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Who are the 2026 F1 ACADEMY drivers?
With two months to go until the fourth F1 ACADEMY campaign kicks off in Shanghai, the grid is rapidly taking shape. Meeting new faces and welcoming back returning favourites, here is the lowdown on the 10 drivers that have been confirmed for 2026 so far…
ALBA LARSEN – FERRARI
Arguably the biggest change heading into this season, Alba Larsen will be climbing into the cockpit of the Ferrari-liveried car. Taking over the mantle from 2025 Vice Champion and teammate Maya Weug — who departs the series at the end of her two-year stint — the Dane has big shoes to fill but the signs are promising.
Scoring seven top-five finishes helped her net seventh in last year's Standings and she claimed a joint best performance of P4 in Shanghai Race 2 and Las Vegas Race 2. However, this does give the 17-year-old the unfortunate record of the highest finisher without a podium.
Benefitting from the continuity of remaining with MP Motorsport, Larsen should also profit from additional seat time with campaigns in the UAE4 Series and a return to British F4. The youngest driver on the 2025 grid, can the Ferrari junior show how much she’s grown up by delivering the long-awaited silverware and a potential title charge?
ALISHA PALMOWSKI – RED BULL RACING
Another familiar face, Alisha Palmowski also expects to be in the hunt to be crowned the 2026 Champion. After a standout Wild Card performance in Lusail in 2024, she immediately made her mark last season by winning the opening race in Shanghai.
Starting well with three podiums in five races, the Briton struggled to match the same highs at the midpoint. Ending her rookie year fifth in the Standings with one win and four further podiums was enough for Red Bull Racing to keep faith in her.
Palmowski's exuberance sometimes caught her out with some overly optimistic moves, but the 19-year-old’s rapid one lap pace coupled with more experience should make her an even bigger threat.
AVA DOBSON - AMERICAN EXPRESS
Stepping up from a Wild Card to a full-time rookie, Ava Dobson will be looking to make her mark on the 2026 F1 ACADEMY season in the American Express car.
The 17-year-old has enjoyed a steady rise since her single-seater debut in the 2023 Formula 4 United States Championship. Further experience followed with appearances in the USF Juniors and USF2000 Championship, before switching to race in Europe with a two-round stint in the 2024 GB4 Championship.
Returning for a full campaign, she scored her first podium at Donington Park and finished the season as the highest scoring female driver. Building off her Wild Card debut in Miami, Dobson remains with Hitech and will be eager to capitalise on that familiarity with a big haul of points early on.
ELLA LLOYD – MCLAREN
Last season’s Rookie of the Year, Ella Lloyd has made her expectations for fighting for the 2026 title crystal clear. Five podiums, including a win in Jeddah Race 1, helped her to finish fourth overall — pipped to a top-three finish by Chloe Chambers at the Las Vegas season finale.
A noteworthy weekend on the series’ debut in Montreal saw her claim three consecutive second-place finishes from seventh, fifth and fourth on their respective grids. However, she needs to pick up the Qualifying pace in the McLaren operated by Rodin Motorsport car, with only one top-three time in seven rounds.
ELLA STEVENS – MCLAREN OXAGON
Ella Stevens becomes the second McLaren junior in the field as she prepares to embark on her first season in single-seaters. Crowned Vice Champion in the 2025 British Karting Championship, she made history as the only female race winner in the UK’s premier karting class alongside being a double English KZ2 Champion and British BirelART Cadet Champion.
The 19-year-old Briton then made headlines as she topped the timesheets in the inaugural F1 ACADEMY Rookie Test by 0.092s. Expect a few uphill battles early on as she adapts to the new machinery, but she’ll be hopeful that she can quickly get up to speed with her fellow McLaren and Rodin stablemate Lloyd.
EMMA FELBERMAYR - AUDI
Completing the Rodin trio, Emma Felbermayr is looking to build on a successful rookie season and make a sizeable jump from 10th in the Standings. Recording six points scoring finishes, the Austrian driver reached the highest of highs in Montreal Race 2 when she snatched her maiden victory in the series.
Felbermayr's one lap pace remains her biggest strength with six top-six results in Qualifying. Absorbing all the opportunities to learn across her first year in single-seaters, those lessons should be well remembered by the 19-year-old as she looks to put Audi on the top step.
ESMEE KOSTERMAN – LEGO
The first of 2025’s Wild Card drivers to earn a full-time seat, Esmee Kosterman will have the honours of representing LEGO Racing in their debut campaign as the iconic brand joins the series. In 2023, she became the first woman to win in the Ford Fiesta Sprint Cup Benelux, ending the season second in the Junior Cup and third overall.
Gaining experience with appearances in Indian F4 and British F4, the 20-year-old made her F1 ACADEMY debut at her home event in Zandvoort. Praised by Hitech TGR Team Manager Dan Hodder at the time for her skilful performance in Race 2, Kosterman became the season’s first points-scoring Wild Card driver with a P7 finish.
Navigating five unfamiliar locations will be Kosterman’s biggest challenge — with her also having previous experience at Silverstone — but her pace should leave her well-placed to become a contender for podiums and victories with compatriots MP Motorsport.
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JADE JACQUET – WILLIAMS
One of three rookies at ART Grand Prix, Jade Jacquet has joined the Williams Racing Driver Academy ahead of representing the British team in F1 ACADEMY.
After her 2023 debut in international karting, she competed in the 2024 French Junior Karting Championship before graduating to her first full season in single-seaters in French F4 last year. Achieving 12 top-20 finishes, the 16-year-old claimed a best result of P11 at the Circuit des 24 Heures and the Female Trophy at the Dijon-Prenois circuit. Jacquet also claimed the seventh-fastest in the afternoon session of the F1 ACADEMY Rookie Test.
Fairly evenly matched in terms of experience with her teammates, Jacquet will be looking to pull off a seamless transition into the all-female series.
KAYLEE COUNTRYMAN – HAAS
Picked up by Haas for 2026 and having turned 16 at the start of January, Kaylee Countryman is ready for her rookie F1 ACADEMY campaign. Getting a first taste of karting on her birthday four years ago, the American earned multiple podiums in the LO206 J2 Class racing a four-stroke Briggs & Stratton-powered kart.
After progressing to two-stroke karts and international racing in 2023, Countryman moved into open-wheel racing in the North American-based USF Juniors, taking four top-10 finishes. Alongside this, she made a two-round appearance in the USF2000 Championship and participated in F1 ACADEMY in-season testing in Navarra.
Dovetailing her rookie season with a campaign in the USF2000 Championship and a three-round appearance in the UAE4 Series, she’ll be going toe-to-toe with Jacquet and Lisa Billard in the battle of the rookies at ART.
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LISA BILLARD – GATORADE
Filling the third and final spot at ART, Lisa Billard is a driver many have their eye on this season. The first female to win a French Junior Karting Championship race in 2022, she joined the Alpine Rac(H)er programme the following year alongside achieving her first podium at an international level at the FIA Academy Trophy at Cremona.
Making her single-seater debut in French F4 during the latter half of 2024, a follow-up campaign saw the 16-year-old claim the Championship’s Female Trophy title. After a very successful appearance at the Rookie Test, she was selected as the Wild Card entry in Singapore. Qualifying an impressive fifth, Billard had two unlucky races but showed potential.
Selected by Gatorade, the Iron Dame's pace looked encouraging from the get-go in Marina Bay, so don’t be surprised to see the Frenchwoman’s name towards the top end of the order in 2026.
MATHILDA PAATZ – ASTON MARTIN
Linking up with Aston Martin, Mathilda Paatz brings with her a strong CV as she joins the fold of the undefeated Teams’ Champions PREMA Racing. Alongside, third place finishes in the 2020 ADAC Kart Masters – Mini and OK Junior in 2022, the German racer won the ADAC Kart Masters – Ladies Cup and competed in the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games.
On the heels of her first single-seater campaign in the 2024 French F4 Championship, Paatz achieved two wins in the 2025 E4 Championship – Trophy Woman and her first podium finish in the F4 CEZ Championship at the Red Bull Ring, going on to finish eighth in the Standings.
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The 17-year-old also made her F1 ACADEMY debut, competing as the Wild Card entry for Round 4 in Montreal before bagging the Aston Martin seat following an impressive performance during their evaluation programme. Combining her rookie year with a return to F4 CEZ, there will be lots of opportunity for Paatz to learn and evolve on track.
NINA GADEMAN – ALPINE
Alpine’s Nina Gademan is back for more in 2026, switching from PREMA Racing to MP Motorsport. After her point-scoring Wild Card debut in 2024, the Dutch racer enjoyed greater highs in her rookie season where she finished sixth in the Standings.
A memorable maiden win in Zandvoort Race 1 was bolstered by three further podiums, with two P3 finishes in Montreal and a P2 in the penultimate race of 2025 in Las Vegas. Remarkably, the 22-year-old led the second most laps with 52 after narrowly missing out on wins in Shanghai and Montreal. Determined to harness the home team advantage, Gademan has to become a more consistent frontrunner if she wants to challenge for wins and the title.
PAYTON WESTCOTT - MERCEDES
Payton Westcott is about to make history as she becomes the first driver to progress from an F1 ACADEMY DISCOVER YOUR DRIVE karter into a full-time spot on the F1 ACADEMY grid.
The American racer has gone from strength to strength after being selected for the F1 ACADEMY DISCOVER YOUR DRIVE cohort in the 2024 Champions of the Future Academy Program. Progressing into single-seaters the following year, Westcott showcased her speed in the Formula Winter Series, Italian F4, E4 and F4 Saudi Arabian Championships alongside becoming the first and only woman to achieve a victory in the UAE Trophy series.
Delivering a P6 finish on her Wild Card debut in Las Vegas, Westcott has set herself a high benchmark. Stepping into the Mercedes operated by PREMA Racing car vacated by 2025 Champion Doriane Pin, Westcott has big shoes to fill, but ones she'll look to make all her own.
RACHEL ROBERTSON - PUMA
Impressing on her F1 ACADEMY debut in last year’s finale, Rachel Robertson will now have the challenge to prove herself across a full season, piloting the PUMA operated by Hitech car in 2026.
Robertson’s rise to the grid has been rapid after starting to kart competitively in 2022. The following year, she participated in the British Kart Championships. In 2024, she netted multiple top-10 finishes as the only female driver in the Senior Rotax Class of the BKC. Beating out more than 50 young British drivers, the Scot was then selected for a factory drive with Radical Motorsport for the 2025 Radical Cup UK season and went on to finish third in the Standings.
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After scoring two top-five times in the inaugural F1 ACADEMY Rookie Test, she was called up as a stand-in driver for the final round in Las Vegas. Her fourth-place finish in Race 1 marked the highest finish for any of the one-off drivers in 2025. In addition, the 18-year-old achieved four top-10 finishes in the 2025 F4 Saudi Arabian Championship.
RAFAELA FERREIRA – RACING BULLS
Rafaela Ferreira begins her sophomore season with high hopes after a chequered 2025. Her first season racing away from home in Brazil got off to a positive start with a P5 in Shanghai Race 1, but that would prove to be her best result out of the 14 races.
Six points-scoring finished followed, but the 20-year-old struggled to maintain a consistent run of top-10 results. A win in Brazilian F4 during the Grand Prix weekend was a high point as silverware eluded her in F1 ACADEMY. Retained by Racing Bulls, Ferreira will be looking to better her performances and move well up on her 12th place in the Standings.