‘It’s been a very long time coming’ – Palmowski targets victory in Shanghai after securing maiden pole position

Alisha Palmowski was in fantastic form in the first Qualifying session of the season, beating the likes of Alba Larsen and Emma Felbermayr to claim her first pole position in F1 ACADEMY.

The Shanghai International Circuit is quickly becoming one of the best for the Red Bull Racing driver as she took her sole win of 2025 in the venue’s reverse grid race, and has followed up the feat with top spot in Qualifying this time around.

She took the fastest lap away from Larsen and built an unassailable advantage of four tenths, ending the session with a time of 2:04.182 and earning her a hard-fought P1 start for Race 2 on Sunday.

Speaking after the session, Palmowski was pleased with her achievement but explained how she is more focused on the bigger picture as she hopes to challenge for the title this season.

“It’s the perfect start to the year to be honest,” she began. “I do feel like it’s been a very long time coming for me, finishing P2 in almost every race last year. I feel like we’ve always had the raw speed and the potential to be on pole, but to finally get the job complete here in the first round of 2026 is the perfect start to the season.

“It obviously puts us in a position on Sunday where we can hopefully win the race, but being fast over 30 minutes is a completely different challenge to just being quick on a one-off lap. Nothing is won or lost yet but we’ll keep our heads down, keep focused and try to bring the win home.

“I’m here to win the series, not just every single race. Obviously I want to win every single race but I’ve got to play a clever game as well. If the win’s on the cards then absolutely we’ll go for it, but equally I just want to bring home as many points for the team as possible.”

READ MORE: QUALIFYING: Palmowski clinches maiden pole position in lively Shanghai session

It was far from a straightforward drive to pole position, with tyre strategies, traffic, and a brief Red Flag for Haas’ Kaylee Countryman affecting Palmowski’s approach to the session. She admitted that her focus was on staying “calm under all the pressure” to maximise her lap time.

“It’s very difficult because with the small margins that we’re talking about, if you push 1-2% more, you have a huge snap of oversteer and the lap’s gone,” she said. “Equally, if you push 1-2% less, you’re just not fast enough so it’s very much a balancing act of how close you’re willing to get to the limit without overstepping it.

“I feel like we judged that really well today. The car was great – a big thank you to Campos Racing as well for providing me with the fast car.”