Feature
Introducing Alisha Palmowski: The Red Bull Racing driver on dodgy karaoke performances, Strictly and naming her cars
Alisha Palmowski has been making her mark on the F1 ACADEMY field this season, but there’s a lot more to the Red Bull Racing driver than just her on-track performances.
Earlier in the season, we put the Briton through her paces to find out what joining the series meant to her, how a video game was the catalyst for her racing journey and why Palmowski’s going to put her fancy footwork to practice on the pedals rather than the dancefloor.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN RACING FOR?
“This is my 10th year in racing. I started off in 2015, just before I was nine years old, so it feels like my whole life!”
DO YOU REMEMBER THE MOMENT YOU FIRST WANTED TO BE A RACING DRIVER?
“It’s a funny story! It was from a TV advert for the Formula 1 game, which is really funny because I never realised that I could be a racing driver just due to the lack of female representation. I’ve always been a huge Formula 1 fan but had never realised that it was an avenue that was potentially open to me.
“I’d never even heard of a PlayStation or anything, so I asked my parents ‘what’s this about? Could I get this?’ and they said ‘yeah, you could even be a racing driver’ and I was like ‘oh, really?’. I actually realised that night that I could do this and that’s when I really wanted to get involved.”
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE CHEAT MEAL?
“I love hotdogs, but nothing on the hotdog — no mustard, no ketchup, just the hotdog. A few chips as well, but I’m an elite athlete so I don’t normally have that obviously!”
WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT RACING?
“I love the feeling of success. When you win a race, there’s no other feeling like it. There are no words to describe it. The big thing for me is the driver seems to get a lot of the limelight. They’re the ones that go up to the podium, they get all the praise but actually there’s a whole team of people behind the driver that are the whole reason we’re there and succeeding.
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“It’s not only the feeling of satisfaction for yourself and doing yourself proud but also doing the whole entire team behind you proud as well because so many people put so much effort into success so I’d say the feeling when you win is the best.”
WHAT’S BETTER — CATS OR DOGS?
“Dogs. I'm a dog person.”
HAVE YOU GOT ANY HOBBIES OUTSIDE OF RACING?
“I hate this question because I’m actually quite a boring person! My life just revolves around racing — everything I do is racing-related. It’s not really a hobby but I’ve got a little dog called Pip.
“He's a 12-year-old Shih Tzu and I’m an only child so he’s like my brother that I never had. I go everywhere with him, I walk him every day and just play with him. I don’t do anything else, just annoy Pip. That's it, I can’t give you anything more exciting than that because there’s nothing else. A bit of karaoke here and there.”
IF YOU WEREN’T A RACING DRIVER, WHAT WOULD YOU BE?
“I’d like to be a singer but I haven’t got the vocal skills! I do genuinely think I would have been a musician of some sort. I don’t know how because I’ve got no skills around that, but I’d love to have been maybe not a singer, but a piano player or learn to play a musical instrument just because I love music. I should say an engineer or something like that involving motorsport but no.”
WERE THERE ANY SUBJECTS YOU WERE GOOD AT IN SCHOOL?
“I was quite good at maths actually. I liked business and computer science — quite technical subjects. I did think about being an engineer but I wasn’t any good at physics, so that went out of the window. I’d say more of a musician for me rather than an engineer. I’m not clever enough.”
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE TV SERIES OR MOVIE?
“That’s a great question! I like all sorts but what’s my favourite? I love Strictly Come Dancing! This is a new love I’ve uncovered in like the last year. Love The Traitors as well on the BBC, that’s awesome. I can’t dance, I’ve got no interest in dancing, I can’t do it, don’t know anything about it but I feel like an expert when I watch Strictly. I judge all of them, tell them they’re doing it wrong. I don’t know how to do it myself but I love a bit of Strictly.”
“(Asked if she’d rather be a faithful or a traitor) Faithful because I’d just burst out laughing if I was a Traitor. I’d let it go straightaway. You know Linda, how she straight away turned her head? That would be me!”
WHAT’S YOUR GO-TO KARAOKE SONG?
“My go-to karaoke is Greatest Love of All by Whitney Houston. I can’t sing, I don’t have the vocal ability to sing that song, but what I lack in vocal ability I make up for with passion when I perform the song. I’m versatile, I can do Take That as well but my go to is Whitney!”
CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PRE-RACE ROUTINE, AND DO YOU HAVE ANY SUPERSTITIONS?
“There isn’t one, to be honest. We do a very intense warm-up with Sarah Harrington (the Red Bull Academy Programme Manager). It’s like a full-on workout, so that’s challenging.
“What I like to do is just take myself away and have some time to myself just to get myself in the zone. I use visualisation a lot as well to mentally prepare more than physically prepare — that’s what I find helps me a lot. I just need time to myself to get rid of any distractions and get focused.”
FIVE MINUTES EARLY OR FIVE MINUTES LATE?
“I’d like to say five minutes early but my mum’s sat behind me, so I’m normally five minutes late. I’m normally actually on time — if you say you’ve got to arrive at 09:00, I’ll walk in at 09:00. That’s how I roll, to the minute. That’s what I aim for anyway, sometimes it’s late but I aim to be on time.”
WHERE ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO RACING THIS YEAR AND WHY?
“I’ve got to say Las Vegas. It’ll be a bit of a bittersweet weekend because it’s obviously the end of the season but I think the whole event will just be a really cool atmosphere and great to be involved in.
“The temperature as well. It’s super hot for a lot of the rounds this year so I’m looking forward to it just being freezing — it’ll be like being at home so I think that’ll suit me more. I’m looking forward to this weekend (in Jeddah) genuinely as well. I really loved this track in testing so looking forward to getting back out on track here.”
WHAT’S THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
“Securing an F1 ACADEMY seat and joining the Red Bull Racing Pepe Jeans Academy Programme. It’s an opportunity I never thought I’d get in my career. The support network that I now have around me is unparalleled, to be honest.
“The access that I’ve got from Red Bull to the facilities in Milton Keynes, the driver development support that I’ve got, the media support, the fitness support — it’s incredible. I’d say the opportunity I’ve got right now this year is the highlight for me.”
HAVE YOU GOT A NAME FOR YOUR CAR?
“I do, I’ve been waiting for this question! It’s Gary, because my road car is called Barry, so they’re Barry and Gary. If Gary Barlow comes to a round, I can meet him and he can meet Gary.”
IF YOU COULD RACE AGAINST ANY DRIVER FROM HISTORY, WHO WOULD YOU PICK?
“You’ve put me on the spot. I’m a huge fan of Niki Lauda. He was obviously an incredible driver. I actually did meet him at his last ever F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone in 2018. I was in the paddock, so I actually did meet him which was incredible. The perseverance and character that he had, he achieved the greatest sporting comeback in history. It would have been amazing to compete against somebody with such mental strength like that. That would have been awesome.”
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE A YOUNG GIRL WANTING TO GET STARTED IN RACING?
“Some advice that I’d give to young girls would be to never give up and to persevere. It sounds like the total obvious answer to say but in motorsport there are many highs and many lows.
“The highs are extremely high, the lows are extremely low but there are often many more lows than highs. I think it can be easy to lose motivation and feel that the world is against you. If you put the hard work in behind the scenes then luck will start to come your way and it will get better. Never give up and keep going.”
WHAT’S YOUR AMBITION FOR THE 2025 SEASON?
“To win more! I’d love a win here this weekend. It was obviously great to start the season off with a win but I’m feeling more confident coming into this weekend. The track suits my natural driving style a lot more. Throughout testing we had a much nicer balance in the car that personally suited myself, so if we can get that balance again then I’m sure we can be up there in the fight for the win again this weekend. That’s the aim.”