Academy Report: Jade makes history with victory in French F4
Our 16-year-old French racer took a lights-to-flag victory and became the first woman to win a French F4 race
Published
21 SEP 2026
Est. reading time
2 min
Jade Jacquet made history at Lédenon over the weekend, becoming the first woman to win a race in the French F4 Championship.
Competing as a guest driver at Round 5 of the FFSA Academy season Jade drove a flawless Race 2 to convert reverse-grid pole into a commanding victory, setting the fastest lap along the way.
Race 2: Lights to flag
Having qualified 10th overall out of 30 drivers, Jade's qualifying time placed her on pole position for Race 2's reversed grid, and she made no mistake when the lights went out.
She led from the very first corner and, despite a safety car period, never looked threatened. By the time the field was neutralised, she had already built a significant advantage over championship contender Thibaut Ramaekers.
When racing resumed, Jade pulled clear once more, crossing the line 1.620 seconds ahead of the Belgian. Jade also set the fastest lap of the race, in a drive that the FFSA described simply as flawless.
Race 1: A difficult start
Saturday's story of triumph actually came after a difficult morning. Race 1 had started with promise, with Jade running in the field before being forced to retire on lap six, leaving her to watch the remainder of the race from the sidelines.
Race 3: Rounding out the weekend
Jade finished 13th overall in Race 3, whilst simultaneously dominating the Women's classification from the front, taking her third consecutive women's category win of the weekend by a comfortable margin.
As a guest driver, Jade's results do not count towards the French F4 Championship standings, but that doesn’t take away from the achievement within such a competitive field.
The French F4 season concludes at Paul Ricard on 09-11 October, and her next F1 Academy outing will come in Austin from 22-25 October.
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