‘Every opportunity I get, we go for the big stuff’ – Larsen lays out her ambitions for success in 2026

After a rookie season full of missed opportunities, Alba Larsen is ready to take the golden opportunity of racing for Ferrari in F1 ACADEMY with both hands and set her sights on being crowned this year’s Champion.

In 2025, Larsen was supported by Tommy Hilfiger and came tantalisingly close to finishing on the podium several times but frequently lost out to her rivals in the final laps and was forced to settle for two P4s and five P5s.

Her mistakes taught her plenty about racecraft, all of which the 17-year-old is ready to implement throughout the season in the hope that it will set her on a path to the top of the Standings.

“The aim is to go for the title and to go for the podiums,” said Larsen. “Every opportunity I get, we go for the big stuff. My confidence in the car grew a lot, and also the way I overtake and how direct and aggressive I am on track, I think I've learnt a lot.

“I think the confidence in being able to know that I'm good at overtaking and defending in the races is definitely what I take from last year.”

Larsen got off to a confident start in Round 1 at the Shanghai International Circuit, securing her best-ever Qualifying result of P2 before an error whilst leading the field on the Safety Car restart saw her miss out on a potential maiden Feature Race victory.

With an incident in the Reverse Grid Race eliminating her from the points, the Danish driver has a deficit of 27 points to Standings leader Emma Felbermayr, but she is optimistic that by bouncing back and delivering consistent results through the season will keep her in contention.

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“I think I'll be able to have a good shot at getting on the podium (in the Standings) but obviously a lot can happen – as we saw last year with Maya (Weug) having a little bit of bad luck sometimes.

“What Doriane was really good at last year was being consistent. I think that's a key point in making sure that you're up there for every race, you don't need to be on the podium every time but as long as you're up there in the top five every race, I think you'll have a good shot. That's what we're trying to do.

“I'm so glad to be back in F1 ACADEMY and now with Ferrari, it’s even bigger and better this year I think. I just hope that I can do my very best. I think Ferrari and I have prepared for the season very well and are ready to take it on.”