'I have nothing to lose' - Felbermayr details 'all or nothing' approach after encouraging P1 finish in Austin Practice

Emma Felbermayr started arguably the most important weekend of her F1 ACADEMY career with an promising return to the top spot in Austin, finishing fastest in the first and only Practice session.

A run of difficult weekends have seen Alisha Palmowski extend her lead in the Drivers' Standings, with the Audi driver coming away from Zandvoort with 48 points separating her from the top spot.

Entering a weekend where Palmowski has two shots to become the series’ fourth Champion, the pressure is on to keep her title hopes alive. Working with the mindset that she has nothing to lose, Felbermayr stressed the importance of needing a good Qualifying and how finishing second isn’t an option.

“To be honest, the whole weekend for me is all in or nothing, everything or nothing. I have nothing to lose this weekend,” she explained.

“I think second place in the Standings is the first loser, so I want to win, or otherwise I lose. Alisha Palmowski could win the title this weekend, so I really need to put my best performance out this weekend. So I’m just trying to do that.”

She added: “I’m aiming for pole in Qualifying. Even for pole, you get points for the Standings, so I will really try to get every point out of this weekend and for pole position. It would be my first and I have tried every weekend, but so far it hasn’t worked out. So pole position is the goal.”

With the Austrian driver currently second in the Standings on 88 points, maximising her points is important, with Nina Gademan just 17 points behind.

It’s the first time F1 ACADEMY has raced in Austin since 2023, so Circuit of the Americas is a new track for the majority of the drivers. With only one Practice session before Qualifying Felbermayr tried to adapt as best she could.

The Audi driver started her weekend off strong, topping the timesheet for the Practice session, posting a 2:08.949, leading by almost two tenths over Palmowski.

READ MORE: PRACTICE: Felbermayr sets pace ahead of Palmowski in opening Austin session

“In the beginning, I struggled quite a lot, to be honest," she admitted. "We did some preparation on the sim, but the track felt totally different and also compared to 2023 when F1 ACADEMY was here. We have Abbi Pulling here to support us this weekend and we have onboard videos, but it was quite a bit different.”

“I expected it to be more like it was in the references, but in the end it was totally different. At the end of the session, we got a good rhythm, but I also don’t know what the other teams did with tyres and also pushing, so obviously it’s great with the pace, but we still need to find some more bits.”

Rodin Motorsport are utilising the advice of 2024 F1 ACADEMY Champion Abbi Pulling on site, who raced in Austin back in 2023, and Felbermayr acknowledged the benefits her experience has brought in helping her to understand the circuit's characteristics.

“Abbi’s weekend here wasn’t the best she had," said Felbermayr. "But she knows what to improve from her lap and from her weekend in general because at that time her car wasn’t the quickest. She can help us quite a lot with what to do differently and also the different ways she tried in her race. It’s great to have her with Rodin Motorsport here, especially on a track where we only have one Practice session and then straight to Qualifying.”

READ MORE: Jacquet confident historic French F4 victory can fuel maiden points bid in Austin

She continued: “Turn 1 is so late, it’s so much time until you get to the apex because it’s that big and our cars are relatively small. Also, as the track is so long, you really need to make every corner well, especially the flowing part in Sector 1 from Turn 2 to Turn 6.

“There, it’s all about positioning the car. If the first position at the first corner is bad, the other sections are going to be bad as well. For the hard braking zones, there isn’t a lot of time to prepare for the first corner, but on a flowing track it’s pretty hard to position the car at the first corner to make sure it’s at the correct position at the last corner.”