Teenager impressing in W Series has her sights set on F1 and says new deal with Alpine is helping her on the road to the top
, which has not had a female driver in a grand prix since Lella Lombardi raced in Austria in 1976. Pulling has no such doubts.
There is an endearing enthusiasm to her story. “Whenever I would go horse riding with my mum and sister, I would always go on the quickest horse,” she says. “It was a little horse called Coco and I would go around the arena as quickly as I could. I had a need for speed quite early on.” It made Alpine take notice and they took her on in March this year. The team has made a commitment to gender diversity with, of which Pulling is a part. Their intent is to help guide a woman into F1 and bring more women into motorsport, with a target of having 30% of their workforce as female within five years.
“My junior career might be longer as I develop that strength but if it takes a few extra years it is still doable. I am quite a small person but since I started my programme with Alpine I have seen a huge gain and the results show it.” Abbi Pulling on the podium at Silverstone with Emma Kimiläinen and Jamie Chadwick , who leads the W Series title race.Yet as time has gone on she, as have many others, has also come to recognise how valuable Hamilton is in highlighting the sport’s failings. Not least his observation that racing is becoming all but inaccessible, except to that billionaires boys’ club. “Motorsport now is getting so much more expensive, especially at the lower end of the ladder,” she says.
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