Felbermayr Wins F1 Academy Shanghai Race 2 as Larsen Throws Away the Lead

Emma Felbermayr won F1 Academy Shanghai Race 2 by 0.252 seconds from Alisha Palmowski after inheriting the lead from Alba Larsen, who had dominated the early running before losing the front on the restart and dropping to eighth. The Audi-backed Rodin Motorsport driver crossed the line ahead of Palmowski and Payton Westcott in a 13-lap race shaped by a Lap 6 Safety Car for contact between Jade Jacquet and Esmee Kosterman, a restart that changed the result, and a second incident on Lap 10 that brought Rachel Robertson into the stewards after contact with Shi Wei. Felbermayr’s second podium of the weekend gives Rodin and Audi a perfect opening round. Natalia Granada, who finished second in Race 1 on debut, retired with front wing damage after a first-lap collision with Rafaela Ferreira.

Key Points: F1 Academy Shanghai Race 2 2026

• Felbermayr wins by 0.252 seconds from Palmowski, second podium of the weekend for Audi and Rodin Motorsport
• Larsen launches from P2 to lead immediately, builds a two-second gap, loses the lead at the restart with oversteer at the final corner and falls to eighth
• Safety Car Lap 6 for Jacquet into the rear of Kosterman at Turn 14, both retire; Jacquet receives a five-place grid penalty, Kosterman not penalised
• Granada pits for front wing after first-lap contact with Ferreira, recovers to 14th from second on the grid
• Robertson retires Lap 11 after contact with Shi Wei at Turn 14, receives five-place grid penalty; stewards determine dusty tyres from off-track moment on previous lap were the cause
• Next round: Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Montreal, May 22-24 after Jeddah cancellation

The Start: Larsen’s Launch

Palmowski started from pole but never led a lap. Larsen, starting second, got the better launch in cooler track conditions and moved past Palmowski before the field reached the end of the straight. It was a clean move, no contact, just the kind of start that changes the shape of a race before anyone has turned a wheel in anger.

Felbermayr took second immediately. Palmowski dropped to third and found Westcott pressing from behind through the opening sector, the Red Bull Racing driver holding position but never comfortable.

At the back of the grid, Granada’s weekend unravelled on the opening lap. Contact with Ferreira sent Granada to the pits for a new front wing. She rejoined at the tail of the field and spent the rest of the race working back to 14th. Second place in Race 1 on debut. Fourteenth after a first-lap incident in Race 2. The gap between those two results tells you everything about how quickly F1 Academy weekends can turn.

Larsen Builds, the Field Settles

Larsen extended through Laps 2 to 5. The gap to Felbermayr reached two seconds. Behind them, the midfield had compressed into a sequence of small battles that produced movement without changing the top three.

Lloyd was working through from further back, eventually emerging ahead in a three-way battle for sixth against Ferreira and Billard, posting the fastest lap at that stage of the race in the process. Billard, after her difficult Race 1 start, was building towards a cleaner result.

Gademan, the Race 1 winner, was running fourth and managing her pace. No danger to the top three, but solidly in the points.

Safety Car: Jacquet and Kosterman

The Safety Car came out on Lap 6. Jacquet locked up approaching Turn 14 and drove straight into the rear of Kosterman’s car. Both retired. The stewards reviewed the incident post-race and gave Jacquet a five-place grid penalty for her next race: they found she had the tow and could see what was happening ahead but still made contact. Kosterman was not penalised.

Larsen’s two-second cushion disappeared. The field bunched. The restart was the race.

The Restart: One Corner, the Whole Result

Larsen had controlled the race to that point. The restart gave Felbermayr the chance she needed and Larsen provided it herself. A snap of oversteer at the final corner sent the Ferrari driver across the gravel on the lap the Safety Car pulled in. She dropped to the back of the top ten immediately.

Felbermayr inherited the lead. Palmowski was right behind her. Westcott third. The order that had been forming for ten laps was now set in two corners.

Larsen spent the rest of the race recovering to eighth. Her race pace before the restart had been the best of anyone on track. The restart erased it entirely.

Felbermayr Holds, Palmowski Pushes

Palmowski was not passive. She closed across the final laps and the gap at the flag was 0.252 seconds. Westcott held third without drama, crossing 0.620 seconds behind Palmowski.

Gademan finished fourth, 2.912 seconds back. Lloyd fifth. Ferreira sixth despite the Race 1 contact and the pressure from multiple directions through the midfield.

Robertson, Shi Wei and the Lap 10 Incident

Robertson and Shi Wei made contact at Turn 14 on Lap 10. Robertson locked up on the inside line and hit her Hitech teammate’s car. Both retired. Post-race, the stewards found that Robertson had run off-track on the preceding lap and accumulated dust on her tyres. On the following lap she braked as normal but the tyres were compromised. The collision was judged unavoidable given the circumstances. Robertson received a five-place grid penalty for her next race regardless. Shi Wei was not penalised.

Race 2 Classification

Championship Standings

Coffee Corner Take

Larsen’s restart is the only thing anyone will talk about, and that framing does her a disservice. She produced the best launch of the race from third on the grid, built two seconds over the field leader in clean air, and managed the Safety Car phase without error. Everything she did before the final corner of that restart lap was the performance of someone who should have won. One snap of oversteer in one corner undid all of it.

Felbermayr’s weekend is the real story. Two podiums from two races, one of them a win she had to fight for in Race 1, one of them a win she inherited but then had to defend for three laps against a Palmowski who was clearly faster in the closing stint. Inheriting a lead and holding it under pressure are two different skills. She demonstrated both. Rodin and Audi will leave Shanghai with a championship lead and a driver who looks capable of building on it.

Granada’s Race 2 is a reminder that debut weekends in single-seaters rarely run clean for an entire round. She delivered in Race 1 with composure beyond her experience level. Race 2 exposed the other side: a first-lap incident, a pit stop, a recovery drive to 14th. The talent is not in question. The consistency will come. Shanghai gave her both extremes in the same weekend.

The Turn 14 corner produced three separate incidents across the two races, two of them within four laps of each other in Race 2. Jacquet, Robertson, Kosterman, Shi Wei: four drivers caught by the same corner on the same day. Whether that is a circuit characteristic or a concentration of risk at that specific braking point is a question the series will need to consider before Montreal.

What’s Next?