Formula 3 chief executive officer Bruno Michel does not expect any women drivers from the F1 Academy series to join the F3 grid in 2025, saying “it’s a little bit too early” for them to move up.

By Steven Walton and Calla Kra-Caskey

Several women racing in F1 Academy, the women-only F4-level F1 support series, will be looking for new drives in 2025 because of the series’ two-season limit for drivers.

Nine drivers are competing in their second and thus final F1 Academy season this year, including championship leader Abbi Pulling, Bianca Bustamante and Hamda Al Qubaisi.

Michel, the CEO of both F2 and F3, said he was not expecting any F1 Academy drivers to make the jump to F3 in 2025.

“What we need to look at in the future is the female drivers arriving from F1 Academy. And I don’t think … next year we will have a female driver coming from F1 Academy because it’s a little bit too early,” he told Feeder Series during a post-season F3 media session.

“That’s my view and that’s also Susie’s view at the moment,” Michel said, referring to Susie Wolff, the managing director of F1 Academy.

Michel said that he was “waiting” for an F1 Academy graduate and that he wanted to be sure any women joining the F3 grid would “be ready to have a good season”.

”It’s extremely important for us to send the right message and to show that a female driver, well prepared, can do a very strong season in Formula 3,” he said.

Michel said he was ready to wait another season or “maybe two more seasons” for an F1 Academy graduate.

“Honestly, I have no idea. That’s something that I will [be] discussing with Susie always, try to see what’s the best way and what’s the best timing to do it.”

Michel said he wanted to see more women competing not only in F3 but also in F2 and F1.

“That’s one of the goals that we have and that we’ve been working on for quite a while,” he said.

Pulling eyes F3 step ‘in the coming years’, not 2025

Current F1 Academy championship leader Abbi Pulling is 95 points ahead of second-placed Doriane Pin with 112 points still on offer in the final two rounds. The Rodin Motorsport driver has taken seven victories from 10 races so far this year.

When asked after Singapore if she saw herself or one of her fellow F1 Academy drivers competing in F3 next year, Pulling said she remained focused on the present.

“Although I’m in a really good position, I’ve still got a job to do to get the prize for the winner and getting a fully funded seat the following season,” she told Feeder Series. “But I see myself next year hopefully moving up into bigger machinery as long as the rest of the championship goes well.”

Last year, champion Marta García stepped up to a fully funded seat in FRegional Europe, which permits teams to run an additional car for drivers who place in the top three in F1 Academy the previous year. García was originally signed to drive for Prema Racing in October before moving to the newly formed all-woman Iron Dames entry, operated by Prema, in April.

She has struggled to adapt to the series and is currently 28th in the standings with a best finish of 14th.

Last year’s F1 Academy runner-up, Léna Bühler, also made the step to FR Europe with ART Grand Prix but departed the series after six rounds. Bühler’s best finish was 22nd.

Pulling, who competes in British F4 with Rodin in parallel with her F1 Academy campaign, acknowledged the difference between F4 and F3 machinery.

“From the car that I’m driving currently to the FIA F3 car, it is quite a significant jump, and it’s a very competitive field,” she said. “I think the best approach for myself would be to be as best prepared to take on that FIA F3 car in the coming years, not probably potentially for 2025. I’d want to be able to jump into it and be competitive.”

Pulling  has not yet announced her 2025 plans. Rodin Motorsport, for whom Pulling has raced since 2023, compete in GB3 but not FR Europe.

New F3 car designed for ‘any kind of drivers’

F3 has a new car for the 2025 season, and women have played a key role in its development.

Completing a shakedown in June in Varano was Tatiana Calderón, who raced in F3’s predecessor series, GP3, between 2016 to 2018 and competed in F3-spec machinery in the five preceding years. F1 Academy driver Chloe Chambers then completed 97 laps behind the wheel of a current-generation F3 car featuring parts modified to resemble those of the 2025 chassis.

Since GP3 became F3 in 2019, Sophia Floersch has been the only woman to have raced in the series. She competed in the 2020, 2023, and 2024 seasons, with a best championship finish of 23rd in 2023.

Michel said in the press conference that the new car was designed to be driven by “any kind of drivers”.

“It doesn’t mean only female drivers, but small drivers to very tall drivers, with different weight, with different strengths,” he added. “Any kind of driver can drive [the new F3 car].”

One such case is Prema’s new 2025 signing Ugo Ugochukwu, announced earlier today. At around 200 cm in height, the 17-year-old is set to become the tallest driver in series history.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency