A tough weekend at Silverstone for Countryman

With experience of the track from a mid-season test in April, the 16-year-old opened the weekend P16 in the sole practice session with a best time of 2:04.316.

Qualifying took place later in the day. After pitting midway through the session for a fresh set of tires, Kaylee improved to P9. However, as track conditions continued to improve and others found more pace, she slipped to P17 with a best lap time of 2:03.171.

In Saturday’s reverse grid race, Kaylee immediately made up a place on the start after avoiding the stalled car of MP Motorsport’s Esmee Kosterman on the grid. Kosterman made her way back ahead of the American racer on lap 4, demoting Kaylee to P17.

Kaylee spent the remainder of the race closing in on the car ahead, but overtaking proved difficult and she was unable to get close enough to mount an attack. She ultimately crossed the line in P17.

The feature race on Sunday provided another opportunity to make progress, and Kaylee’s quick reactions helped her avoid the stalled car of ART Grand Prix teammate Lisa Billard on the grid. While she made a place up on the start, she dropped back to P17 by the conclusion of the opening lap.  

She navigated past an incident involving Rodin Motorsport’s Ella Stevens and Campos Racing’s Rafael Ferreria on lap 2 to move up to P15 before the safety car was called, halting any further progress.  

Racing resumed three laps later and the American was jumped by Billard on the restart, dropping her to P16 where she continued running for the remainder of the race.

“It was definitely a tough weekend and not what we were looking for,” said Kaylee Countryman, TGR Haas F1 Team F1 Academy driver. “From free practice it looked like the pace was okay. We were the first cars on track, so the circuit hadn’t been rubbered in, and I was struggling with oversteer throughout the session.

“Qualifying was much later in the day after lots of cars had been on track, so the extra rubber on the track changed the conditions and created a clear peak in the tires. My second run briefly put us P9, but we completed the lap a little too early in the session and gradually slipped down the order. But then, the tires were already past their peak, so I wasn’t able to improve after that.

“I’ve been working on my starts and that paid off in the first race, but I had to avoid the stalled car ahead of me. I was close to the pack in the opening laps, but never quite close enough to make a move. It was a similar story in Sunday’s race as well. We seemed to lack overall pace and weren’t able to make much progress.

“As we learned in Shanghai, qualifying is definitely the key area for us to focus on, and that’s what we’ll be looking into before the next round. I’m looking forward to Zandvoort. The team has experience there and I’ll be doing plenty of preparation on the simulator ahead of the weekend.”

After a difficult weekend at Silverstone, Kaylee Countryman sits 13th in the drivers’ standings, with ART Grand Prix sixth in the teams’ battle.

The second half of the 2026 F1 Academy season kicks off at Zandvoort in the Netherlands on August 21-23 for Round 4.