Abbi Pulling was nothing short of utterly dominant in F1 Academy this year, taking nine victories and standing on the podium in every race on the way to the title. After clinching the championship – for the first of two times – in Qatar, Pulling sat down with selected media, including Feeder Series, to discuss her season. 

By Calla Kra-Caskey

Pulling’s first victory in single-seaters probably didn’t play out quite how she pictured it. In Jeddah, she crossed the finish line two seconds behind Doriane Pin and stood beneath her on the podium. Then, a few hours later, the news broke: Pin had been handed a 20-second penalty for taking the chequered flag twice, promoting Pulling to victory. 

It was a controversial moment in the first weekend of the championship, and Pulling, despite doing nothing wrong, faced most of the online backlash. 

“I got some not amazing comments after Jeddah [about] how I won,” she said. 

F1 Academy is by far the most watched F4-level series ever, and it would’ve been easy to crumble under the pressure. Pulling, who has long struggled with funding, is no stranger to pressure; going into the season, she knew she “had to win” the championship in order to secure her future in motorsport.

So instead of letting the hate get to her, she used it to propel her championship charge. 

“That really lit a fire in my belly and made me want to show them, ‘Actually, I deserve to be here, and I’m good enough to be here.’”

Pulling left Jeddah with a championship lead she would never relinquish. 

It hasn’t always been as easy as it looked this season. In 2021, Pulling was forced to withdraw from British F4 mid-season because of funding problems. W Series provided a second chance for the Briton, but the series had monetary issues of its own and cancelled the final races of its 2022 season.

But, as Pulling puts it, “when one door closes, another one opens.” Her time in W Series provided her with several valuable new relationships: she gained a mentor in Alice Powell and caught the eye of the Alpine Academy, which she joined in 2023 after being an Alpine affiliate in 2022. 

Although the formation of F1 Academy proved another watershed moment in Pulling’s career, she struggled during the 2023 season. Despite heading into the season as a title favourite, she only managed fifth in the standings and finished as one of just six drivers without a victory. 

“I remember a point when Steph [Carlin], team principal at the time, had an arm around me and I said, ‘I’m not enjoying myself.’ I was really upset, I didn’t know what [lay ahead] for my future as we struggled so much,” Pulling said on reflection. 

But she attested that her struggles made her stronger – and made her victories so much sweeter. 

“You’ve got to go through moments like that to have moments like this.”

Pulling credited her off-season transformation to a fresh mindset – she works with a mental coach – and, of course, her close relationship with the team around her. The championship was a “group effort,” she said, from the “big names” at Alpine and Rodin to her sponsors that took some financial pressure off her back. 

“We’ve really, really made a conscious effort to leave no stone unturned and it’s really made the difference,” Pulling said. 

So what does “no stone unturned” look like? The statistics tell their own story: nine victories, four second places and one third place add up to a perfect podium record across the 14-race season. Pulling also took 10 pole positions and five fastest laps, leading the field in both categories. It’s reminiscent of Max Verstappen’s 2023 F1 season in its near perfection. 

Ahead of the final round, Pulling mentioned that maintaining the podium streak was “a little personal goal” of hers. Another goal: “Keep smiling through it all.” 

Even in a season as impressive as hers, there were standout moments, such as when Pulling took double pole positions and double victories in both Miami and Singapore. 

“I absolutely loved Singapore,” Pulling said. “If there was any track I wanted to win at, it would’ve been there, and we did it. That was a special moment, standing on top of the car there.” 

Singapore was indeed special. In the toughest conditions of the season, Pulling led every single session and missed out on only one point: Pin took the fastest lap on the final lap of the first race. Although Pulling didn’t technically seal the title until the final round, her Singapore masterclass all but confirmed it. 

Like her first race win, Pulling’s championship victory came with some chaos. By making a first-corner overtake for second in Qatar, the Alpine driver gained enough points to seal the title, or so it seemed. After it was announced that drivers would re-qualify for the cancelled second race in Qatar, rescheduled for the following week in Abu Dhabi, there were once again enough points to put Pin back in championship contention. 

Pulling dashed those hopes – albeit faint ones – with a phenomenal triple pole, then took two more victories to boot. 

“We’ve been pushing each other all year,” Pulling said to Feeder Series of Pin, her championship rival. “At the end of the day, no matter who it is, I want to be at the front. Whether it’s Doriane or whoever else, the guys, I want to try to be at the front. And that’ll be a mindset that I take into next year.” 

Pulling’s championship trophy came with a paid-for GB3 seat with Rodin, who have back-to-back drivers’ titles and a teams’ title to defend. 

The guaranteed seat means that she won’t have to spend her winter “sending emails trying to raise funding” and can focus on preparing for the season ahead. Moving to GB3 will be a challenge, but she expressed hope that not having financial pressure would make her an even stronger competitor than she was this year.. 

“I don’t have any expectations,” Pulling told Feeder Series, highlighting the difference in machinery. 

“It’s very different to what I’ve been driving for the past two, four years even. It’s got a lot more downforce, especially with the upgrade they’re bringing, so it’ll be [about] getting the confidence with the car as quickly as possible and trying to finish as high up as I can in the championship, of course. And hopefully do enough to show that I’ve proved to take the next step.” 

However next year goes, Pulling has certainly proven herself ready to graduate from F1 Academy. And if there was a word – other than dominance – to describe Pulling’s season, it would probably be joy. 

“It’s just been a pleasure, and I’ve done it with a smile on my face all season,” she said.

“I just want to get going. I’m impatient!”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency