By Steven Oldham Cover photo: F1 Academy
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Maiden win for Palmowski
Alisha Palmowski won an incident-filled sprint race to claim her first victory in F1 Academy at the Shanghai International Circuit, before securing a double points finish in Sunday’s feature race.
The Glossop racer benefitted from pole-sitter Nina Gademan’s late misfortune and held off Campos team-mate Chloe Chambers in the last two laps to claim a maiden victory in her first race as a full-time driver in the all-female series.
It was a stop-start race that saw three safety car interventions, a raft of penalties and four retirements – all in the space of 13 laps.
READ MORE: F1 Academy: Palmowski starts P5, Weug on pole
Good start crucial for Palmowski
The race start proved key to Palmowski’s success, with the Red Bull driver immediately leaping past the slow-starting Joanne Ciconte and clearing another rookie, Emma Falbermayr, before the safety car was called on for the first time.
Wild card Shi Wei’s beached HiTech car was removed, but it wouldn’t be long before the safety car was needed again – with Aurelia Nobels now out of the race having been hit by ART team-mate Lia Block – who received a ten second time penalty for causing a collision.
A third and final safety car intervention came with Chloe Chong crashing into the back of the debutant Nicole Havrda – ending the Canadian’s race and giving Chong a ten second penalty.
Gademan’s late woes in Shanghai
Gademan nailed the final restart by switching up her strategy, going earlier than on previous occasions,but there was to be late heartbreak for the Dutch driver, who retired with a mechanical issue on the penultimate lap – allowing Palmowski to inherit the lead.
The Campos driver withstood heavy pressure from stablemate Chambers in the closing stages, but they crossed the line in that order to give their team a 1-2 in the opening race. Maya Weug completed the podium having started eighth on the reverse grid.
F1 Academy drivers keep the stewards busy
A raft of penalties affected the rest of the field and the points paying positions – Doriane Pin secured fourth after Alba Larsen’s ten second penalty dropped her from P4 to P7 after causing a collision with Felbermayr. A quiet, clean race from Rafela Ferreira promoted her to fifth, with Ella Lloyd sixth. Newcomers HiTech TGR did get a point on the board thanks to Aiva Anagnostiadis in P8.
Falbemayr was unlucky not to score points, having been involved in another tangle with Tina Hausmann on the last lap. Block and Chong’s penalties dropped them out of the points.
A promising weekend for Ciconte ended in disappointment with two 10 second stop and go penalties – one for a starting procedure infringement and a second for failing to serve the first one correctly – by coming in under safety car conditions.
Courtney Crone also received a 10 second stop and go – converted into a 30 second time penalty due to the time it was awarded – for a starting procedure incident – and subsequently missing out on a point having crossed the line P8.
Pin takes win on Sunday
Sunday’s feature race saw Pin bite back and take a first victory of the year in the Prema, beating pole-sitter Weug to the victory. Chambers recorded a second podium of the weekend, while Palmowski had to settle for sixth.
Strong results for rookies Larsen and Felbermayr saw them complete the top five, with the rest of the points positions filled by Lloyd (P7), Ferreira (P8), Block (P9) and Gademan (P10). Pin bagged an extra point for the fastest lap.
P5 FOR EMMA! 👏👏👏👏👏
— Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber (@stakef1team_ks) March 23, 2025
An impressive debut for Felbermayr in @f1academy 💚#F1Academy #ChineseGP 🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/HEcBkwPdZW
A delayed race start due to an oil spill in a previous session saw the race reduced to just 11 laps, but full points were still awarded despite less ground being covered than in the sprint.
Pin won it with her start – beating Weug to the pedal on the rolling start, making her move around the outside of turn one before sealing the deal into the second.
It was a busy weekend for the safety car, which was called into action once again after Hausmann clipped the back of Gademan’s Alpine, who was fighting for position with Felbermayr at the time. The resultant spin compromised Gademan’s race, with Hausmann handed a ten second time penalty.
Double podium for USA’s Chambers
Having seen her lead diminished by the safety car, Pin ended the race two seconds clear of Weug, while Chambers secured her podium by overtaking the young Dane Larsen on the penultimate lap.
Felbermayr survived a clip from Palmowski to take P5, and Chloe Chong once again missed out on points thanks to a time penalty – which demoted her three positions down to P11 after colliding with Ciconte.
Chambers 🇺🇸 vs Larsen 🇩🇰
— F1 Academy (@f1academy) March 23, 2025
Chloe and Alba battling it out on track for that final podium spot, with Chloe getting the job done. ⬆️ #F1Academy #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/Kfti0joAOD
Pin and Campos take early leads in title races
After round one, it’s Pin who leads the standings with 31 points, ahead of Weug (26), Chambers (23), Palmowski (18) and Larsen (14). Double points finishes for all three Campos drivers see them lead the teams’ championship with 50 points, ten points ahead of MP Motorsport, with Prema in third on 32.
Next up for F1 Academy is the second round in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia across the weekend of April 19-20.
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