the lights went out, Palmowski was overtaken by Larsen and Felbermayr and dropped to third place. The Red Bull-backed driver completed the opening lap behind the Austrian, while Ferreira ran sixth and Bruce tenth. Palmowski began applying pressure on Felbermayr from lap two while keeping Westcott just behind her in check. However, the battle was neutralised on lap six when the safety car was deployed following an incident involving two cars. At the restart, Larsen ran wide into the gravel at the entry to the main straight, dropping to the lower end of the top ten and allowing both Palmowski and Ferreira to gain a position. Palmowski, who also set the fastest lap of the race to secure the extra point, managed the closing stages intelligently, attempting to close the gap to Felbermayr before launching an attack. However, tyre degradation ultimately played a decisive role and the Campos Racing driver settled for second place at the chequered flag, finishing just two tenths behind Felbermayr. Ferreira crossed the line in sixth place, while Bruce, who had been battling Larsen in the latter stages, finished ninth.
After the opening round of the season, Palmowski sits second in the drivers’ standings with 25 points, six behind Felbermayr. Ferreira is fifth with 13 points to her name, while Bruce is tenth with 2 points. In the teams’ standings, Campos Racing holds second place with 40 points, just four points adrift of the lead.
Due to the ongoing armed conflict in Iran, the races originally scheduled in Jeddah on 18–19 April will no longer take place. As a result, the second round of the championship will now take place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on 23–24 May.
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