'The first time I felt like we could put up some sort of a fight’ – Crone reflects on enlightening Jeddah weekend ahead of home return

Despite finishing outside of the points for the second weekend in a row, Courtney Crone left Jeddah with a host of lessons to carry forward into Round 3, which will take place in her home territory of the United States.

After Qualifying in P14 for ART Grand Prix, Crone became embroiled in a Race 1 battle with Williams’ Lia Block that ended with the former spinning Block and receiving a 10-second penalty for the incident – she later went on to retire from the session.

Targeting a less dramatic Race 2, the Haas driver stayed out of trouble and crossed the line in P12, missing out on points by just over three seconds.

“Obviously Race 2 went much better than Race 1,” she concluded. “We changed some stuff with the car that helped me feel a lot more confident in it, and I think Race 2 was finally the first time I felt like maybe we could put up some sort of a fight. I think collectively as a team, obviously we can still improve for Miami.

“Going forward to Miami, that was where the team did the best last year so hopefully we can kind of take some of that momentum that they had there last year and implement it a bit into our car for Miami this year.”

The Sunshine State event was instrumental for both Crone and her current team last season – she entered the Round as the Wild Card, whilst ART netted their first and only podium finish at the hands of Bianca Bustamante.

With the French outfit’s track record and the added bonus of her own experience from 2024, the American is assured that Round 3 could be a great opportunity for her to score her first points.

“Miami will be great,” Crone said. “Vegas I would consider more my home Grand Prix but Miami, being at least in the United States, will be nice. I’m really excited for the race. Last year there were really good vibes surrounding the event so I think it will be just as exciting as it was last year.

“I have a little bit more experience on the track but I think all the rookies are very good. I won’t have the sim time going into the event. It’s not a very difficult circuit so I think it will be much easier there to get adapted to that track than probably the first two tracks we’ve been to this year.

“I think with the history that ART had there last year and the steps that we made this last weekend, especially in the last two races, I think we’ll definitely be looking forward to scoring some points there in Miami.”