Meet the 2026 F1 Academy Grid
Get to know the names and the faces of the 2026 F1 Academy Grid ahead of the start of a brand new season in Shanghai.
With the end of the 2025 season came a major reset in F1 Academy. The series’ two-season limit means that a wave of drivers have now graduated, opening the door to a new generation ready to step in. The 2026 F1 Academy Grid is now closed and ready to race.
Each rookie will be looking to make their mark early on and set themselves apart from the established drivers that are returning to the championship this year.
With the new season kicking off this weekend in Shanghai, let’s meet the young women competing alongside Formula 1 and who hope to make it there one day.
Meet the 2026 F1 Academy Grid
PREMA
Payton Westcott
Payton Westcott demonstrated her abilities enough to earn herself a full time seat in the 2026 Season after participating as a Wild Card Driver in 2025 on the final round in Las Vegas. Backed by the Mercedes F1 Team, Payton brings experience from the UAE4 Series, the Italian F4 Championship, and the Formula Winter Series.
Mathilda Paatz
Another 2025 Wild Card Driver, Mathilda made her F1 Academy debut last year in Montreal following stints in the French F4 Championship and the Formula Winter Series, amongst others. For 2026, she’s back full time, making the switch from Hitech TGR to PREMA and will be supported by the Aston Martin Formula 1 Team.
Natalia Granada
The final piece of the F1 Academy 2026 puzzle - Natalia completes PREMA’s line-up, announced just days before the season gets going. The seventeen year old Spaniard will be supported by the Sephora brand, a French multinational make-up and beauty brand. It has also teamed up with F1 Academy directly as an Official Partner and the Official Beauty Retail Partner of the series.
Natalia began racing when she was eleven years old, in local and regional karting championships. She became the first Junior Driver selected by Iron Dames, and was mentored by Miguel Molina, Ferrari factory driver and Le Mans winner. Last year, she explored the world of GT racing while also testing in Formula 4.
Campos Racing
Megan Bruce
The first of the drivers to be announced to be competing with Campos Racing for 2026, Megan Bruce will be a familiar face for F1 Academy fans. She made her debut in the series at last season’s round in Singapore, where she finished in P12 and P13 across the two races of the weekend. This year, she’ll be backed by one of F1 Academy’s partners, Tag Heuer. Previously, Bruce has competed in Saudi Arabian F4, GB4 and the Caterham 270R Championship.
Rafaela Ferreira
Hailing from Brazil, Rafaela enters her second full season of F1 Academy in 2026. Last year, she finished in P12 overall with a best result of fifth which came at the opening round in Shanghai. Prior to that, Ferreira has competed in both the Formula Winter Series and the Brazilian F4 Championship. In the latter, she achieved ten podium finishes, including three wins - the last of which occurred in Interlagos.
Alisha Palmowski
Palmowski also enters her second full season of F1 Academy this year, once again competing for Campos Racing. Finishing in fifth overall with three podiums to her name, including a win in China, the Red Bull Junior Driver impressed many up and down the paddock. This came off the back of her F1 Academy debut as a Wild Card driver in 2024 in Qatar, where she finished in fifth place.
The nineteen-year-old British driver moved into single-seater racing for the first time in 2024, after racing in the Ginetta Championship in the UK. She competed in both the GB4 Championship and the Formula Winter Series.
MP Motorsport
Nina Gademan
Last year, Nina made her full time F1 Academy debut after having joined the series in 2024 as a Wild Card Driver at her home event in Zandvoort. She finished the year in P6 overall with four podiums to her name. This included a home win in Zandvoort, racing on the same weekend as Formula 1.
Switching to MP Motorsport from PREMA in 2026, Nina is once again backed by the Alpine Formula 1 team and enters the 2026 season as one of the favourites for the title.
Alba Larsen
After a solid foundation in racing, which included karting and competing in the Indian Racing League, Alba Larsen moved into F1 Academy for her rookie season in 2025. Supported by Tommy Hilfiger and racing for MP Motorsport, she finished her debut season in P7 overall. Larsen got close to the podium on several occasions and scored points in all but four races in 2025.
Now backed by the Ferrari Formula 1 Team (and part of the Ferrari Driver Academy), Alba is a driver many will be keeping a close eye on this year as she looks set to be one of the Championship contenders.
Esmee Kosterman
An immediate fan favourite from her Wild Card debut in F1 Academy last year in Zandvoort, Esmee returns in 2026 to compete in the entire Championship. While racing with MP Motorsport, she’ll be backed further, not by an F1 Team, but by Lego. Prior to F1 Academy, Esmee competed in British F4, the Indian Racing League and the Ford Fiesta Sprint Cup Benelux.
Rodin Motorsport
Ella Lloyd
Lloyd was announced as part of the McLaren Driver Development programme ahead of her debut season in F1 Academy. She hit the ground running and finished the year as the highest placed rookie, in P4 overall with a victory in Jeddah to her name. Returning to race for Rodin Motorsport again in 2026, as the highest returning driver, Ella looks set to be the main title contender.
Ella only began her competitive racing career in 2022, making her debut in the Ginetta Junior Championship. She finished in the points in 15 of the 25 races before graduating to the Ginetta GT Championship in the following year. The Welsh driver became vice-champion that year in a highly competitive field. Lloyd has also competed in the Formula Winter Series, achieving the Female Driver Trophy several times, and in the British F4 series where she stood on the podium several times.
Ella Stevens
McLaren announced a second female driver to their development programme last year in the guise of Ella Stevens. Ella is a double English KZ2 Champion as well as a British BirelART Cadet Champion and the 2025 British KZ2 Vice-Champion, along with being the first woman to win in the UK’s premier karting class.
Ahead of being announced by McLaren last year, Ella topped the time sheets in the F1 Academy rookie test held in Spain.
Emma Felbermayr
Emma made her F1 Academy debut in 2025, backed by the Kick Sauber Formula 1 Team. Emma finished the year in P10 overall, with a victory in Canada to her name, along with several other top ten finishes. In 2026, she’s backed by the new Audi Formula 1 Team and will once again compete for Rodin Motorsport.
Emma’s racing journey began when she was just seven years old, making her karting debut. Emma has since competed in the Micro, Mini, and Junior Classes of karting and finished as runner-up in her first international race in the 2021 ADAC Ladies Cup. In 2023, she qualified 23rd out of 119 drivers in the KZ category of the World Championship in Wackersdorf, Germany and in 2024, Emma competed in all major shifter karting events, including WSK-Karting and the World and European Championships.
ART Grand Prix
Lisa Billard
Lisa made her F1 Academy debut last year in Singapore, where she was backed by F1 Academy partner Gatorade. She moves up to the series full time this year with ART and once again backed by the drinks company. This follows two seasons in French F4 and six years of competing in a number of karting championships.
Jade Jaquete
The sixteen-year-old French driver arrives in F1 Academy after competing in both the French Junior Karting Championship and in French Formula 4, having only driven a single-seater car for the first time back in 2024. As Lia Block heads away from single-seater racing, Jade replaces her as the driver to be backed in F1 Academy by the Williams F1 Team.
Kaylee Countryman
Sixteen-year-old Countryman hails from the great state of Arizona and will be backed by the original American F1 Team in 2026 - Haas. Countryman began racing three years ago, competing in a four-stroke Briggs & Stratton-powered kart in the LO206 J2 class. Kaylee competed in the North American-based USF Juniors as one of three female drivers in the 22-driver field, scoring four top-10 finishes. She’ll be competing in this Championship again in 2026, alongside her F1 Academy duties.
Hitech
Rachel Robertson
Taking over from an injured Aiva Anagnostiadis at the final round of F1 Academy last year, Rachel finished in an almighty P4 on her debut. This was more than enough for the Scottish driver to secure a full time seat in the series for 2026. She’ll be backed by one of F1 Academy’s partners, PUMA, this season and enters the series after competing in both the Radical Cup UK and the Saudi Arabian F4 Championship.
Ava Dobson
Another of F1 Academy’s Wild Card Drivers, Aba Dobson didn’t get a fair shake of the stick in 2025 as she was only able to compete in one of two planned races across the Miami Grand Prix weekend, due to the treacherous wet weather conditions leading to the cancellation of the second. But consistent performances across GB4, the USF2000 Championship, US Juniors and the US F4 Series have enabled Ava to find her way onto the F1 Academy grid full time in 2026, supported by American Express.
F1 Academy Wild Cards
Part of F1 Academy’s weekends is introducing a Wild Card Driver for each event. This is in addition to the season-long drivers that are competing for the Championship. The aim of the Wild Card driver is for them to showcase their abilities, possibly with an eye on securing a seat on the grid for the following season. These drivers are announced quite close to the commencement of each race weekend, which is why at present we only know the Wild Card Driver for the opening round in China - Wei Shi.
Wei Shi
In some ways, now the ultimate Wild Card Driver, Wei Shi was the Wild Card driver at last year’s opening round of F1 Academy in Shanghai. The Chinese Driver didn’t fare well, unfortunately, with a DNF in the first race and a P14 finish in the second.