At only 22, she’s paving the track for future female drivers, in a sport heavily dominated by males. The pressure is on, but she isn’t intimidated. “At the end of the day, I see pressure as a privilege,” she says.
In contrast to other popular sports, motorsports are unique in that women can compete alongside men. Although female fans are becoming increasingly prevalent, the number of women and girls who participate in racing is drastically lower than that of men.
The most significant barrier for females entering motorsports is lack of exposure. The fortunate drivers who make it to the prestigious Formula 1 series start young with karting and move up through the ranks. Historically, racing has not been presented as an option for young girls. With fewer role models, they aren’t likely to enter the convoluted motorsports world.
Luckily, Pulling was not one of those girls. She grew up watching her father, a former motorbike endurance racer, enjoy racing as a hobby. She received her first go-kart when she was eight and began karting competitively at nine. It wasn’t the other child racers who took note of her gender, though—“It would be the dads who wouldn’t want their sons getting beaten by a girl rather than the actual kids themselves,” she recalls.
“It would be the dads who wouldn’t want their sons getting beaten by a girl rather than the actual kids themselves.”
Lacking a budget and a race team, Pulling found her motorsports journey took some heavy lifting to get started. “It was still just me and my dad against everyone,” she says. They made a good team, and despite the odds, she won the British Championship in 2017 and 2018.
The only way was up—bigger competitions and higher speeds. A move to cars followed when she competed in the Ginetta Junior Championship, a one-make motor-racing series across England and Scotland, in 2018. After receiving her best results at Donington Park, Derby, during her second year of racing Ginettas, it was time to transition to single-seat racing.
Her progression to this stage also presented hurdles. There is no guidebook on how to start racing, especially as a young female. In addition to inadequate support, technical differences exist between a kart and a one-seater Formula 4 car. The F4 car is designed for entry-level racing but can reach speeds of about 165 mph, while karts only achieve speeds of about 70 mph.
Pulling struggled with funding, which she identifies as the biggest hurdle that she and anybody in motorsports—not just women—must overcome. “I’ve never had the funding to do enough testing to get the right rate of development for where I was at,” she says.
Testing is vital to climbing the motorsports ladder, from the foundations of racing in the F4 category to the ultimate goal—F1. The cars advance with every step, and the best way for a driver to familiarize themselves with the new speeds and technology is through testing.
Despite her low budget, she pressed on. In 2020, Pulling made her single-seater debut in the F4 British Championship. She re-signed for the 2021 season but ran out of funding and had to withdraw.
“I’m just lucky I didn’t have to stop,” she says. Pulling believes lack of finances would have been the end of the road if she were a male racer. Programs and categories that support women throughout their careers are becoming more prevalent, a sign of progress toward equality in motorsports.
The W Series, for example, revolutionized gender inclusivity in racing from its first season in 2019. The series was an all-female F3 championship that granted fully funded seats. In 2021, Pulling became a reserve driver for the W Series. Using identical cars for all drivers, the series focused on ability and eliminated the resource concern. With the budgeting issue out of the way, Pulling was unstoppable.
During her time in the W Series, she found the mentor she needed in Alice Powell, a lifelong racing driver who became Pulling’s coach. Powell’s racing career helped lay the groundwork for future U.K. female racers: She made history in 2010 by becoming the first woman to win a Formula Renault championship in the U.K., and was the first woman to score points in the GP3 Series in 2012. “She got to pass on a fair bit of experience,” Pulling says. Today, Powell is her manager.
Finishing fourth in the W Series, Pulling proved herself to the motorsports community. In 2022, she signed onto the Alpine Affiliate program, which supports young racing drivers.
“It’s always special the first time in an F1 car. But to do it with such a message behind it, I think that made it much more incredible.”
Pulling was determined to make the most of rare opportunities like that program and the W Series: She would be successful for herself and all young girls with racing ambitions. She wanted to prove that “there is a pathway for them in motorsport.”
By virtue of her determination and Alpine’s support, she drove an F1 car for the first time ahead of the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, becoming the first female to drive an F1 car in that country. This act was monumental, considering Saudi women had not legally been allowed to drive until four years prior. “It’s always special the first time in an F1 car. But to do it with such a message behind it, I think that made it much more incredible,” Pulling says.
Unyielding in her rise, the racing starlet graduated to a full-time role at the Alpine Academy in 2023. That year, she also premiered in the F1 Academy series, a new all-female racing category created not long before the W Series folded.
Pulling returned to the F1 Series for the ongoing 2024 season with an appetite for victory. She claimed her debut win of the series in Round 1 at Jeddah and went on to claim grand chelems (when a driver scores pole position in qualifying, records the fastest lap of the race, and then wins after leading every lap), wins, and podiums in subsequent rounds. Pulling also broke new ground by becoming the first female race winner of the series earlier this year at the F4 British Championship. Her lead was a triumphant 5.5 seconds.
The motorsports world watches in awe as Pulling continues to prove herself, climbing up the ranks race after race. Many view her as the U.K.’s best bet in finding a female F1 driver.
But despite the importance of these ‘first female’ feats, Pulling is ultimately racing for the same reason as the males on her track: to win. “Whenever the visor is down, I just see myself as anyone else. I mean, yeah, it’s cool that I’m a female doing it, but in my head, I’m just a racing driver,” she says. “I’m just another racing driver trying to make it to Formula 1.”
“I never told the little eight-year-old me when I was starting karting that, ‘Hey, you’re going to be one of the biggest females in the U.K. that the girls will be looking up to.’ I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Male competitors generally show Pulling respect. “Maybe sometimes they’re a bit more argy-bargy and get their elbows out a bit more. But I think racing is tough on track, and everyone’s there for themselves,” she says. Her accomplishments prove that gender is hardly an impediment. “I don’t expect anyone to give me any room. And, you know, I’ll do the same back. I won’t give them an inch.”
Pulling believes there’s now a new generation of racing fans, one that’s more receptive than those prior. Sky Sports started presenting female motorsports in 2022 during the W Series, so young girls now have the opportunity to see their potential future on-screen and seek out heroes like Pulling. F1 is her ultimate goal, but even if she doesn’t make it to that stage, she hopes young girls will be watching her win. “I just hope that I can help inspire [them] to get into it.”
Pulling feels honored to be considered a beacon of hope for more inclusivity in motorsports. “I never told the little eight-year-old me when I was starting karting that, ‘Hey, you’re going to be one of the biggest females in the U.K. that the girls will be looking up to.’ I wouldn’t have believed it.”
With every lap, Pulling is not only chasing her own dreams but also igniting a spark of opportunity for countless young girls who share her dream.
This feature is taken from Issue 12, The New Order, guest edited by Nile Rodgers and Nancy Hunt, co-founders of We Are Family Foundation. All images by Jakob Ebrey/Rodin Motorsport.
