Report
RACE 1: Gademan secures flawless lights-to-flag Shanghai victory
Nina Gademan ran the show as she led every lap from pole to take the first win of the 2026 F1 ACADEMY season. The Alpine driver kept herself just out of Natalia Granada’s reach, who scored her maiden podium in her first single-seater race.
Emma Felbermayr left it late to snatch third from Rafaela Ferreira, scoring Audi’s first podium at a Grand Prix weekend.
It was a solid start for the front row, with reverse grid polesitter Gademan holding firm off the line with Granada going with her. Lisa Billard was bogged down off the line, tumbling down from third to eighth.
At the tail end of the order, contact between Mathilda Paatz and Shi Wei forced the Aston Martin driver to box for a new front wing.
Out front, Gademan slowly began to eke out a 1.2s gap over Granada, who in turn put six tenths between herself and third-place Ferreira.
After starting in P8, Alisha Palmowski tried to find her way past Alba Larsen for P6 but couldn’t find the room through Turns 14 and 15. One lap later, Payton Westcott looked to have pulled off an overtake on Ferreira at the hairpin but ran wide allowing the Racing Bulls driver to get back through.
On Lap 7, Larsen’s late dive up the inside of Emma Felbermayr at Turn 3 backfired. Clipping the Audi driver’s rear, Larsen damaged her front wing, which broke off a few corners later. Losing downforce and grip, she was quickly overtaken by Billard and Ella Lloyd.
The Safety Car was deployed whilst the marshals retrieved the stricken front wing, eliminating Gademan’s 1.5s advantage over Granada.
Returning to racing conditions on Lap 9, Gademan pulled off a textbook start to keep the Spanish rookie at bay and tried to break the tow down the straight. Meanwhile, Larsen continued to struggle, going wide into the gravel at the final corner and dropping to P14.
One lap later, Felbermayr was on the attack, diving up the inside of Westcott at Turn 2. Although the Mercedes driver had the inside line into the next corner, the Austrian firmly shut the door. Westcott ran wide in her attempt to fight back, dropping her into P6 behind Palmowski.
In the battle for the final points, Lloyd dispatched Billard for seventh. Their battle gave Ava Dobson and Rachel Robertson a chance, with the trio going three-wide into Turn 1. Dobson attempted to go around the outside of the Gatorade driver, but ran wide, allowing Billard to regain the spot.
While the pack battle behind, Gademan cruised to her second F1 ACADEMY victory, six tenths ahead of Granada. Felbermayr lifted herself on to the podium on the final lap, getting the switchback done on Ferreira to take third.
The Racing Bulls driver scored her career-best result in fourth ahead of Palmowski and Westcott. Lloyd moved up from P10 to seventh, alongside scoring the fastest lap point, and Billard rounded out the points scorers in eighth.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Alisha Palmowski will be looking to convert her first pole position into victory on Sunday. The lights go out for Race 2 at 10:40 local time (UTC+8).