Miami. Singapore. Barcelona.
She’s been there. She’s won there.
Making her single-seat car debut in 2020, Abbi Pulling has already established herself to be the most promising female racer in the world at only 21 years of age.
Born in Lincolnshire, Pulling always had a keen interest in motorsports, fuelled by her motorbike-racing father. Beginning her competitive racing career in 2013 in an overwhelmingly male environment, Pulling persisted; landing herself two trophy wins in the Super 1 National Junior TKM Championship, which was previously won by Jenson Button.
After this, she spent her formative years in the pioneering W Series. In her first season in 2021, she only participated in 4 races, but quickly made noise with a 2nd place finish in the final round – securing herself a place on the 2022 grid. Here, she placed a very respectable 4th in the championship, behind the dominating Jamie Chadwick and her own mentor Alice Powell.
However, W Series was replaced F1 Academy; a series which advocated for racing to be broadcast on mainstream TV to gain attraction and to earn backing from all 10 F1 teams. Pulling was swiftly signed for the Alpine affiliated Rodin Motorsport. Now, Pulling races in both Formula 4 and F1 Academy – becoming the first woman to ever win a race in the former earlier this year. In F1 Academy, on the other hand, she competes against women such as Doriane Pin – a former member of European Le Mans’ famous all-female team Iron Lynx.
Karting wins, F4 wins, F1 Academy wins… where could she go next? Other notable female racers have transitioned to Indy NXT, the British GT Championship and are finding success there. But, Abbi Pulling has other desires. “I’d be lying if I said my aim wasn’t F1” Pulling told The Fast and Curious podcast back in May 2024.
With a lot of firsts for woman in motorsport and a lot of first place finishes to her name already, Abbi Pulling’s trajectory is monumental for the motorsport world and her dream of achieving a place in the most famous racing series in the world.
