Abbi Pulling says it will be a while before we see a woman in Formula 1

When will we see a successor to Leila Lombardi, the last woman to have started a Grand Prix? Formula 1 in 1976? We will have to wait a little longer. In 2024, Sophia Flörsch was the only woman on the grid in the highest promotion formulas in car, Formula 2 et Formula 3 understood. To find traces of other female pilots, you have to go down to FRECA where Dorian Pin and Marta Garcia were involved this season, for mixed results (no points for the two Iron Dames pilots).

To give young female drivers a chance, Formula 1 created a new championship reserved for women in 2023: the F1 Academy. This season, it was Abbi Pulling who won the title after an impressive campaign (9 wins in 14 races). Thanks to this success, the 21-year-old English driver will be able to compete in the 2025 season of the British GB3 with the Rodin Motorsport team with which she was associated in 2024 in F1 Academy.

If the protégé of the lap Alpine Dreaming big and hoping to climb all the ranks of single-seaters, Abbi Pulling remains realistic and considers that the physical challenge to show up in Formula 1 is still too great at the moment. "I always aim for F1 and I think that if we see a woman there, we will not have an entry at the Max Verstappen, at 17. A 16-year-old girl would not be strong enough to drive a Formula 2 car. That's the harsh reality, Abbi Pulling believes. For a more mature and developed woman, it will be easier to drive this car and fight to get to Formula 1. When – not if – we see a woman in Formula 1, she will be older, in her twenties, I would say.

Pulling, a career relaunched thanks to the F1 Academy

Above all, the F1 Academy champion considers that access to the highest promotion formulas is unequal between women and men, and is much easier for the male gender, both sportingly and financially. “[The boys] start testing at 14 all over Europe – then they do F4 in Italy, Germany, the Emirates… it’s all a million [euro] stuff, and they do it from the age of 15 or 16. They do that for two years… then they move on to FRECA or GB3, or sometimes both. They do 30 to 40 days of testing [a year]. If I could afford it, I would do it and keep testing myself against the others.”, confides the native of Gosberton.

“Unfortunately, in my situation, I can’t do that. That’s where the F1 Academy has been so important. It shouldn’t be necessary, but it is. That’s the sad reality.. I hope it will exist for a long time to come and continue to provide opportunities to girls in my situation who cannot get by without it."

Abbi Pulling knows what she's talking about: in 2021, she was unable to complete her season in British F4 due to lack of funds. The following year, she was able to have a new opportunity with the W Series, before joining the F1 Academy in 2023. “We are comfortable financially, but on the scale of motorsport, we are very far from the mark. We do not have tens or hundreds of thousands of euros, let alone millions. Without [the F1 Academy and the W Series], I would not be here today, recognizes the British. For that, I am forever grateful and it has kept my dream alive. (…) The current times are so positive for a woman in this sport. As long as I am performing well, I am sure that with the support around me, I can continue to climb the ladder.

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