‘I’d Love To Be An F1 Driver’: Q&A With F1 Academy Rising Star Alisha Palmowski

With the F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend, the summer of motorsport is hotting up. But for the F1 Academy series drivers, (a series designed specifically to increase opportunities for women in top level motorsport,) there’s a summer break until the end of August. In the downtime, there’s an entire series of F1: The Academy to stream on Netflix, and we took the opportunity to catch up with up-and-coming British racing star Alisha Palmowski, who is competing for Red Bull Racing / Campos Racing this season. 

Alisha secured victory in her very first race of the series in Shanghai and looking ahead to the rest of the season she has her heart set on getting a race win in Las Vegas to round out her rookie year. At just 18-years-old, Alisha already has a decade of racing experience and has a lot to say about the future of women’s motorsport and how F1 could be made more inclusive, so we’ve decided to publish our conversation in full, so that you can dive into Alisha’s life as an F1 Academy driver. As the opening line of F1: The Academy states: ‘F1 is dominated by men, but that is about to change’. 

Q&A With Alisha Palmowski

Take us back to the beginning and tell us how your journey in motorsport has brought you to the F1 Academy this year.

I’m in my 10th year of Motorsport now, which feels crazy to say because it really has been my whole life and it just started off as a hobby. For me it was just something to do with my parents at the weekend. It wasn’t ever considered as a potential career for me, it was just something fun to do. I started off go-karting obviously as most drivers do, just at my local indoor karting track, nothing special, just doing some practice sessions to begin with, gaining confidence, enjoying it as well. I kept progressing and went back weekend after weekend and started winning races and winning championships.

From there, I bought my own go-kart, joined the Daniel Ricardo series, backed by Daniel himself, which is the national championship in the UK. So I raced all around the UK with me and my parents, my dad was my mechanic, and we did that for three, four years and had a lot of success there. I became a double Junior Vice Champion, which was amazing. And then we decided I wanted to make the transition from carts into cars because I realised that I might have a talent for this, and this might be a potential career. So I joined the Ginetta Junior Championship and did that for two years, becoming the winter series Vice Champion.

Last year was my first year in single seaters, racing in the GB4 Championship in the UK. Now I’m in my second year of single seaters in F1 Academy with the Red Bull Racing Pepe Jeans Academy program. So that’s my journey so far!

Has there been one defining moment for you so far?

There’s two that jump out at me. The first one would be winning the Ginetta Junior scholarship, which is a competition that around 70 drivers enter. I entered the scholarship at the end of 2021 and the winner of the scholarship receives a fully-funded season to compete in Ginetta Juniors. This was a very high pressure scenario for me because if I didn’t win the scholarship that year, my motorsport career would have ended probably, to be honest. I definitely wouldn’t be here now without winning that scholarship. I’d have never raced a car. I’ve never even sat in a race car, let alone race a race car. It was like a domino effect, which has led me here today, winning that scholarship. 

The second defining moment, the best moment of my career, would be joining the Red Bull Racing Pepe Jeans Academy programme because getting the opportunity to work with an F1 team, see how they operate within the pinnacle of the sport is an opportunity that I never believed I would get. From a driver development perspective, I’m learning so much and enjoying the journey as well so it’s incredible.

Victory in China

Congratulations on your win in China! Can you talk us through the emotions of a day like that?

It was incredible. I was sort of in a state of shock to be honest when I saw the chequered flag, when I won my first race of the season. There’s so much effort that goes in behind the scenes, not just from me, but from the team behind me as well. I’ve got such a great support network around me this year so I know how much effort has gone into getting the car on track. [Throughout preseason] you do start to get an idea of what the pecking order is, what our strengths and weaknesses are, who’s going to be where, but you never actually know until the first race of the year.

I went in with no expectations, not knowing who was going to be strong. So to win the first race of the year was just the biggest confidence booster. It raised the bar and set it really high for the rest of the year, because we started off as the strongest footing that you could do. I’m just chasing to try and get another win now.

What would you say are the biggest barriers to entry in motorsport?

I’d say probably the biggest barrier to entry for females within the sport is probably funding. That is a big one, because it’s probably one of the most expensive sports out there. And there are limited opportunities. So without the scholarship, I probably would have stopped racing when I was 15.

That’s why it’s amazing the opportunity that F1 Academy brings, and I think it’s really changing the landscape of motorsport for females in particular, going forwards, because the chance that it gives us to race alongside F1 as a support series and to work with F1 teams and see how they operate within the pinnacle of the sport from a driver development perspective. I think the progression that can give to women is amazing and hopefully for females to progress up the single season ladder towards F1. It’s an amazing opportunity and it’s changed my life. It’s really exciting to see how it’s going to develop. I think with things like the Netflix series and the amount of exposure that the sport’s getting as well. It’s really exciting. 

How do you prepare for the season and what do you do in the gaps in the schedule?

A lot of time in the gym, to be honest. It’s a very physically demanding sport, which I think is an aspect of motorsport that’s probably underestimated by a lot of people on the outside of the sport who don’t necessarily understand the g-forces that you experience. The cars have no power steering so the upper body strength required is very high. I’ve got a lot of support from Red Bull in that respect, I’ve got a performance coach who really helps me, keeps me on track with progress throughout the year and I also do a lot of simulator work.

When we have a gap mid-season, as we’ve got now, I spend a lot of time, both at the Red Bull Racing technology campus at Milton Keynes doing sim prep there but also at Campos racing, which is the team who operate the car over in Valencia.

Do you have to do specific neck workouts? 

Yes, to be honest! Which is bizarre, and I always do them at home because I feel like if you’re in the middle of a gym, it’s not the norm. It’s a very, very niche thing that we have to do, but yeah, there’s all sorts of neck harnesses that we have to use to train our necks and make them strong enough to withstand the g-forces. From what I’ve heard, the g-forces that F1 puts on your neck is higher than any other of the categories within the sport. But what gives me confidence is the fact that Susie Wolff, who’s Managing Director of F1 Academy, is the most recent female to have competed in an FP1 session in Formula 1. She proved that females can reach the physical fitness level required to drive a modern day F1 car.

Speaking of Susie Wolff, I know that she’s said she expects to see a woman in F1 in the next 10 years, do you think we’re on track for that?

Definitely, I 100% believe you’ll see a female in F1. I think it’s a case of when, not if. If that could be me, then amazing, but equally I’d just love to see it happen. I think role models are so important within the sport. But it’s important to say that F1 Academy isn’t just there to parachute a female through to Formula 1, it’s simply a stepping stone on our journey to try and showcase what we can do on the global stage.

What would you say to young girls starting out in motorsport?

I think I’d just say to believe that absolutely, we females deserve to be in the sport equally as much as males. There’s no reason why we can’t be, in every single avenue within the sport, not just from a driving perspective. There’s so many opportunities within the sport, which females absolutely can get involved in.

Beyond F1 Academy, is there anything that you think could change further that would make the motorsport a bit more inclusive? 

I think about this question a lot actually, and I’m not too sure to be honest. Because I think what F1 Academy is doing in particular for females is absolutely huge. And I think the biggest thing that we need at the moment is just time because naturally, it’s a process of getting more females involved in the sport, making the sport more diverse. We won’t wake up tomorrow morning and there will just be a 50-50 split, (happy days!), it will take time. 

The thing I love [about the Netflix show] is that it really shows that every single driver has come from a different part of the world, they’ve got different upbringings, different pressures, different financial support behind them and there’s no reason why all of them can’t succeed in motorsports. So there’s not one type of person that fits the role to be successful in motor support. Anybody can come from any different background and still succeed.

What should we be looking out for from you in the future? 

More race wins. That’s the aim. I think this year in general has been a big, big learning curve for me. It’s a new car for me which has required me to adapt my driving style quite a lot which is still an ongoing process. I’ll still be learning in Las Vegas at the end of the year but I’m gaining more and more confidence and progressing all the time.

What’s the dream?

Well I’d love to be an F1 driver, as I’m sure every single young racer would say but being realistic, I think I’d love to have a career in motorsport and whatever that may be. I’d love to keep progressing up a single seater ladder, as far as I can get, however far that may be.

And I don’t know why, but I’d love to win a race in Las Vegas. I feel like that would just be so incredible. So I’m manifesting that I’m going to win in Las Vegas. I’m going to win in Las Vegas!

You can find out more about The F1 Academy here, and season one of F1: The Academy is available to stream on Netflix now.