Susie Wolff identifies early F1 Academy title contenders as Palmowski leads

Wolff sees early shape in the 2026 F1 Academy fight

Susie Wolff says the 2026 F1 Academy grid is already beginning to reveal its leading championship contenders, with Alisha Palmowski, Emma Felbermayr and Megan Bruce occupying the top three positions after the opening two rounds.

“With F1 Academy, we are always trying to pick the most outstanding 18 young talents globally to give them the chance to really not just progress working with some of the best junior teams, but also to show us what they're capable of on track,” Wolff said in an interview shared on the F1 Academy YouTube channel.

Palmowski, Larsen and Lloyd highlighted

Wolff acknowledged that the 18-driver field is not uniform in experience, which makes progression one of the series’ most important markers. Some drivers arrive with less background behind them, but the expectation is that the platform accelerates their development.

“And not all are at the same level. Some have less experience who come in and we really see huge amounts of progression,” she said. “We obviously know who our title favourites coming into this year. We expect to see Alisha [Palmowski] up front. We know that Alba [Larsen] is super quick in the Ferrari. You've got Ella [Lloyd] in the McLaren.”

Her comments place Palmowski firmly among the early benchmarks, while also underlining that Alba Larsen and Ella Lloyd are expected to feature strongly. Yet Wolff stopped short of narrowing the contest too aggressively, noting that individual weekends may allow other emerging names to make their case.

That broader momentum around the category is also visible off-track, with F1 Academy preparing for its British Grand Prix appearance and a related fan push in London, as covered in this report on the F1 Academy London pop-up before Silverstone.

Silverstone next for the championship

For Wolff, the wider objective remains clear: the talent pool must keep rising. The drivers are being asked to seize the opportunity decisively and prove they can progress further in the sport.

The third round of the 2026 F1 Academy season will take place at Silverstone during the Formula 1 British Grand Prix weekend on 3-5 July.