Formula 1: Frenchwoman Doriane Pin joins Mercedes to drive in F1 Academy

Frenchwoman Doriane Pin will join Mercedes' young driver sector and will participate in the next season of the F1 Academy, a single-seater competition reserved for female drivers, the reigning vice-champion Formula 1 team announced on Tuesday.

“A new chapter is opening and I am proud to take this new step within such a prestigious team and within the framework of the Iron Dames project” – which will support it within the framework of the F1 Academy, reacted Pin, 20 years, cited in a press release.

“Moving to single-seaters was a clear goal for my career, and finding myself in this environment is an excellent approach,” she also said.

Entered last year in the WEC World Endurance Championship (LMP2 category, antechamber of the premier Hypercars category) for its first full season, the one we call “Pocket rocket” – a nickname which she owes to her small height (1.59 m) and her driving performance - became the first woman to win the “Revelation of the Year” prize in the WEC.

In late 2023, Pin made his single-seater debut, winning a race in the Southeast Asian Formula 4 championship.

Before that, the native of Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne) was also crowned French karting champion in 2019 and, in 2022, won the “Ferrari Challenge Europe”, a mixed championship organized by the Scuderia.

“We have closely followed its development in recent years, because it has continued to impress,” commented Mercedes boss, Austrian Toto Wolff.

“Doriane is a promising talent and we are happy to join the F1 Academy by choosing her as our driver,” he also said.

Like her compatriot Esteban Ocon - now a starter at Alpine - before her, Doriane Pin will join the youth sector of the eight-time world champion team in the premier category with the hope of one day racing in F1, “which [him] made me want to get into this sport,” she assured AFP last year.

Within the F1 Academy, the Frenchwoman will represent the German manufacturer with the support of Iron Dames - with whom she signed her first professional contract, in 2021 - and the Italian team Prema.

Launched in 2023, this 100% female competition aims to take drivers to the upper echelons leading to the elite of motorsport. According to the new regulations in force, each of the ten teams present in F1 will be represented and must therefore nominate a driver.

The first round will be held on the weekend of March 9 in Saudi Arabia, on the sidelines of the second Grand Prix of the F1 season.