5 reasons why you should be watching the F1 ACADEMY season opener in Shanghai

Anticipation is building as the 2026 F1 ACADEMY season gets underway this weekend at the Shanghai International Circuit in China.

With the fourth season of the all-female series bringing new talent, exciting tracks and even fiercer competition, here’s what to watch out for ahead of the first lights out of the year.

Who will be 2026's leading contenders?

As 2025’s top three graduate from the series, there’s a crop of familiar faces hungry to take their place at the front of the field, but who will they be?

Ella Lloyd is top of the list for early favourites. Last season’s top rookie, the McLaren junior scored one win and four further podiums on her way to fourth in the Standings. A consistent performer on race day, her one-lap pace was a drawback with only one top-three appearance in seven rounds.

She’s well-acquainted with her fellow title protagonist Alisha Palmowski, who she beat to the Rookie of the Year honours by 18 points. Tipped by Champions Doriane Pin and Abbi Pulling for glory, the Red Bull Racing driver didn’t lack raw speed but a few on-track tangles cost her potential podiums.

The Briton clinched her maiden victory in Shanghai Race 1 last year, but both will be eyeing that trendsetting Race 2 win. Every driver who has won the main race in Round 1 has gone on to win the title — Marta Garcia won Races 1 and 3 in 2023, with Pulling and Pin winning Race 2 on the way to their respective titles.

The closest field yet

With only one pre-season test under their belts, Shanghai will be the first chance for the field to benchmark themselves against each other and give fans a true indication of the pecking order.

Assessing the grid, it’s expected to be a much closer contest, particularly towards the front. Last season, 1.2s covered the top 10 in the first Qualifying session — a similar gap this time around would be surprising. This could blow the battle for the title wide open, setting the stage for a four or even five-car battle.

Race winner Nina Gademan will be looking to take Alpine to the top step again while Ferrari have put their faith in Alba Larsen. The Dane, who finished seventh in the Standings, was the highest-placed driver without a podium finish and qualified an impressive third on her debut in China.

Audi’s Emma Felbermayr also shouldn’t be underestimated after making significant steps forward in her first single-seater season.

Rookies raring to shake up the order

Speaking ahead of the season, Managing Director Susie Wolff stressed quality of talent coming up through the ranks and the 11 rookies on this year’s grid are a testament to that. Each will want to impress enough to earn a second season where they can return with heightened ambitions.

Seven newcomers first made their mark in the inaugural Rookie Test last year, including McLaren Oxagon’s Ella Stevens, who topped the times during the one-day event. Meanwhile, the four Wild Card graduates are likely to filter in towards the top half of the order, with Mercedes’ Payton Westcott having big shoes to fill following Pin’s 2025 title success for the Silver Arrows and Gatorade’s Lisa Billard and Lego Racing’s Esmee Kosterman keen to take the F1 ACADEMY Official Partners to the top step in their first season.

Stevens, Haas’ Kaylee Countryman, Williams’ Jade Jacquet and newly-announced Sephora driver Natalia Granada will all make their F1 ACADEMY debut in Shanghai, but how will they benchmark amongst their fellow first year drivers?

Key to their success will be how quickly they can get to grips with the track evolution following the Formula 1 sessions. In Shanghai, F1 ACADEMY Qualifying takes place after F1’s Free Practice 1 and Race 1 immediately follows the first F1 Sprint of the year.

Can any team de-throne PREMA?

PREMA Racing have an unrivalled record in the all-female series — three-times Teams’ Champions and two-time Drivers’ Champions with Marta Garcia in 2023 and Pin last year. With 18 wins, 44 podiums and 10 pole positions, they’re the only team to have broken the 1,000 points mark.

However, their unbeaten Teams’ title record could be under threat as the five other teams all look to be stiff competition. Fielding a trio of rookies in Aston Martin’s Mathilda Paatz, Westcott and Granada puts them at an early disadvantage compared to Campos Racing, MP Motorsport and Rodin Motorsport.

Their closest rivals last year, Campos, led the Teams’ Standings until Round 4 in Montreal, so the familiar season opener should suit them.

Rodin Motorsport have two race winners at the helm in Lloyd and Felbermayr and MP have Larsen, Gademan and Wild Card points scorer Kosterman steering their charge. ART Grand Prix and Hitech are unlikely title contenders but could prove decisive in the battle for podiums and points-scoring finishes.

Decisive reverse grid races

Race 1 might dish out less points, but in a season expected to come down to the smallest margins, it’s more important than ever. Awarding a total of 280 points across the seven rounds, over a quarter of the maximum points available can be scored in the reverse grid races. Only 15 points decided the 2025 title in Pin’s favour, so this year’s field will be scrapping hard for every point they can get.

This puts a greater emphasis on Saturday performance and forces drivers to be all-rounders. Those who are quick in Qualifying will need to show their overtaking chops to get back through the order in Race 1 and then hopefully pull away from the front in Race 2. But we’ll have to see who can make the most of their opportunities…

An unpredictable action-packed campaign lies ahead, so you won’t want to miss a second of it! Round 1 of the 2026 F1 ACADEMY season gets underway on Friday, March 13 with Free Practice at 0910 local time (GMT+8), followed by Qualifying at 1410.

Lights out for the first race of the year is at 1345 on Saturday, with Race 2 concluding the weekend at 1040 on Grand Prix Sunday.