“Do your talking on track“ - Abbi Pulling on her F1 ACADEMY frontrunner status and climbing the motorsport ladder

Bolstered by her mantra of “a happy Abbi is a fast Abbi”, Abbi Pulling is well-known for her bubbly personality. Yet it doesn’t take you long to realise that there’s so much more to the Alpine driver than first meets the eye.With a steely determination to prove what she’s capable of, the 21-year-old rapidly carved out a spot as a title frontrunner in her second F1 ACADEMY campaign, and as a one of the brightest young female racers on the road to F1. However, the Briton admits that getting to this point has been as much a battle off-track as those she’s faced on-track.Whilst her father raced on motorbikes, it was all things four-wheels that first piqued Pulling’s interest. Visits to local karting tracks were soon followed by a life-changing gift — her very own go-kart.Crediting her family’s instrumental role in enabling her to chase her dreams, she says: “I just loved spending time with my dad and improving. It was so satisfying seeing the lap time come down, especially when you're starting, it's quite big chunks that it comes down. It gets even more satisfying when it's the little bits.“I'm super lucky that I've got such a supportive family, I know that some people don't necessarily have that privilege. So, I always like to put things in perspective and take a step back, and I can't thank, especially my dad, enough for what he's done for me. He's the one that drove me to the racetracks after work and not having a weekend off. He loves it just as much as I do, I think that's why I'm so lucky. He already had that passion for the sport and now he gets to keep that going through me. It’s my dream as well as my dad's.”Pulling currently leads the Drivers' Standings on 147 points, with four wins, four poles and two second-places to her name‘Show that you can do it’Bitten by the racing bug, Pulling entered the cadet class of the British Championships aged nine. Undoubtedly, it was a tough environment for her to step into at the time, as one of the few young girls in the field. Fortunately, the motorsport scene has dramatically transformed in the 12 years since, with Pulling and others’ example at the forefront of shifting perceptions of women in racing.“I did get pushed about a lot by my competitors,” she admits. “A lot of it was the dads, the dad would say ‘don’t let that girl beat you’. Whereas when I went into junior karting, I had a lot more respect from who I was racing against, they were a bit older and a bit more mature.”Pulling adds: “My dad would say ‘do your talking on track, just ignore them and show that you can do it’. That’s definitely stuck with me throughout my career. I’ve been growing up my whole life racing against guys (…) Going back into the mixed-gender British F4 Championship that I’m racing in this year, now it feels weird almost because I’ve been doing this (F1 ACADEMY) for so long. It’s been nice, refreshing and an added challenge. It’s nice to also see that that mindset isn’t there, the guys are no longer thinking like that. I’ve got quite a lot of respect from them.”READ MORE: Round 3 in Review: Leading protagonists emerge and glory on home turfHer talent quickly became apparent, winning the Super 1 National Junior TKM Championship in 2017 and 2018 – the first female driver to win a British Championship in that category. Cars were the next logical step, with her competing in Ginetta Juniors and the Ginetta GT5 Challenge, before stepping up to single-seaters for the 2020 British F4 campaign.Finishing sixth overall with four podiums, Pulling had aspirations to fight for the title a second time around. However, her dreams were soon curtailed, as she was forced to pull the plug due to a lack of budget. Pulling explains: “It was at that point where I was like what more can I do?, I want more, but my dad and I didn’t really know what the next step was. She (Alice Powell – Pulling’s long-time coach and Alpine Academy’s Talent Identification and Development Mentor) really opened my mind on how hard I need to work to get to where I want to be. It's been so much work off-track. Honestly, most of my time has been spent raising budgets rather than doing anything else. A lot of my prep time got taken away because I was too busy trying to find the time to actually get on track."You've got to work at it, you've got to train yourself and really be proactive in your mentality"“I’ve been so lucky with F1 ACADEMY coming about, Rodin Motorsport and Alpine. Various other sponsors as well that really, really backed me, I've got so many people in my corner. I'm so lucky to have that to help me in my journey and keep the dream alive. They've been keeping the dream alive for me, and I'm just so thankful because I know some others aren't as lucky.”With her early career hindered by her search for funding, the later arrival of F1 ACADEMY heralded a lifeline the Alpine driver desperately needed. With subsidised seats removing one of the major hurdles, Pulling knew all too well that there were few second chances in