Britain’s Alisha Palmowski says that successful the F1 Academy title is “a dream come true”.
The 20-year-old completed second in Saturday’s reverse grid race on the Circuit of the Americas, which was sufficient to be topped champion earlier than Sunday’s function race and the season finale in Las Vegas in November.
Palmowski turns into the youngest champion of the all-female improvement sequence, and is the second British driver to win the title after Abbi Pulling in 2024.
She drives for Campos Racing and is a part of the Pink Bull driver academy.
Glossop-born Palmowski has gained 5 out of the 11 races held to this point this season, solely ending outdoors of the factors as soon as through the reverse grid race at Zandvoort.
In an emotional post-race interview, she devoted her championship win to her unwell grandmother and thanked her household.
“It has been a very particular journey. I began racing after I was eight or 9 years outdated, it was simply me and my dad and mom,” she mentioned.
“The sacrifices that they’ve made behind the scenes, they’ve actually put their lives on pause to permit me to stay my dream.”
Earlier than Saturday’s race, Austrian Emma Felbermayr was the one driver with a mathematical likelihood of overhauling Palmowski however fourth place was not sufficient to maintain her hopes alive.
Denmark’s Alba Larsen took the chequered flag to safe her first F1 Academy victory, with 17-year-old Lisa Billard of France finishing the rostrum in third.
