ART searching for consistency after unlucky opening rounds says Team Manager Soullier

ART Grand Prix have endured a torrid start to the 2025 season with their Team Manager Pierre Soullier admitting that luck hasn’t been on their side after the French outfit left Jeddah empty-handed.

The team were left ruing their misfortune after Lia Block crashed out early on in Qualifying around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit — having missed Qualifying in Shanghai following a crash with Rafaela Ferreira in Practice.

Neither PUMA’s Aurelia Nobels or Courtney Crone were able to qualify inside the top-10 and things went from bad to worse in Race 1, with Haas driver Crone tagging teammate Block and being handed a 10-second penalty for the incident. Points also eluded them in Race 2, as Nobels had to settle for 11th.

Left with only two points on the board courtesy of Block’s P9 finish in Race 2 in Shanghai, ART sit a lowly fifth in the Teams’ Standings. One point ahead of newcomers Hitech TGR, they have an 89-point deficit to leaders Campos Racing which has left Soullier lamenting their disappointing run.

“Honestly, from the beginning of the season it’s not (been) easy,” he admitted. “It’s the second difficult weekend. We are missing luck, but it’s a great team effort to make the three cars run throughout the weekend.

“The pace was better during the races, we made a little step. The end of the weekend was encouraging and now we are focused on Miami. Last year it was a good weekend for us, so we want to get back on top. We keep a good mindset and we will fight back for sure.”

Questioned whether the pace was there to fight with the leading teams, Soullier remarked: It’s inconsistent for now. We’ve shown that when everything is aligned, we are able to do good things and have good pace.”

READ MORE: STANDOUT STARS: Who lit up the streets of Jeddah across Round 2?

He added: “It’s mainly the consistency, avoiding mistakes and trying to align everything because if we mix all the best sectors and all the best corners from the three drivers, the lap is good.”

Fortunately, the return to Miami arrives at a perfect time for a team needing to reset. The team earned their sole podium of the 2024 campaign courtesy of Bianca Bustamante’s P2 finish in Race 2. The American circuit is on that their trio have all raced on before, with Crone making her F1 ACADEMY debut there as the Wild Card entry.

Anxious to avoid finishing at the bottom of the Teams’ Standings for the second consecutive season, Soullier is optimistic that Round 3 could be the turning point ART desperately need.

“We are excited, it was a good weekend last year,” he said. “We want to produce another good weekend so we will produce a strong car for Miami. It’s the home race for two of our drivers, so I’m hoping that everything will (come full) circle and we will put everything together.”