This weekend, for the fifth round of the 2024 French F4 season, the championship will be welcoming two female drivers, with 14-year-old Lisa Billard from France joining Mathilda Paatz from Germany. Following multiple wins in mixed-gendered karting, Feeder Series talked to Alpine’s protégée Lisa Billard ahead of her long-awaited single-seater debut.

By Perceval Wolff

Lisa Billard started to make the headlines in the national karting scene at only 12 years old in early 2022. By winning the opening round of the French FFSA Junior Karting championship at Anneville in her native Normandy, she went under the spotlights of several F1 junior teams, including the Ferrari Driver Academy. But, she eventually signed in 2023 for Alpine’s all-female junior programme, Rac(H)er, alongside several other girls from all over the world.

Billard has participated in several marketing events with Alpine, alongside F1 drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon or ambassador Zinédine Zidane. But this signing with Alpine goes beyond communication and marketing.

“They track my progression, we analyze my videos together, and I do some Visio calls with some engineers from Enstone. It helps me a lot to progress in English! Now I’m more at ease in English, I’m getting used to it and I know this will help me.”

Coming from Normandy, Billard has also been supported by F1 Grand Prix winner Esteban Ocon for several years, even before joining Alpine:

“I had the opportunity to meet him several times. He explained me his path to F1, and I note what he tells me for the next steps. My dad also talks quite often with his dad, to know how to do, what are the best choices, etc.”

Karting success at the international level

2023 was a breakthrough season for the Normandy native. Despite leading the French FFSA Junior karting championship all season long, she eventually lost the title in the final round in Salbris. She then bounced back superbly by taking her maiden podium at the international level in the FIA Academy Trophy at Cremona a few weeks later.

“I think that podium at Cremona was really special to me,” she said. 

“All year long, I have been fighting, leading in the French championship and at the end of the day, it went badly at the final day, I lose the title for nearly nothing, that was harsh. I had worked so hard for so long. 

“To bounce back the way I did, only a few weeks later, for the final race of my season at Cremona, at an international level, it was really beautiful to finish like this.”

A long-awaited F4 debut

Lisa Billard has not raced since this podium in Cremona in July of 2023. What has she been doing for the twelve past months?

“It’s been one year since I know I will do that maiden F4 race in Magny-Cours. For one year, I’ve been preparing myself, I did sport, I went to the simulator for that race.”

The decision to not race was the FFSA’s choice, as Billard told Feeder Series:

“I’m directly managed by the FFSA, I go every two weeks to the simulator at the FFSA Academy, and it’s Christophe Lollier [National Technical Director] who wanted to stop karting competition. He believes that if I had continued, I would have encountered more difficulties to adapt to car racing, it was better to focus on F4.”

Is there a risk to have lost the rhythm of competition during these twelve months?

“At the beginning, it’s true we discussed about whether it was a good idea or not. If I could have lost the feeling or whatever, but now I’m so excited. I have the feeling I’m more ready than ever!”

Billard got the opportunity to participate in several collective test sessions alongside the other 25 full-time drivers. 

“That really helped me, to learn and to progress. To be able to drive and do test sessions with all the other official drivers of the series is an amazing opportunity to gather experience.”

By joining the grid for the rest of the season, Billard will be the second female driver in the series alongside Mathilda Paatz from Germany. 

“I know her for two years. We met each other at the FIA Girls on Track in karting, we passed all the selections, we made it to the final together. So I know her, and it’s pretty nice to be two girls.”

F1 Academy or French F4?

Since Billard will be a guest driver for the remaining rounds, she will not be eligible for points – even if she finishes in a points-paying position. But, are there any objectives set by the FFSA for Billard for these three final rounds at Magny-Cours, Dijon-Prenois and Paul-Ricard? 

“I have some results objectives for the final race, but for the first rounds, I will be here to learn, take experience for the future. For the final meeting, I would like to show myself up, to do some moves in the peloton.”

Managed by the FFSA, it would be easy to think Billard going full-time next year in this same series is a done deal. However, options remain open.

“For the moment, there’s nothing fixed, we can’t say for the moment but normally, French F4 is the biggest option. We will see how the three rounds I do this year will go, to fix that 2025 program.”

Could the all-female F1 Academy be an option? 

“I don’t know yet. At the beginning, I wasn’t a fan of it because I wanted to continue to race against boys. But for sure, it’s a very mediatised championship, where we can really show what we are capable of, for sponsors, etc. It could be a good idea.”

French F4 or F1 Academy could be a first step on her path towards F1… but Lisa Billard has already held the F1 World Champion’s Drivers trophy at only 12 years of age! It was at the 2021 FIA Prize Giving ceremony in Paris when she was one of the young drivers to give the trophy to Max Verstappen.

“That was such an amazing experience to go there, to be there alongside all these F1 drivers, to meet Michèle Mouton, Jean Todt… all these encounters made me evolve, and let me see that there is still some work to do to go to the top.”

Header photo credit: Perceval Wolff