Rachel Robertson secures F1 Academy seat with Puma at Hitech

Rachel Robertson has been confirmed for a full-time campaign in F1 Academy in 2026, joining Hitech TGR with backing from PUMA as she prepares for her first full season in the all-female single-seater championship after an impressive one-off debut at the 2025 finale.

Photo credits: F1 Academy Ltd

Rachel Robertson has been confirmed for a full-time campaign in F1 Academy in 2026, joining Hitech TGR with backing from PUMA as she prepares for her first full season in the all-female single-seater championship.

The 18-year-old Scottish racer is set to step up after making a strong first impression at the 2025 season finale in Las Vegas, where she was called up to replace the injured Aiva Anagnostiadis in the #11 Hitech TGR entry and was the protagonist of an outstanding debut, finishing fourth in Race 1. It marked one of the highest rookie finishes of the season and immediately showed her potential in the all-female series.

Robertson’s rise through the ranks has been rapid: she only began competitive karting in 2022, progressing to the British Kart Championships a year later. In 2024, she established herself as a frontrunner in the Senior Rotax class of the BKC, scoring multiple top-10 results and standing out as the only female competitor in the category. Later that year, she beat more than 50 young drivers to secure a factory-supported drive with Radical Motorsport for the 2025 Radical Cup UK season.

That opportunity proved crucial; competing in the Finecut Radical Cup UK, Robertson immediately showed front-running pace, scoring multiple top-five finishes and her first podiums, and ultimately finishing third overall in the championship standings. Her performances earned her an invitation to the inaugural F1 Academy Rookie Test at Circuito de Navarra, where she impressed again by setting top-five times across both sessions.

Alongside her Radical commitments, Robertson also began her transition into single-seaters. She in fact undertook F4 testing and made her full-time F4 debut debut in the Saudi Arabian F4 Championship, where a difficult opening round in Bahrain was then followed by steady progress. By the second event, she claimed her first top-ten finish in single-seaters, and over the remainder of the season she emerged as one of the most improved drivers in the field. She ended the campaign with 19 points from ten races and narrowly missed out on a podium at the Jeddah finale, finishing fourth overall in the final race.

Stepping into the Hitech TGR-run car with minimal preparation for her F1 Academy debut at Vegas, Robertson immediately ran at the sharp end of the field and brought the car home in fourth in a wet race, eventually securing a full-time opportunity in 2026.

Robertson will be joining the grid full time with PUMA and Hitech TGR.

“I’m incredibly excited to be joining F1 Academy with PUMA for 2026,” she said. “It’s been an amazing journey to get here, just three years ago I was coming off my novice kart plates, having only got into the sport after persuading my dad to take me indoor rental karting."

“So much hard work has gone into this from my family and so many amazing people, and I’m hugely grateful for everything. I love that PUMA is the fastest sports brand in the world and that it represents being brave and true to yourself. That's exactly what I want to be this year.”

Robertson becomes the eleventh driver announced for the 2026 F1 Academy season and the first to be confirmed by Hitech TGR, as the team prepares for its second season in the championship with Scottish prospect.