Motorsport UK Academy member Alisha Palmowski will return home for the next rounds of the F1 Academy season with a commanding championship lead following a record-breaking performance in Montreal, Canada.
The 19-year-old Red Bull Racing-backed driver became the first competitor to win two rounds in this year’s championship. Her second victory, achieved in treacherous wet conditions, also saw her break her own record for the largest winning margin in F1 Academy history.
After five of the 14 scheduled rounds – all staged alongside Formula 1 Grands Prix around the world – Palmowski, from Manchester, now holds a significant 25-point advantage over Austria’s Audi-backed Emma Felbermayr.
“It was almost the perfect weekend,” admitted Palmowski after missing out in Saturday’s reverse-grid race. “Win number two was pretty special, with a lights-to-flag victory in the wet Feature Race – winning by 10.9 seconds to extend our championship lead.”
Highlighting the strength and depth of female motorsport talent in the UK, fellow British driver Megan Bruce also impressed in Canada, securing two podium finishes. Bruce, 21, now sits third in the standings as the F1 Academy field prepares for the next two rounds at Silverstone on the 2026 calendar.
Both Palmowski and Bruce are current members of Motorsport UK’s Academy programme, which was established to develop world-class British athletes and strengthen the nation’s reputation for international motorsport success. Previous graduates of the scheme include Formula 1 drivers Ollie Bearman, Arvid Lindblad, Lando Norris and George Russell, as well as World Endurance Champion James Calado.
Palmowski is one of 11 members of the High Performance Academy, which supports elite drivers competing at the highest levels of motorsport through tailored coaching, guidance and performance support.
Bruce, meanwhile, is one of seven drivers selected for the Race Academy, run in partnership with iZone Driver Performance. The initiative is designed to support promising young drivers, providing hands-on coaching to improve consistency, technical ability and racecraft using state-of-the-art facilities and expert mentorship.
Click here to find out more about the latest generation of young talent in the 2026 Motorsport UK Academy.