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A Life on Track – Doriane’s Journey to F1 Academy

A life in motorsport has always been close to Doriane Pin.

From watching her dad organise go-karting competitions when she was four to driving in F1 Academy in 2024, Doriane never been far from the racetrack.

The 20-year-old French driver will represent the Mercedes F1 team in the all-female racing series this year, with the support of Prema Racing, with the ultimate goal to compete in Formula One.

“The category that getting me into motorsport was Formula One when I was young. So of course, I wanted to go in that direction one day when I get a chance,” Doriane said.

“Obviously I have high expectations. I want to win the F1 Academy championship. I think if we prepare well in the beginning of the season, we can be strong. And I think being with Mercedes will help me to make this step in the single-seater as good as possible,” she added.

Doriane’s early years were spent alongside her dad as he raced go-karts and worked in motorsport and despite some setbacks, she knew racing was what she wanted to do.

Doriane Pin Joins Junior Programme and Enters F1 Academy

“My dad was doing go-karts when he was younger and he was working in motorsport in go-karts, especially he was organising karting events for the company and I was with him on track since I was four or five,” she said.

“So obviously I was not driving, but I was taking pictures and stuff like that and watching the go-kart around the track. And obviously I wanted to try at seven, but I was too small.

“I was three years later than everyone else. So I had to wait two and a half year to get into a go-kart. So I played tennis for two years.

“As soon as I was able to drive a go-kart, I went into it and I said to my dad, ‘tennis is really good but I want to drive a go-kart now.’ And so he bought me a small mini-kart.”

Since those mini-kart days, hard work has brought Doriane success, winning the 2019 French Championship, graduating and gaining the support of the Iron Dames, scoring five podiums in the 2021 Le Mans Cup before breaking through in 2022 and becoming the Ferrari Challenge Europe champion, winning nine out of 14 races.

She also claimed victory at the prestigious 24 Hours of Spa and took a historic win at the European Le Mans Series season-finale in the GTE-AM class before a move into the FIA World Endurance Championship for 2023, competing in the LMP2 category alongside Mirko Bortolotti, and former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat.

“It's going so fast, but I think every time you have to go on track and every time you have an opportunity you have to work to make things happen, Doriane said.

“I’ve talked a few times with Daniil, Daniil Kvyat. He was racing with me last year. And obviously, five years in F1, he’s got a lot of experience.”

And from one former team-mate who’s driven in F1 to a new team-mate who’s raced a little too, in seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton – one of Doriane’s inspirations.

She believes it will be “special” to drive for the same team as Lewis: “When I started watching Formula One, he was there winning the world title, so he was someone who inspired me.”

Perhaps the biggest inspiration to Doriane outside of motorsport is Austrian former alpine skier Marcel Hirscher.

The seven-time world and two-time Olympic champion, regarded by many to be the greatest alpine skier of all time, had a big impact on the 20-year-old and she has based some of her driving style on the former skier.

“He's like Lewis Hamilton for me,” she said.

“I was looking into Formula 1 and ski, slalom and giant, especially slalom. And he was winning everything. And I was like, phew, he was a monster.

“He's very smooth with the body, very elastic. And he quite inspired me for driving very smooth and everything. This guy was really good. And also the mindset. He won and then he did the interview and he was calm. It was so impressive.”

Such inspirations have helped drive Doriane to where she is today and the team is excited to see what the future holds for the rising star!

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I have high expectations. I want to win the F1 Academy championship

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