Who is Abbi Pulling? The 21 year-old just won the 2024 F1 Academy championship and was the first woman to drive an F1 car in Saudi Arabia – could she become the first female in F1 since 1976?

Dec 4 , 2024

Who is F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling – and could she become the first female in Formula One since 1976? Photo: @abbipulling/Instagram

Pulling has been racing since she was 9 and is slowly climbing the ranks to Formula One – she’s currently backed by the Alpine Academy and Rodin Motorsport, and will race in the GB3 series next year

British driver Abbi Pulling, 21, cracked open the Champagne this weekend as she pulled off a dominant championship win for the 2024 F1 Academy season. The all-woman racing series is designed to help young female drivers chart a course to Formula One, a male-dominated sport. In winning the championship, Pulling takes one step forwards in her journey to become the first female driver to race in Formula One since Lella Lombardi competed in Austria in 1976.

It’s been quite a year for the young racer, who managed to compete in the British Formula Four series while leaving her Academy competitors in the dust race after race.

F1 Academy 2024 champion Abbi Pulling celebrates with her team. Photo: Getty Images

Going into the season’s penultimate race in Qatar this past weekend, Pulling had a 95-point lead in the championship standings over her closest rival, French driver Doriane Pin. Pulling eventually took second place in Doha, losing out to Pin, but secured her title as the 2024 F1 Academy champion a week before the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Formula One watchers have spent 2024 captivated by the many on-track battles and off-track dramas taking place throughout the season – from Max Verstappen’s historic race in Brazil to Lewis Hamilton’s Silverstone performance and the will-he-won’t-he championship bid by Lando Norris – but fans have also been keeping an eye on this up-and-coming female racer, in case she becomes the one to break Formula One’s glass ceiling.

So just who is Abbi Pulling? Here’s what to know.

Speed is in her blood

Pulling was born in Lincolnshire, in England’s East Midlands region, in March 2003. Her father Andy was a motorbike endurance racer who competed at club level events around the UK.

She caught the racing bug while going to races with her dad and soaking up the excitement of the racing paddock. At just eight years old, Pulling began testing her skills on the track by riding go-karts.

She moved from karts to single-seaters

In 2013, aged just nine, Pulling began karting competitively. She began at the Trent Valley Kart Club and climbed the ranks through the LGM Series, the Super One Series and the Kartmasters British Grand Prix, per Autosport.