Motor racing-F1's next female driver will need time to get there, says Pulling

By Alan Baldwin

LONDON (Reuters) - Abbi Pulling still has a long road ahead to reach Formula One after winning the all-female F1 Academy title but it remains the target and she believes time is on her side.

Part of the Renault-owned Alpine F1 team's academy, the 21-year-old Briton will have a fully-funded seat with Rodin Motorsport in Britain's GB3 series next year.

The next rungs on the ladder would then be Formula Three and Formula Two.

The recent trend has seen drivers in their early 20s and late teens step up to Formula One -- now-quadruple world champion Max Verstappen being the youngest -- but Pulling is not deterred.

"I'm still aiming to get to Formula One and I think if we see a female there, we won't have a 17-year-old Max Verstappen-esque kind of entry," she told Reuters after ending her season by winning her title twice in one week.

"A 16-year-old girl wouldn't be strong enough to drive a Formula Two car. That's the harsh reality.

"(For) a more mature, more developed female build it will be more possible to drive that car and fight for an opportunity to get to Formula One.

"When, not if, we see a woman in Formula One, it will be older -- mid-20s, I would say."

Formula One, whose cars have power steering unlike the current F2 ones, has not had a female racer since the late Italian Lella Lombardi in 1976.

All-female championships like the now-defunct W Series and F1 Academy have been criticised for segregating the sexes but Pulling says that misses the point -- money.

"They (boys) start testing at 14 all around the country and Europe -- then they do Italian, German and UAE F4, which alone is a million, and that's when they're 15 or 16," she said.

"They do that for two years... then they go into FRECA (Formula Regional Europe) or GB3 or sometimes both. Then they do 30-40 test days in that regard. If I could afford to do that, yeah, I'd do that and continue against the guys.

"Unfortunately, in my situation, I can't do that. That's where F1 Academy has been so important.

"It shouldn't be needed, but it is needed. That's the sad reality. I hope it stays around for a very long time and keeps giving opportunities to girls that are in my position and can't get through without it."

Motorsport history is littered with those who failed to progress because their talent was not matched by money. Pulling nearly joined them.

Funded by her engineer father, she had to leave British F4 in 2021 because the cash ran out.

"We're comfortable but in the scheme of motorsport we're very far from that," she said of her background. "We don't even have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, let alone millions."

Pulling was able to continue via the W Series, which required no financial contribution, and F1 Academy.

"Without those two championships, I wouldn't be here today," she said. "That's definite... so for that, I'm forever thankful and it's kept my dream alive."

This year Pulling, who started in single seaters at 17, returned to British F4 with Rodin and became the first female race winner in the series.

Her mentor, Alice Powell, was the first woman to score points in GP3 (now Formula Three) and won a Formula Renault title but worked as a plumber after the cash ran out.

"She was out of a seat for five years before she could go back into racing, which is really unfortunate," said Pulling. "Having her in my corner, you know, she's not wanted to see me have a similar fate."

The number of girls coming into karting at grassroots level is steadily increasing, along with Formula One's popularity through the Netflix docu-series 'Drive to Survive', and initiatives are multiplying.

"Now it's such a positive time to be a female in the sport," said Pulling.

"As long as I perform, I'm confident that with the support system around me, I'll be able to continue up the ladder."

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Clare Fallon)