British driver Abbi Pulling has emphasised her hunger to make it all the way to Formula One after her memorable 2024.
The 21-year-old from Lincolnshire was crowned winner of the second season of the all-female F1 Academy, giving her a fully-funded seat in GB3 – the United Kingdom’s number one single-seater category – in 2025 with Rodin.
She also this year drove in British Formula 4, making history as the series’ first female race winner.
YOUR 2024 F1 ACADEMY CHAMPION! 🎉
Take a bow, Abbi Pulling! 👏 #F1Academy #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/j5NtcuR0e3
— F1 Academy (@f1academy) November 30, 2024
The F1 Academy was launched with the intention of developing and preparing young female drivers to progress to higher levels of competition, with no woman having taken part in an F1 race since Italy’s Lella Lombardi in 1976.
And Pulling told the PA news agency: “I can’t tell anyone how hungry I am to achieve that, and not just get to Formula One but be very competitive in it as well.
“It is insanely hard and at the moment I’m just focusing on the next step… (but) I really, really want to get to Formula One.
“Everyone always asks me how I feel being a female in a male-dominated sport but I just see myself as another racing driver.
“For me it would be just a dream come true but for the wider sport aspect, I think it (F1 having a female driver) would bring it forward leaps and bounds for opportunities, obviously it will diversify the grid.
“Women’s sport as a whole is improving, with what the Lionesses are doing, also women’s rugby. Women’s sport is increasing and that would just add to that and the conversation around what can women do – and they can do a lot.”
Pulling feels it is something “you can’t put a timeframe on and don’t want to rush”.
“It could be five years, it could be 10, 15 – just as long as they’re really deserving of it and ready for the challenge,” she added. “I’d like to say it will be five years and it will be me, but who knows?”
In 2022, Pulling’s compatriot Jamie Chadwick, the three-time W Series champion, spoke about the potential challenge for women of the “extremely physical” nature of Formula One, Two and Three, and a need to look at technical changes that could aid female drivers.
Pulling said: “When we see a woman in Formula One, I don’t think you’ll have a Max Verstappen-esque 17-year-old just because the Formula Two car and probably Formula Three – I don’t think a 16-year-old (female) can drive it, it is a big physical step for a female.
“So I think a more developed mid-20s, even late-20s, is the age range of what we’ll see going into a Formula One car.
“I know the new F3 car, they’re changing the steering wheel and a few bits, I think also the foot wells, so smaller drivers can fit in.
“I think it’s really important to do things like that and I’m glad they’re taking our feedback forward and applying it. By the time you get to Formula One you have power steering so I think maybe something needs to be looked into for that.”
Pulling says it has been a “priceless” season, with her future set to have been uncertain had she not secured the GB3 seat.
“I never had that female role model growing up, so to be that person for someone else is really special and if it’s not me that does it, hopefully it’s someone I’ve inspired that goes all the way,” Pulling said.
“I can see myself, I think I have the ability to and hopefully I continue to have a great support system around me that helps me go as close to all the way as I can get.”
Pulling is supported by Alpine, which has some big-name celebrity investors, and she said: “I’ve not had a conversation with Ryan Reynolds yet, but maybe in the future! I’ve met Anthony Joshua, so that was pretty nice.
“Alpine have really been in my corner pushing me to develop. That’s been really important and I have found my family there.”
