The youngest driver on the F1 Academy grid this year is 16-year-old Kaylee Countryman, racing in the series with backing from Haas. Feeder Series spoke to Countryman about her campaigns in F1 Academy and USF2000, the difference between racing in Europe and the United States, and where her future may lie. 

By Kaylene Lau 

Over the past 12 months, Countryman expanded her horizons from racing solely in the United States to competing in Europe and the Middle East as well. In 2025, the American driver ran a full-time campaign in USF Juniors, finishing 16th in the standings. She also raced in selected rounds of the USF2000 championship, with her best finish being 11th in Toronto. 

In September of last year, Countryman’s first taste of F1 Academy came in the form of the in-season test at Navarra, where she stepped in for fellow American Courtney Crone. Only a few months later in December, midway through her first season outside the United States in Formula Trophy, Countryman found out that she would receive backing from the team to race in F1 Academy, replacing Crone as the Haas-supported driver. The deal was announced a week after the F1 season concluded and three weeks before she turned the series’ minimum age of 16.

“I found out in about December, probably during my UAE campaign,” Countryman told Feeder Series. “It was just really handy because I got to go see them in Abu Dhabi, so that was really fun to go see the race in person and to see the behind-the-scenes and to listen in on their strategy meetings. It’s obviously a great opportunity to be running with them and to be supported by an F1 team.” 

Haas does not have an established junior driver academy, making Countryman the team’s sole junior driver.

“It’s great. Haas doesn’t have an actual academy team, so I think it’s really cool to say I race for TGR Haas F1 Team in another series, and to have their sticker on my car and all that stuff,” Countryman said. “I think they still give me the same support as being in maybe the Ferrari academy would. Everyone there is super nice and open with everything, so it’s been great.”

Before her main F1 Academy campaign, Countryman raced F4 machinery in Formula Trophy and the UAE4 championship. An injury forced her to sit out the first round of Formula Trophy at Dubai and put her on the back foot for the rest of the season. Her best result in that series was 17th in the first race of the final round, and in UAE4 her best finish was 28th. Both of these results were achieved at Yas Marina. 

Countryman’s debut F1 Academy weekend in Shanghai was not what she was hoping for, with finishes of 16th in the reverse-grid race and 13th in the feature race. But in the second round at Montréal, Countryman bounced back to take her first podium in the series in the reverse-grid race by finishing second, 1.583 seconds behind winner Mathilda Paatz. That made her the series’ youngest podium finisher, a feat since usurped by Silverstone wild card Chiara Bättig.

“The F1 Academy season did not start great in Shanghai,” Countryman reflected. “We had a little issue in the quali.… The whole field in F1 Academy is super close, and Shanghai is such a tough track and it’s really, really hard to pass around there. But I think we bounced back pretty well in Montréal with the podium.”

The weekend as a whole marked a major step up. Countryman qualified eighth and ninth, with the former result putting her on reverse-grid pole for race two. That helped Countryman experience running at the front of the field – though she admitted that the qualifying performance that got her there was ‘so-so’. 

“Honestly, it wasn’t the confidence boost that I thought it was going to be,” Countryman said about her podium finish. “I was obviously very, very happy with the podium, but I don’t think it’s either fully set in yet.” 

The next round at Silverstone was more difficult for Countryman. She finished 17th in the reverse-grid race and 16th in the feature race. The American driver heads to Zandvoort 13th in the standings with 14 points, all of which she gained in Montréal. 

Aside from competing in F1 Academy, Countryman is also racing in selected rounds of the USF2000 championship for the second year in a row. She started the season with Exclusive Autosport, the team with whom she raced last year, but made the change to JHDD starting from the second round at Indianapolis. In the first race after the team switch, Countryman scored her best finish in the series yet with ninth. 

“The two of us mostly reached out and found one another,” Countryman said about the team change. “I left Exclusive Autosport pretty early on in the season, just a few internal matters, and Jay Howard has been very welcoming on this side of it, just taking me right away. So it’s been good working with them. 

“Even though we’re all in the same paddock, we all race in America, they are actually quite different in their way of working,” she explained. “Not on the same scale as America to Europe, but between teams, there’s definitely been a bit of a different dynamic. We’re still trying to get used to that.”

The structure of USF2000’s racing teams also differs significantly from those in F1 Academy, where each driver has her own engineer. That setup requires more resources but allows for greater focus, a difference she observes at her ART Grand Prix team.

“I have my own engineer who personally works with me, and he’s a lot more in sync with everything that I’m doing. All my mechanics are very, very open in that sense,” she said. “Over here, they have one engineer for maybe three, four cars. They’re just a lot more busy. Managing three or four cars with one engineer, you can imagine how busy that gets.” 

Aside from getting used to a different team in USF2000, Countryman has also had to bounce between European and North American single-seaters and their differing demands. 

“I’m trying to get better at the adaptability of being able to switch on when in Europe but also be able to change it from when I come back here,” she said. “I think it’s been good, practising it and on as many tracks as I can, obviously with all the tracks we race at in F1 Academy. And then here, we’ve only had a few this year, but it looks like we should have some good ones.” 

No other driver has balanced F1 Academy with any of the USF series. The level of difference simply means Countryman comes in with a better idea of what Countryman is expected to do – especially in regard to circuits and tyres.USF2000 uses tyres supplied by Continental, while F1 Academy uses Pirelli tyres.

“The tracks in the US, the driving styles are a bit different, just how you have to approach a few things,” she said. “The team and their way of working is probably the biggest difference.

“Car wise, it’s definitely the tyres. These tyres are pretty much as hard as rocks, and the ones over in F1 Academy are the softest Pirelli tyres we can get, so it’s a big difference. Those ones are more temperamental; these ones are not. Over in Europe, though, I think the tracks are a lot more fun, a lot more flowing, the drivers seem to be a bit more aggressive at times as well.” 

Besides tyres, Countryman also cited aero configuration and handling behaviour as a major differentiator between F1 Academy’s Tatuus F4-T421 and USF2000’s Tatuus USF-22. 

“The biggest difference is the tyres, the aero package and the feeling of the car. The F1 Academy car has a tendency to understeer, and then this car [the Tatuus USF-22], you can really do anything you want with it,” she said. “In the F1 Academy car, you can’t really get rid of the understeer – you can help it, but it’s kind of always going to be there. So that’s probably the biggest difference, car balance–wise.

“Then again, the tyres make a huge difference with how you need to prep them. How you need to take care of them. You can only do about two good laps on the Pirellis before they pretty much go bad. Or you have to do a cooldown lap or something in quali. So, I think it’s a lot more demanding. You have a lot more routines that you have to follow in Europe, but here you just show up and drive.” 

Before her rookie F1 Academy season reached its halfway point, Countryman said she was still evaluating her options for next year but hoped to return to the series. Drivers are allowed to race in two seasons of the series, but an exemption may be granted for them to race for a third year if it is deemed beneficial for their development. 

“Hopefully I get another opportunity in F1 Academy next year. That would be great – I hope I can figure that out sooner than later and we can take that [weight] off my shoulders,” she said. “But with that, I think Europe is probably a good option for us next year. We’re still debating, taking in all the options, but maybe something in F4, maybe something a bit faster. We were actually talking about it today, and I have zero clue about what I’ll be doing. 

“For the future, I think anyone wants to go to F1, and I do really want to see a woman in F1, so taking that route, whether I go to Europe or coming back here to race IndyCar, the options are really open right now. I’m just trying to see where it takes me.” 

Interview by Michael McClure

Header photo credit: TGR Haas F1 Team