Alisha Palmowski took a commanding F1 Academy Feature Race win, with Alba Larsen and Nina Gademan rounding out the podium at the Dutch Grand Prix weekend.
Payton Westcott took victory in the Reverse Grid Race while championship leader Alisha Palmowski stalled twice off the line. However, Palmowski started on pole for the Feature Race, eager to take a victory to grow her 30-point lead in the title fight.
Alongside Palmowski was Alba Larsen, a podium finisher in the Reverse Grid Race. On the second row, it was Natalia Granda, who struggled in the Reverse Grid Race, looking for redemption, and Palmowski’s championship rival, Emma Felbermayr, who started fourth.
Palmowski held the lead off the line
Palmowski was quick off the line, but Larsen was close behind, with Granada making it three wide into the first corner.
Granada had to pull back from the fight but fell back into the front wing of Nina Gademan, who made it past the Sephora-liveried car. Out front, Palmowski held the lead with Larsen close behind.
On the second lap, Larsen looked around the outside into the first corner, pushing hard to potentially make it past the Red Bull Racing-supported driver. Unfortunately, the Ferrari driver was just too far back to make the move stick.
Gademan had a stunning start, climbing from fifth to third in the opening lap, closing to Larsen as she set her sights on second place.
While Larsen was under pressure from behind, her focus remained out front, with the gap to Palmowski coming down to just 0.4 seconds on lap 3. Gademan had a difficult lap, which put her over a second behind the Ferrari-supported driver.
On Lap 6, the gap came down even further to 0.3 seconds, looking for an opportunity to make a move on the race leader.
Two tight-knit groups were emerging in the race, with a train of drivers behind Megan Bruce in sixth and behind Ava Dobson in 12th.
Fights across the grid
Felbermayr made a lunge into Turn 1 on Granada, trying to make a move forward in the field. The Audi-backed driver was too far back from the Sephora-liveried car and had to keep biding her time.
Palmowski’s lead was coming down as she began to lap slightly slower. Larsen’s engineer came on the radio to say that the championship leader was struggling. Larsen was lapping just under a tenth faster than Palmowski each lap.
As the gap began to come down, Palmowski widened it once again, putting in the fastest lap of the race so far on Lap 10. Her time of 1:37.805s was significantly faster than Larsen’s and initially pushed the gap to over a second.
Larsen pushed to try to close the gap but was still lapping four tenths slower than the championship leader. The gap between the two grew to 1.4 seconds.
Further back in the field, Ella Lloyd was on a good run, closing quickly on the back of Rachel Robertson. Lloyd had the gap just 0.2s and looked around the outside of the Puma-liveried car. However, the Welsh driver was unable to make it past.
Lloyd then found herself under pressure on Lap 14, with Westcott alongside the McLaren-supported driver. Lloyd defended harshly and held on to her eighth place.
Megan Bruce led her train from sixth to 12th and found herself under pressure from the drivers behind.
Palmowski built her lead
Heading into the final few laps, Palmowski built her lead up to 2.3 seconds. This all but solidified her victory as the gap grew corner by corner.
Larsen had built her gap to third, with 8.2 seconds separating the Ferrari-backed car and Gademan’s Alpine-liveried car in third.
All 18 drivers remained in the fight as the chequered flag was waved, securing Palmowski a commanding and vital victory in her championship campaign. Close behind was Larsen, taking her second podium of the weekend, with Gademan in the same position in third.
Granada made a strong recovery from the difficult Reverse Grid Race, crossing the line fourth, with Palmowski’s championship rival, Felbermayr, rounding out the top five.
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