Abbi Pulling made history in GB3 this year by becoming the first woman to not only clinch pole position in the championship but also convert that pole to victory. Her win at Spa-Francorchamps was further evidence that, when given equal track time and backing, women can excel on mixed-gender single-seater grids. The Feeder Series Podcast sat down with the 2024 F1 Academy champion to get her thoughts on what it would take for a woman to join the Formula 1 grid.

By Shermaine Wong

After winning the F1 Academy title in her second campaign in the all-female F4 series, Pulling was awarded a fully funded seat in a higher-level single-seater championship of her choosing, along with an array of funded testing days. The Briton chose to make the step up to GB3 with Rodin Motorsport, the same team with whom she raced in F1 Academy.

Following a strong rookie season in which she secured her first podium, Pulling remained with Rodin for this season. In the fourth race of the season, she made history by becoming the first female winner in the series since it adopted the GB3 moniker in 2021.

Speaking on the Feeder Series Podcast, the 23-year-old reflected on her ‘super special’ first GB3 win at the iconic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

“Nothing will top Spa,” Pulling said. “You’ve got to piece it all together around a track like that. And that’s what we did. I was sat on the grid after putting it on pole, and I could almost feel that people didn’t necessarily expect me to convert it. So that made me dig deep a little bit more.

“It’s of course a huge achievement, and if it can help inspire other girls, then that’s amazing. But equally, whether I’m the first girl or first whatever, I just want to be at the front and show that I can win races and do it for me – and not for the fact that I’m female, if that makes sense.”

“It’s obviously nice to do that, and it makes a statement. But equally, I just want to make it more normal and not make it this big, amazing thing that it was and it still is. Hopefully in a couple of years time, it will just become more normal and more accepted. That’s what’s important to me.”

While the barriers to female participation are dropping, numbers, especially at the top levels, haven’t yet risen. As of this year, 50 years have passed since a woman last made an appearance on the F1 grid. Giovanna Amati was the last to enter a grand prix weekend, but none of her three attempts at the start of the 1992 season were successful, and the Brabham team replaced her with Damon Hill. Lella Lombardi, the last female grand prix starter, was the first woman to score in F1 when she finished sixth at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix. To this day, she remains the last.

“I’ve no clue what, when, or how it’s going to happen,” Pulling said about the prospect of a woman joining the F1 grid. “The most important thing for me is it’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when. I think it will happen. We just can’t put a timestamp on it. Most importantly, you can’t rush it because the person, the woman, that goes into it has to be ready. It’s going to be an enormous amount of pressure for any woman that goes into Formula 1, the first one in a very long time.”

Pulling said the first goal should be providing more opportunities for women to participate in free practice sessions. F1 regulations mandate that every team field a rookie in four FP1 sessions per season, two sessions per car. The regulations also state, however, that prospective participants must hold a valid FIA super licence or practice-only super licence, attainable by earning 25 super licence points.

That means the first steps would be having more women participate in F3 and F2, and finishing well, so they can obtain the necessary super licence points. Under the series’ current identities, however, only two women – Sophia Flörsch in F3 and Tatiana Calderón in F2 – have competed in either series.

“The first goal is just getting FP1s and the rookie tests and so on. That’s the first thing that could be strived for at the moment. We’re always talking about racing it, but we don’t even have a woman in F2 yet, or in FIA F3,” she said.

“It’s not like in GB3. We’ve got two of us [with Aurelia Nobels]. But the numbers at lower levels, like in F4, are going up, so that only means that it will go up as you go up the ladder.”

F1 Academy has aimed to boost drivers’ visibility with high-profile brand partnerships, media exposure, and support from higher-ups within the motorsport hierarchy. But Pulling, a former Alpine junior, noted that public support alone is not enough to break the glass ceiling, especially without long-term development runways paved by F1 teams.

“F1 Academy doesn’t solve all the issues. At the end of the day, F1 Academy is brilliant in what they’re doing, but it’s after F1 Academy and the things that happen after that.

“The F4 car is here,” Pulling says, her hand low to the camera, “and drivers have got to go still a long way from that. That’s the reality, and it’s still going to take a lot of work from the powers above. It’s not just the fans pushing on and wanting it. It’s people that have an influence on this stuff – people higher up in F1 and in F1 teams that can give the girls opportunities in bigger cars, in cars with more downforce.

“It’s no secret that as soon as I left F1 Academy, I left Alpine and I went on to pursue GB3 with Rodin. And they’ve been tremendous at supporting me, but it’s sad that that was how it happened. And I just hope that whoever is the next champion continues to get that support.  Doriane [Pin, 2025 champion], she’s had a tremendous amount of support from Mercedes and so on, but it’s not just up to one. Everyone’s got to come together a bit for it, and I think that’s what people don’t really see.”

With five rounds run and three rounds remaining in GB3 in 2026, Pulling currently sits ninth in the drivers’ standings with 142 points and one race win to her name. To hear more from her on her journey thus far and what’s next, check out the latest episode of the Feeder Series Podcast, available now on all major podcast platforms.

Header photo credit: Jakob Ebrey