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Alisha Palmowski wrote her name into F1 Academy history twice over in Montreal, delivering one of the most dominant individual weekends the series has ever witnessed. The Red Bull Racing driver arrived at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve carrying painful memories from the previous year — rapid pace squandered by two opening-lap incidents — and made it abundantly clear that she had no intention of repeating the experience.
From the moment qualifying began, Palmowski was in a class of her own, clocking repeated personal bests to claim both pole positions with margins of 0.390s and 0.421s. The Opening Race was a masterclass in controlled aggression, with the Briton winning by 10.119s — a new record for the series' biggest winning margin.
Her finest hour, however, came on Grand Prix Sunday. Mastering the drizzly conditions with clinical precision, Palmowski surpassed even that benchmark in the Feature Race, stretching her victory margin to 10.955s and shattering her own record in the process. The championship consequences are stark: Palmowski now sits 25 points clear of Emma Felbermayr at the top of the Drivers' Standings, and she heads to Silverstone knowing the rest of the field is fully aware of what she is capable of.
For Megan Bruce, Montreal marked a significant step forward on her F1 Academy debut at the venue. The TAG Heuer driver qualified third and second across the two sessions and held her nerve against fellow rookie Payton Westcott to claim P2 in the Opening Race — her first pieces of silverware in the series. The Reverse Grid Race was less straightforward, with the Briton becoming embroiled in a racing incident with teammate Palmowski that denied both a points finish.
The Feature Race underlined both her promise and the margins at this level. Bruce dispatched Westcott on the opening lap and ran strongly, only for a late-lap wall clip to allow Emma Felbermayr to snatch P2. At 21, she already surpassed her own expectations, and with Silverstone offering more familiar surroundings, there is plenty of reason for optimism.
Mathilda Paatz delivered a composed and emotionally charged weekend for PREMA Racing, becoming the only driver to register top-five finishes in all three races. After qualifying fifth on both her fastest and second-best laps, she bided her time in the Opening Race and capitalised on a teammate error to claim her maiden podium in third.
The Reverse Grid Race brought even greater reward. Sweeping past Kaylee Countryman for P2 in the closing stages, Paatz was perfectly placed to inherit the win after Rafaela Ferreira was handed a five-second penalty for a false start — a dramatic conclusion to a race already full of incident, as detailed in the full round-up of penalties from the Reverse Grid Race in Montreal. The German racer's victory also marked Aston Martin's first visit to the F1 Academy podium. A more measured fifth in the Feature Race capped a weekend that yielded 35 points, tying with Bruce for the second-largest haul of the round.
Kaylee Countryman delivered ART Grand Prix's most significant result in some time. The American outpaced her teammates in qualifying and opened her F1 Academy points account with P7 in the Opening Race before the Reverse Grid Race brought her maiden podium — elevated to second following post-race penalties. It was only ART's fifth podium since the start of 2024 and their first rookie podium since the inaugural season.
If any team embodied the spirit of Montreal, it was Campos Racing. Palmowski's back-to-back victories, combined with Bruce's two podium finishes and Ferreira's fourth place in the Opening Race, produced a 102-point haul — the highest ever recorded by a team in the series' history, with 56 of those points coming from the Opening Race alone.
Ferreira's Reverse Grid Race was a story of bitter misfortune. She controlled the race from the front, only for a false start penalty to drop her from P1 to P8 — the damage compounded by the unlucky timing of a Safety Car triggered by the Palmowski-Bruce incident, which denied her any chance to build a buffer. Despite missing out on 14 potential points, the scale of Campos' achievement cannot be overstated: their 54-point advantage over PREMA Racing is more than double the largest lead previously recorded after five races.
With two of their drivers heading to their home circuit at Silverstone, Campos are firmly in the driving seat — but with records already broken and rivals hungry for a response, the championship is far from settled.
Ciara is a Dublin native, award-winning film producer, podcaster and writer with 20 years of storytelling experience. A lifelong Leinster and Ireland rugby fan, she turned her attention to the grid after moving to Berlin and co-founding Formula Live Pulse. Now, she applies her producer’s brain to Formula 1, navigating the highs of Oscar Piastri’s rise and the unique stress of being an adopted Ferrari fan. She loves talking and talking about F1, if you give her the chance!