New Faces of the F1 Academy: The ART Grand Prix Rookies
- therookiereporters
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
F1 Academy enters its 4th season in 2026 and the new look of the championship also brings new faces to the competition. In this article, you’ll meet the newest additions to the F1 Academy, driving for the ART Grand Prix team.
One of the famous French feeder series teams, ART Grand Prix, was founded in 2005 by the current Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur and Nicolas Todt, son of Jean Todt. The team found much success in feeder series, graduating drivers such as Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to the pinnacle of motorsports. They were one of the 5 teams that started the F1 Academy back in 2023, but they’re yet to win a championship in the series. In fact, they’ve mostly been closer to the back of the championship. Last year, with the line-up of Courtney Crone, Aurelia Nobels and Lia Block, they scored 3 podiums, including Lia Block’s first and only F1 Academy win in Singapore. And yet, they still finished the championship in 5th place, way behind Rodin. Coming into the 2026 season, ART Grand Prix replaces the entire driver line-up and recruits 3 fresh rookies for their 4th season in the F1 Academy: Lisa Billard and Jade Jacquet from France, Kaylee Countryman from the USA.
Lisa Billard
16-year-old Lisa Billard is known to be the first female driver to win a race in the French Junior Karting Championship in 2022. In the following years, she made it into the international stage with the FIA Academy Trophy and French F4 Championship, also getting the support of Iron Dames. Last year, she was the only female driver to score points in the general classification of French F4 and the driver with the most Female Trophies in the series. She also scored the second fastest lap overall in the F1 Academy Rookie Tests, which led to her F1 Academy debut in Singapore with #60 Gatorade liveried car. Despite her impressive performance in the qualifying session, she couldn’t finish the races in the points due to damage and track conditions. This season, she once again races with the Gatorade support but with car number 14 and a full-time seat.
Jade Jacquet
Much like her compatriot, Lisa Billard, Jade Jacquet’s career path also went from the French Junior Karting Championship and French F4. She started with karting in 2023 and quickly jumped to single-seaters in the following year. She also claimed one of the Female Trophies in French F4 and took part in the Rookie Test. The 16-year-old driver completed the morning session in 11th and the afternoon session in 7th place. In 2026, she will be representing Williams with the #95 car, replacing the departing Lia Block.
Kaylee Countryman
Kaylee’s story is a birthday karting present turned into her passion. The American driver started her career in 2022 with national karting series in Arizona, California and Indiana, collecting several podiums in the competitions. Her rapid rise continued in 2023, as she started racing internationally and became a factory driver for the well-known karting brand CompKart. Last year, she made her open-wheel racing debut in the North American USF Juniors series and finished in top 10 for 4 times. In addition to the Juniors series, she also took part in USF2000 for only 2 races. She was also at the Circuito de Navarra for the F1 Academy Rookie Test, however there aren't any recorded lap times by her. For the 2026 F1 Academy season, Haas parted ways with Courtney Crone after her first season and put her fellow 16-year old American, Kaylee Countryman in the seat. She will be racing with the car number 91.
In summary, ART Grand Prix gives 3 rookies their first full-time experience in F1 Academy this season. We’ll see how these 16-year old newbies fare in their debut season and if they’ll be able to help ART Grand Prix reach better heights in F1 Academy.
Article written by Emre Albas © Emre Albas 2026
