British racing driver Abbi Pulling has become the first female driver to win at the British Formula 4 Championship, at the age of 21.
Pulling, who drives for Alpine and Rodin Motorsport, made her maiden British F4 victory, securing her lead in the F1 Academy standings over the weekend, following her back to back victories at the Miami Grand Prix earlier this month.
“I have finally done it,” Pulling told reporters after her historic win on Sunday.
“I competed in this championship a couple of years ago and my aim was to break that record and be the first female to stand on the top step.”
Pulling believes her recent success shows the impact that F1 Academy is making on improving gender equality.
“It’s bringing up female participation and there’s just such a buzz now around women in motorsport and bringing more participation and licence holders in,” she said, adding that she believes she has matured as a driver since she began racing professionally in 2018.
“I think I’ve put things in perspective a lot,” she said. “When I finished my campaign in British F4 in 2021, it came to such a devastating end where I ran out of funding and then I got picked up by an all-female championship where it was all funded.”
“Being with the Alpine F1 team, being with Rodin Cars this year, it’s an amazing opportunity and without them I wouldn’t be racing.”
Describing her British F4 campaign before the competition, Pulling told Motorsport Week the British F4 car is “a completely different car to drive” and that F1 Academy regulations are different.
“It helps keep me sharp, but the biggest difference is the ability to go from two different cars with two different conditions,” she said.
“It makes you really mentally aware of what you’re doing, making sure you’re not just going on auto-pilot.”
As her campaign in British F4 continues, the young racer from the east-coast township of Lincolnshire, is setting her sights on F1 — a competition no female driver has competed in since 1992.
“My plan was never to stay in this championship forever,” Pulling said in April. “I aim to get to Formula 1 but even just competing in Formula 3 would be an absolute dream, there are loads of different potential pathways to take, you never really know where you’ll be.”
Pulling is among a group of young women changing the face of motor sports.
Fellow British racer Jamie Chadwick has been rumoured to become the next female Formula 1 driver. Between 2019 to 2022, Chadwick raced in the W Series, a competition established to promote female race-car drivers. She won all three seasons. Last year, she became the first woman to race full time as a part the Indy NXT (formerly called Indy Lights) in the US.
At the time, she spoke about the importance of gender representation in motorsports.
“The reception that [the W Series] got over in America was huge,” she said. “It felt like a huge amount of opportunity there, and there was a huge interest for women in the sport. And I think that does stem from the fact that there have been a few notable female racing drivers [who] have had a huge amount of success over there.”
“I think in that sense, it’s quite nice that you’ve seen that there’s a clear pathway for women to progress within the IndyCar ladder.”
Spanish driver Marta Garcia has also been making waves, having been crowned the first F1 Academy champion in Austin last October. The 23-year old racer was awarded a seat in Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA) as part of F1 ACADEMY’s aim to increase female participation and talent in motorsport and support their progress through the ranks.
Last month, she became the face of a “significant milestone in motorsport” after the all-electric racing team, Electric Racing Technologies announced García would represent the team in the upcoming Berlin Rookie Test.
“I am thrilled to join ERT Formula E Team for the Berlin Rookie Test,” García said.
“Formula E represents the future of motorsport, and I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to experience it firsthand. I’ve been following the championship closely, and I’m eager to get behind the wheel of the ERT X24 car and contribute to the team’s development. This test is a stepping stone in my career, and I’m determined to make the most of it.”
Closer to home, NSW racer Maisie Place became the first woman to lead a team at the iconic Bathurst 6 Hour endurance race in March this year.
In 2018, Place joined the Australian Motor Racing Series RX8 Cup as an 18-year-old with “absolutely no race experience.”
She remains the only female driver in the cup. This year, RX8 Cup announced Place as the Official Series Ambassador, describing her “commitment to the sport as both a driver and team owner, along with her efforts in promoting women in motorsport,” which make her “an excellent choice…to bring a bright and energetic presence to motorsport and the RX8 Cup.”