F1 Academy: Alisha Palmowski tops sole practice session in Montreal
- LIAM REDFORD
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Campos Racing driver Alisha Palmowski continued her strong early season form by topping free practice at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, leading a Campos 1-2 with teammate Chloe Chambers close behind in second.
Campos Racing driver Alisha Palmowski continued her strong early season form by topping free practice at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Palmowski led a Campos 1-2 with teammate Chloe Chambers close behind in second. Championship leader Maya Weug failed to complete a representative lap after technical issues plagued the Ferrari-backed driver.
F1 Academy continued its presence in North America with a first visit to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada. The challenging 4.361km circuit retains some characteristics of the previous round held at the Miami International Autodrome with a range of high and slow speed corners, coupled with heavy braking zones.
The narrow racing line with walls in close proximity was set to test the driver’s precision and with only one free practice session and no pre-event testing, this was the most challenging schedule faced by the 18 young drivers.
Despite just one completed race in Miami, Doriane Pin closed the gap on championship leader Maya Weug to just one point after claiming victory for Prema Racing. Weug finished in fourth as she overcame challenges throughout the event and was now looking to return to the top step of the podium.
Alisha Palmowski finished in second position as she strengthened her position inside the top-5 of the standings, while Chloe Chambers’ fourth podium in five races ensured she remained firmly in championship contention. Chambers claimed her second pole position of the season in Miami and with the postponed race set to take place at Montreal, the Campos Racing driver was aiming to take advantage of her carried-over grid position.
Nina Gademan, Aurelia Nobles, Courtney Crone and Nicole Havrda all secured their personal best results last time out with Havrda in particular targeting a strong weekend at her home circuit. So too was Chloe Chong with the Rodin Motorsport driver hoping that her Canadian routes would turn her fortunes after just one points scoring finish to begin the season.
Mathilda Paatz joined the grid at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as the wild card driver with the German racer backed by new F1 Academy partner Gatorade. Paatz is a podium finisher in F4 CEZ this season and the sixteen-year-old lines up alongside teammates Havrda and Aiva Anagnostiadis for her debut in the series.
Paatz’s challenge was made even greater by the schedule at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve resulting in just a single forty-minute practice session. With none of the drivers having any experience of the circuit, track time was paramount ahead of qualifying to follow later in the day. The track surface was dry, albeit dusty, with all 18 drivers immediately heading out onto the circuit.
After the majority of the drivers pulled into the pits in the early stages of the session, MP Motorsport racer Alba Larsen set the first representative time on a 1:42.897. However, misfortune struck for teammate Weug who remained in the pits with the team working hard to diagnose a technical issue.
As the track continued to clean up, the times improved and Alisha Palmowski was the first driver into the 1:40 range with a time of a 1:40.643 with Larsen in second and Ella Lloyd beginning the session on the front foot in third. With the halfway point of practice closing in, the running remained uninterrupted and this enabled the young racers to get into a rhythm as they continued to learn the technical circuit.
The first sub 1:40 lap was clocked just prior to halfway with Chloe Chambers now lowering the benchmark to a 1:39.870 with teammate Palmowski close behind in second. Weug’stechnical issues persisted and although she was able to complete a number of out laps, her car was not up to speed and the team continued to work on solutions.
Braking for the final chicane was proving challenging and a number of drivers, including Lloyd and Pin, ran wide while attempting to make the corner. With just over ten minutes remaining, the first incident of the session occurred when Larsen spun out of turn four and narrowly missed the wall. The Tommy Hilfger backed driver was able to rejoin and subsequently completed the most laps of any driver throughout practice.
At this point, the majority of the field had returned to the pits for changes to their car before the final period of running began. This was soon interrupted as Pin had left the pits with a cooling fan attached and after it left the car at turn four, the session was red flagged.
The session resumed for a final six minutes with over half of the drivers improving upon their personal best times. A fantastic flying lap saw Palmowski lead the way in free practice on a time of a 1:38.898 with Campos Racing teammate Chambers just under a tenth of a second behind. Larsen was third in a strong session for the Danish driver as she was also the fastest of the MP Motorsport trio.
Chloe Chong was an excellent fourth in her best session on her return to F1 Academy for Rodin Motrosport with her teammate Lloyd in fifth. Gademan led the Prema Racing charge in sixth with Rafaela Ferreira in seventh, Pin in eight, Lia Block in ninth and Nobels rounding out the top-10.
Tina Hausmann was classified in 11th, with Felbermayr, Crone, Havrda and Joanne Ciconte completing the top-15 positions. Wild card entry Paatz finished in a credible 16th ahead of Anagnostiadis with Weug failing to complete a lap following her technical issues.
The F1 Academy drivers will return to action this afternoon for qualifying which takes place at 18:30 local time.
