Starting in 2024, each F1 team has been required to back an F1 Academy driver, running their livery on her car and lending them valuable support behind the scenes. But they aren’t the only entities providing the series’ young female drivers with mentorship. Feeder Series spoke to Ella Lloyd and Emma Felbermayr about the figures who have helped them during their first F1 Academy seasons. 

By Calla Kra-Caskey

Lloyd represents McLaren, driving a papaya-coloured Rodin Motorsport machine in F1 Academy to fourth in the standings as the series’ highest-placed rookie. She has carried their backing to her Challenge Cup campaign in British F4. 

She’s also received guidance from fellow Rodin driver and 2024 F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling. Lloyd raced against Pulling in her wild card appearance in Singapore, finishing ninth and seventh as Pulling took a double victory. 

They also competed in last year’s British F4 championship. Despite missing two rounds, Pulling finished seventh for Rodin with a victory and two additional podiums, while Lloyd finished 11th for JHR Developments with four podiums while missing one round. 

This year, Pulling graduated from F1 Academy and British F4 to GB3, in which she’s currently 12th in the standings after having taken her first podium in the series this past weekend. The transition from competitor to mentor in the all-female series seems to have gone smoothly for the 22-year-old. 

“I had her come out to Jeddah – obviously she raced there last year which was really helpful – and Miami,” Lloyd told Feeder Series in Montreal. Last year, Pulling finished second and first in Jeddah and took both victories in Miami. 

“She’s been helping me on the sim for [Montréal] as well. Obviously she hasn’t raced here, but all the knowledge she has about the car and anything I can take from anyone really is going to help.” 

Pulling’s mentorship is invaluable to Lloyd, even on tracks where the elder driver never competed. Having spent two years in F1 Academy, the second of which came with nine victories and a perfect podium record, Pulling has a strong grasp on the modified F4 car and the inner workings of Rodin as a team. 

“She’s been helping a lot, and obviously with my engineers, they’ve both been helping quite a bit,” Lloyd said. “Anything I can take from anyone, any little bit really, even if it’s just small that I can take forward into the first practice and qualifying – it’s all going to help.”

Having a former F1 Academy driver as a mentor isn’t just helpful on track. For Austrian rookie Felbermayr, Carrie Schreiner offers friendship, support, and someone who speaks her native language of German as she travels around the world for her first year in single-seaters. 

Despite contesting only two F4 race weekends before the F1 Academy season began, Rodin’s Felbermayr has impressed so far, sitting ninth in the standings. In Montréal, she was disqualified from third place in the first race before coming back to win the second race.

Schreiner, like Pulling, competed in two seasons of F1 Academy, finishing 11th with one victory for ART Grand Prix in 2023 and ninth for Campos Racing in 2024. Felbermayr and Schreiner have never driven for the same F1 Academy team, but both represent Sauber, with Schreiner becoming a team brand ambassador after her graduation from the series.

“She had a lot of experience in Formula 4 or F1 Academy that helped me a lot, honestly,” Felbermayr said. 

“Especially with how to handle pressure, she could give me some good advice because everything is new to me. The social media, I wasn’t used to so many people watching, the attention we get. That was just something new and I had to adapt on it, but she could help me a lot with it.” 

Header photo credit: Andy Hone/LAT Images