Emma Felbermayr took a commanding lights-to-flag F1 Academy victory in the debut race of the British Grand Prix weekend, besting Nina Gademan and Ella Lloyd to the top step of the podium.
Felbermayr was starting on pole position for the Reverse Grid Race after qualifying eighth for the Feature Race. Alongside her was Gademan in her Alpine liveried MP Motorsport car. Both girls were hoping to take the lead into the first corner.
Felbermayr got a strong start off the line, holding on to the lead into Turn 1. Behind her, Gademan was struggling as Lloyd closed in on the Alpine-liveried car.
Alisha Palmowski made up two places on the opening lap, whereas Chiara Battig dropped slightly through the order.
Felbermayr managed to build a slight gap by the second lap. One second separated the Audi-liveried car from Gademan in second, with the gap growing on each lap.
Battig wasn’t giving up on making her way through the field despite the slower start. The Wella-liveried Hitech was posting the fastest first-sector time in the race at that stage.
Alba Larsen was on the move, the Ferrari junior making up four places by lap 5 and closing the gap to Ava Dobson.
Battig making moves
On lap 6, Battig looked down the inside of Larsen’s Ferrari-liveried car but wasn’t quite able to get the move done. She went round the outside of the next run of corners, swapping to the inside of Larsen and braking later than the Ferrari junior. Battig sealed the deal for ninth place.
Felbermayr set the fastest lap at the front of the field; the gap to Gademan was 1.3 seconds. However, Gademan’s biggest problem was Lloyd closing in on the gearbox of the Alpine-liveried MP.
Battig quickly set her sights on Megan Bruce, and she made another move to reclaim her starting position in eighth place.
After moving into the final points position, Battig set the fastest lap as she powered ahead of Dobson, reducing the gap to just 0.3s on Lap 11.
Meanwhile, Felbermayr maintained a 1.3-second lead, comfortably out front.
It was a marginal gap from Rachel Robertson in her PUMA-liveried Hitech, as Palmowski brought the gap down to 0.3s. However, Palmowski was running out of time in the final two laps.
With the championship battle coming down to fine margins, Palmowski was hesitant to risk damage in favour of an unproven move.
As the chequered flag was waved, Flebermayr breezed to the line, taking victory around Silverstone. Behind her, Gademan and Lloyd closed out the podium. Robertson survived the close-in from Palmowski to take fourth and fifth. Lisa Billard and Dobson crossed the line sixth and seventh with Wild Card, Battig, taking the final points position.
READ MORE: F1 Academy 2026 British GP – Reverse Grid Race Results
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