F1 Academy Shanghai Race 1 2026: Gademan Wins as Granada Stuns on Debut

Nina Gademan made the reverse grid pole count from the first corner to the last in F1 Academy Shanghai Race 1 2026, leading every lap at Shanghai International Circuit to take the opening win of the 2026 season. The Alpine-backed MP Motorsport driver started from the reverse grid created by Friday’s qualifying session and controlled the race through a Safety Car restart and a compressed final phase. Behind her, Natalia Granada delivered a remarkable second place in her very first single-seater race, while Emma Felbermayr snatched third on the final lap.

Key Points – F1 Academy Shanghai Race 1 2026

• Gademan leads lights to flag from reverse grid pole, takes her second F1 Academy win
• Granada scores a maiden F1 Academy podium in her first ever single-seater race
• Felbermayr climbs from sixth to third on the final lap, seals Audi’s first GP weekend podium
• Larsen’s Lap 7 dive on Felbermayr clips the Audi’s rear, destroys her own front wing and ends her challenge
• Safety Car for front wing debris wipes out Gademan’s 1.5 second lead, but she nails the restart
• Billard drops from third to eighth off the line before the first corner sequence is complete

Start – Gademan Holds, Billard Falls, Contact at the Back

Gademan got it right from the line. Clean launch, clean turn in, the lead never under serious threat. Granada matched her and tucked in immediately behind, giving nothing away in the opening sequence.

Billard did not get the same start. The ART driver dropped from third to eighth before the field had reached the end of the straight. A race that looked like it might open with a top-three fight dissolved in seconds.

At the back, contact between Mathilda Paatz and Shi Wei ended Paatz’s momentum before it began. The Aston Martin driver pitted for a new front wing and lost any chance of building on her impressive qualifying display.

Up front, Gademan began stretching. A 1.2 second gap over Granada, with Ferreira a further six tenths behind in third.

Midfield – Moves That Didn’t Stick

Palmowski was working her way through from eighth. She found Larsen ahead at Turns 14 and 15 and looked for a way through, but the space wasn’t there.

Westcott found an opening on Ferreira at the hairpin, pulled the move, then ran wide on exit. Ferreira came straight back. The Racing Bulls driver held fourth and nothing changed.

Lap 7 – Larsen’s Front Wing, and the Race That Changed

Larsen went for Felbermayr late into Turn 3, a dive up the inside that caught the Audi’s rear on the way through. The contact was light enough that Larsen appeared to continue, but the front wing had taken damage. A few corners later it came off completely.

Without downforce, she was immediately vulnerable. Billard got past. Lloyd followed. Larsen was falling through the order with nowhere to defend.

The marshals needed time to clear the wing from the circuit. Safety Car. Gademan’s 1.5 second cushion: gone.

Lap 9 Restart – Gademan Controls, Felbermayr Climbs

The restart gave Granada her best opportunity. Gademan didn’t give it to her. A textbook launch down the straight, the gap reopened before Granada could find the tow.

Larsen went wide into the gravel at the final corner on the same lap and dropped to fourteenth. Her race was effectively done.

Felbermayr was going the other way. A dive up the inside of Westcott at Turn 2 put her fifth. Westcott had the inside line at the next corner and tried to fight back, but ran wide on exit and dropped to sixth behind Palmowski. Felbermayr had the clean air she needed and kept moving.

Final Lap – Felbermayr Takes the Podium

Gademan crossed the line six tenths clear of Granada. No drama at the front.

The podium fight was different. Felbermayr was in sixth late in the race and found a way to third. The move on Ferreira was clean and complete. The Racing Bulls driver had no answer.

Behind them, Lloyd had been working through a three-wide battle for seventh. Dobson tried the outside at Turn 1, ran wide, and Billard held the place. Lloyd got past Billard to take seventh and added the fastest lap point on the way.

Race 1 Classification

Coffee Corner Take

Gademan was the story the race wanted and she delivered it on her terms. Reverse grid pole is the easiest thing to waste in F1 Academy. She didn’t waste it. She built a lead, survived the safety car and won the restart. Three separate moments where the race could have gone wrong and didn’t. That’s the full picture.

Granada is the subplot that carries. First single-seater race. First podium. Second place at a Grand Prix weekend before she’s completed a lap in professional racing. There will be rounds where the experience gap shows, but Shanghai showed something that experience doesn’t teach. She read the restart, managed the pressure and never gave Gademan a moment where the pass looked possible.

Felbermayr’s drive from sixth to third on the final lap is the kind of thing that builds momentum across a season. She lost the front wing battle with Larsen and found a way back anyway. That matters in a championship where points compound quickly.

Billard’s start is the loss that lingers. Third on the grid, eighth at the first corner. No incident, just a launch that didn’t fire. Eight points left on the table before the race began.

Palmowski is fifth in the race she started from pole for Race 2. The weekend isn’t done yet.

What’s Next?