Westcott relieved to have proven herself: "A big weight off my shoulders"

Westcott controls Zandvoort reverse-grid race

Payton Westcott delivered a composed lights-to-flag performance at Zandvoort to secure her maiden F1 ACADEMY race victory, turning reverse-grid pole into a dominant win after a difficult run of results.

The Mercedes driver also negotiated two Safety Car restarts without surrendering the advantage. Each time the field closed up, Westcott rebuilt her lead, maintaining her focus while Nina Gademan and Alba Larsen battled behind. A late challenge from Larsen briefly brought pressure, but Westcott refused to be drawn into the fight and finished almost two seconds clear of her nearest rival.

“I feel great. It was a good race from my end,” Westcott said. “I managed to pull a gap in the first lap and then we had the Safety Car after that, so I was a bit disappointed because I thought I had a nice gap.”

A significant confidence lift

Westcott’s breakthrough came after an unlucky sequence at Silverstone, where she finished 14th in the Reverse Grid Race and 11th in the Feature Race. Those results had followed two third-place podium finishes, in Shanghai and Montreal, leaving victory as the missing piece in her campaign.

“It’s incredible. I feel so relieved to have won a race in F1 ACADEMY. It takes a big weight off my shoulders,” she said. “I really did it to prove to myself that I could do it and I’m so happy.”

Westcott will start Sunday’s Feature Race from P8, but the win has changed the tone of her weekend. With rain forecast, she believes there is scope to advance through the field and sees the conditions as an opportunity rather than a complication.

“P8 isn’t exactly where I would want to start, but I think that we can keep moving up,” she explained. “A wet race will be interesting. It will definitely shake up the field. I personally like driving in the wet, so I’m excited to see how it goes.”