Silverstone delivers a statistical reset for F1 ACADEMY
Round 3 of the 2026 F1 ACADEMY season did more than bring the championship to Silverstone for the first time. It produced a weekend loaded with records, momentum swings and evidence of how sharply the competitive picture is evolving at the halfway mark.
At the centre of it all was Alisha Palmowski, who became the first driver this season to reach 100 points in the Drivers’ Standings. That total already moves her beyond her full 2025 haul of 91, underlining the scale of her step forward. For more on her Silverstone breakthrough, read our analysis of Palmowski’s home win and Bättig’s historic weekend.
Chiara Bättig’s weekend was historic before the racing had even fully unfolded. At 16 years, three months and 15 days, she became the youngest driver ever to start from pole position in F1 ACADEMY, beating the previous benchmark held by Jessica Edgar, who was 18 years, seven months and seven days old when she started from pole for Race 3 in Austin in 2023.
The Swiss racer also moved ahead of Formula 2’s Théo Pourchaire and Formula 3’s Zak O’Sullivan as the youngest polesitter in a full-season Formula 1 support series. Her Feature Race P2 carried further significance: Bättig became the first Wild Card driver to finish on the podium, while also giving Hitech its maiden F1 ACADEMY podium on the team’s 21st attempt.
That result ensured every team has now scored a podium this season.
Hitech left Silverstone as one of the weekend’s major winners. It was the only team to have all three drivers score points in both races, and its 32-point haul in the Feature Race alone exceeded everything it had previously scored in F1 ACADEMY across Rounds 1, 2 and the 2025 campaign combined.
Hitech and Rodin Motorsport were the joint-highest scorers of Round 3 with 41 points each, while a 38-point gap separated them from ART Grand Prix at the other end of the weekend’s team performance table.
Emma Felbermayr also strengthened her reputation for consistency. Her 2026 podium count now stands at five, the highest in the field, and she remains the only driver to have scored points in every race so far. Her lights-to-flag Reverse Grid Race win meant she led 13 laps on Saturday — more than the 10 laps she had led across the rest of her F1 ACADEMY career. Her growing confidence was also central to our feature on Felbermayr’s Silverstone double-podium momentum.
Campos Racing tightened its grip on the Teams’ Standings, opening a 53-point margin over Rodin Motorsport — the largest halfway-point advantage in F1 ACADEMY history.
Elsewhere, PREMA Racing endured its weakest weekend in the series, scoring only six points through Natalia Granada’s P7 in the Feature Race. It was also the first time since Barcelona in 2024 that none of its three cars reached the podium.
Experience proved decisive at Silverstone: 16 of the 18 points finishes came from drivers who had previously raced at the British circuit in other series. The exceptions were Lisa Billard’s sixth place in the Reverse Grid Race and Granada’s seventh in the Feature Race.
Ciara Gillan
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!
The F1 ACADEMY record numbers behind a landmark weekend in Silverstone | Formula Live Pulse
