Chiara Bättig topped Free Practice at Silverstone on her F1 ACADEMY debut, and Alisha Palmowski had to settle for second. The Wild Card driver’s 2:02.640 lap put her at the front of the opening session on the British track.
The gap was small. Bättig finished two tenths clear of Palmowski and Nina Gademan, and she became the first Wild Card driver to top a session.
Silverstone Free Practice pace
Free Practice began with installation laps in the 40-minute session before Ella Lloyd set the opening benchmark at 2:05.240 after 10 minutes. Lisa Billard spun through Abbey and brought out yellow flags, then Emma Felbermayr moved to the front with a 2:04.369 before improving to 2:03.369.
Nina Gademan then took P1 with a 2:03.189. Bättig answered with a 2:02.881 and cut that again to 2:02.640, the lap that stood as the session’s best.
Alisha Palmowski closes in
Palmowski, the standings leader, logged her first representative lap soon after Bättig went to the top and finished 0.208s behind her best. That left the Red Bull Racing driver second, with Gademan third and Emma Felbermayr close behind in the order.
Ella Stevens completed the top five, followed by Ava Dobson in sixth and Rachel Robertson in seventh. Payton Westcott took eighth, and Megan Bruce rounded out the top 10.
Qualifying at 18:00 local time
Esmee Kosterman briefly stopped at the entry to the National Pit Straight during the session but continued on. The next test for Bättig and Palmowski comes in Qualifying at 18:00 local time, where practice speed will need to hold under pressure on the 5.891km circuit.
The session has already changed the tone of the day. Bättig arrives at Qualifying with the best lap in hand, while Palmowski has the more familiar job of turning a narrow deficit into a front-row fight.
