As the inaugural year of F1 Academy comes to a close, Gloucestershire-based Abbi Pulling reflects how the year has gone for her and the Rodin Carlin team while attending the #GirlsWill panel.
#GirlsWill is an initiative in collaboration with the Silverstone Museum throughout October to encourage young girls to get involved with motorsport.
Reflecting on the season, the Brit commented: “It’s the most I’ve probably driven in a year so it’s been amazing for that and I’m very grateful for everything that I’ve learnt. As the results go, it’s been very up and down. I think I went into the season, in my head, knowing that I could compete for the championship. I still think I could have competed for the championship but we were just out of arm’s length to that going into Austin.”
In 2022 Pulling was announced as an Alpine Affiliated driver, but at the beginning of this year she found herself becoming a full-time Alpine Academy member, something she has credited her success to, ”Alpine has supported me so much this year. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be driving. I’m forever grateful for them and the experiences they’ve given me. I’ve pushed my training a lot better and I’ve become physically fitter.
“I do a lot in the opps room, not so much this year, more last year because I’ve been racing so much myself actually that I’ve not been able to go. But then I went to Zandvoort and was listening in on the radios and it was a great weekend for us as a team actually. Learning how a team functions is really important for a driver to know how you can input positively back into it, so that’s been great.”
Due to getting access to the Alpine gym in the Enstone HQ, she’s found boxing helps her get into the mindset to compete, saying: “When I’m in the zone, I drive really well, but it’s getting to that zone. For me that zone is like an anger but it’s a controlled anger, so the boxing really helps me get pumped, feeling fierce and get me into that fighting spirit; and that’s what really helps me going into a race.”
Getting this opportunity is a chance for anyone in motorsport, and is surprisingly rare because how many drivers there within the sport, it makes it hard to spot the unbelievable talent, and when they do, for all we know they can still slip through the fingers of an F1 team, so Pulling is very thankful of the opportunity: “I find I have to take a step back quite often. Almost everyday I take a step back and think how lucky I am.
“I’m very proud to be inspiring younger females and I didn’t necessarily have that when I was younger so to be that person now for people is huge for me, I just want to hopefully help as many people as I can take all the opportunities they’re given and make the most of them all.”
Pulling isn’t just part of an F1 team, within F1 Academy she drives with Rodin Carlin, one of the most iconic teams within the feeder series ladder. The team has had driver such as Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, and fellow Brit Lando Norris; all drivers who have gone onto incredible things due to the support they got at such an important time in their careers.
The 19-year-old hopes to replicate her achievements: “Rodin Carlin definitely have a long list of incredible drivers they’ve taken through the junior ladder into Formula 1 or even Indycar and Formula E , various other things: WEC. They’ve got very large alumni and hopefully I’ll be on that list one day.
“I’ll just keep listening to the people around me and doing what I’m told and hopefully it’ll come but it’s been incredible to work with them and the amount of support they have for me and how much they really push me, especially Trevor and Stephanie [Carlin], I can’t thank them enough for the season we’ve had.”
