ART Grand Prix and their three rookie drivers endured a challenging start to their 2026 F1 Academy campaign, with Lisa Billard delivering the team’s only points finishes in both races, contributing all seven of their points from the weekend.
Reflecting on the season opener, Team Manager Pierre Soullier admitted that fielding three rookies came with its challenges. While neither of Billard’s teammates Kaylee Countryman nor Jade Jacquet managed to qualify inside the top ten, Soullier takes positives and encouragement from the potential shown—particularly from what Billard managed to demonstrate during the opening round in Shanghai.
He said: “Honestly, in the team performance we can see that we have a good car, particularly with Lisa’s performance. We know that we have the pace in Qualifying. On Lisa’s side, we still have a lot of work to do in the races, especially on the starts.”
“It was better in Race 2 but the start is still tricky, and we’re missing a bit of aggression. When we find this improvement, it will be much better for sure because in Qualifying, I’m not worried about this with Lisa.”
Soullier added: “Regarding Jade and Kaylee, they have to know how to manage the pressure more because it’s a new environment for them with a lot of people and a lot of media. They are going to do very good things but due to this lack of experience regarding the environment and pressure, it’s playing on them a lot.”
Room for improvement for Jacquet ahead of Montreal round
While Billard delivered promising results, Jacquet faced a tougher weekend, retiring in Race 2 following a collision with Esmee Kosterman. A small misjudgement from the French driver saw her run into the back of Kosterman, earning a five-place grid penalty for the next race.
Looking back on Jacquet and Countryman’s debut F1 Academy weekend, Soullier said: “Jade is really under pressure so she has to improve this point. After that, I’m pretty confident it will be better. In the races, Kaylee does not have much experience so she’s learning a lot, and Race 1 was not bad for Jade.”
“In Race 2, the start was really good and then we had the crash. It was a mistake, like a misjudgement of the turn. Things happen. At least she tried. We wanted to see more aggression – this time it was a bit too much. Next time we’ll come back stronger.”
Soullier “confident” in his rookie drivers’ potential to progress
Despite the cancellation of the Saudi Arabian round, Soullier explained that he and ART remain focused on their development goals for the 2026 F1 Academy season.
He said: “Our drivers don’t have that much mileage so lap after lap, test after test, it will get better. With Lisa, our goal is to be consistently in the top five and hopefully in the top three at the end of the season. I’m pretty confident that we will be able to do it.”
“For the two others, if we are able to bring them into the top 10 quite consistently, it will at least be a good job […] We will try to keep them in a healthy environment to be fully focused on what they have to do. It will be a bit more difficult but at least we will give our best as a team and as drivers.”
