Interview
‘We’re missing a bit of aggression’ – Soullier gives verdict on mixed ART Grand Prix performance in Shanghai
It was a weekend of differing fortunes for ART Grand Prix at the season opener, with Team Manager Pierre Soullier admitting that fielding three rookie drivers presented various challenges in Shanghai.
The team earned seven points over the weekend thanks to Gatorade’s Lisa Billard. Qualifying in sixth, she wasn’t able to convert her P3 start on the reverse grid into a podium. However, she got stuck into plenty of battles and finished eighth and seventh in Race 1 and 2 respectively, building on her Wild Card experience from last season in Singapore.
Meanwhile, neither Haas’ Kaylee Countryman nor Jade Jacquet were able to qualify inside the top 10, with the former suffering an issue during the session that saw her slow to a stop on track.
Race 1 produced no major improvements and things worsened for the Williams junior in Race 2 as she crashed into Esmee Kosterman, later receiving a five-place grid drop for the next round in Montreal.
“Honestly, in the team performance we can see that we have a good car, particularly with Lisa’s performance,” Soullier said. “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.
“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.”
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Reflecting on their results, he added: “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.”
With a two-month break before the teams and drivers head to Montreal, there is plenty of time for ART to reflect on their collective performance and identify exactly what to work on over the rest of the season.
Outlining what they’re hoping to achieve, Soullier commented: “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.”