Palmowski wins incident-filled F1 Academy opener at Shanghai

Photo: F1 Academy

Campos Racing’s Alisha Palmowski scored a maiden victory as the new F1 Academy season got underway with a highly eventful sprint race at Shanghai.

In a contest disrupted by three safety car periods, Palmowski inherited the win ahead of her team-mate Chloe Chambers after Prema’s Nina Gademan slowed from the lead on the penultimate lap.

With the top eight positions from qualifying reversed to form the grid, Gademan had lined up from pole with Rodin Motorsport’s Emma Felbermayr alongside her on the front row.

Hitech GP’s Shi Wei was slow away from the back row on the formation lap but managed to take her place on the grid. Meanwhile Rodin’s Ella Lloyd, who had been due to line up from 11th, was forced to start from the pitlane due to her tyres being below the required minimum pressure.

Gademan made a great launch when the race got underway to take a clear lead while MP Motorsport’s Joanne Ciconte bogged down from row two and lost several places. That allowed Palmowski and Chambers to immediately gain a position each, and the Red Bull-backed duo went three-wide with Felbermayr through the first two corners. Palmowski prevailed on the outside at turn three to snatch second, while Feibermayr held off Chambers for third.

MP ’s qualifying pace-setter Maya Weug gained two places to sixth before the safety car was deployed due to Wei spinning on lap one and getting beached on a kerb.

Racing resumed on lap five, with Gademan weaving to try and break the tow to her pursuers, and she continued to lead from Palmowski while a battle raged behind.

Chambers dived up the inside of Felbermayr into turn one to grab third, and Weug capitalised by also drawing alongside Felbermayr. The pair went side-by-side through the next few corners before Weug got by at turn seven, with Prema’s Doriane Pin following the Ferrari junior through into fifth.

The safety car then returned to track for the next lap as Aurelia Nobels had retired with rear-right suspension damage after being collected by her ART Grand Prix team-mate Lia Block.

The green flags were waved at the start of lap 11, but almost immediately the race was neutralised for a third time after Hitech GP’s Nicola Havrda was rear-ended into retirement at turn one by Rodin’s Chloe Chong.

There were three laps remaining when the race got underway once more, with another good restart allowing Gademan to pull a small gap to Palmowski. But on the following lap Gademan suffered a mechanical problem and slowed. Palmowski inherited the lead, and resisted pressure from Chambers on the final lap to win by 0.206s.

Weug completed the podium a further second back, and Pin was fourth ahead Rafaela Ferreira, who ensured all three of Campos’s cars finished in the top five.

Lloyd recovered from her pitlane start to score in sixth, and MP’s Alba Hurup Larsen finished seventh despite a late incident with Felbermayr. She was caught up in a further collision with Prema’s Tina Hausmann on the final lap, while Ciconte was handed a 10-second stop/go penalty during the race for incorrectly serving an original penalty during a safety car period.

Race result (13 laps)