F1 Confirm Youngest-Ever Female Driver as 'Wild Card' for Singapore GP

Formula One have confirmed that the youngest-ever female wildcard driver will race at this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.

After a brief one week break, the Formula One season resumes on Friday as the grid arrives at the Marina Bay Street Circuit for the Singapore Grand Prix.

With just seven races left in the 2025 F1 season, the tensions are higher than ever, especially with Max Verstappen's back-to-back race wins putting pressure on McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the title race.

But it's not just Formula One that will be racing in Singapore across the weekend, as the F1 academy will also compete at the Marina Bay Street Circuit for the penultimate race of the season.

And ahead of F1 Academy's first practice session of the weekend, they have announced that the wild card entry for the round is the youngest ever driver to benefit from the unique feature.

The Singapore GP takes place on October 5 (Image: Getty)

Ahead of the 2024 season, F1 academy decided to introduce Wild Card entries, an idea that would see a driver being granted a seat on the grid for a specific weekend.

The plan with the initiative was to help strengthen the talent pool in each of the areas that the F1 Academy season visits, giving promising young drivers the chance to impress.

And for the Singapore Grand Prix, F1 Academy have given the Wild Card slot to 16-year-old Lisa Billard, the youngest driver ever to get the call up.

The French driver, who only turned 16 last month, will race in the #60 F1 ACADEMY car which will sport a custom Gatorade livery.

Billard recently competed in the inaugural F1 Academy Rookie Test, and impressed with the second-fastest overall time.

Lisa Billared is the youngest ever F1 Academy wild card driver. (Image: Pauline Ballet - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

The F1 Academy aren't the only ones who are keen to see more of Billard on the track, as Alpine F1 driver Esteban Ocon also took to social media following the annoucement to share his excitement and commend his fellow French driver on the achievement.

Posting on X, he wrote: "I’ve known and have supported Lisa for many years now ~ we both grew up on the same karting tracks in Normandy. I am very proud to see her taking this big step in her young career with F1 Academy this weekend! Allez Lisa!!"