Frenchwoman Doriane Pin joins Mercedes and the F1 Academy

The first woman elected “Revelation of the Year” in the world endurance championship last year, the Frenchwoman was offered a chance in single-seaters by the eight-time world champion constructors’ team in Formula 1.

Promising French driver, entered last year in the WEC world endurance championship (LMP2 category, antechamber of the premier category of Hypercars), Doriane Pin will compete in single-seaters in 2024. The Tricolor joins the young Mercedes drivers sector and will participate in the next season of the F1 Academy, a Formula 4 competition reserved for female drivers in which Frenchwoman Lola Lovinfosse competed last year, the reigning Formula 1 world vice-champion team announced on Tuesday January 16.

“A new chapter is opening and I am proud to take this new step within such a prestigious team and as part of the Iron Dames project, reacted Doriane Pin in a press release. Moving to single-seaters was a clear goal for my career, and being in this environment is a great approach.” .

In 2023, the so-called “Pocket rocket” – a nickname she owes to her small size (1.59 m) and her performance behind the wheel – became the first woman to win the prize of “Revelation of the year” in WEC. At the end of the year, she also made her debut in single-seaters, even winning a race in the Formula 4 championship in Southeast Asia. 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.

The hope of climbing the ladder to F1

“We have closely followed her development over the last few years, as she has continued to impresscommented Mercedes boss, Austrian Toto Wolff. Doriane is a promising talent and we are happy to join the F1 Academy by choosing her as a driver.”. 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, “what [lui] made me want to [se] throw in 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.