Mercedes Formula 1 development driver and 2025 F1 Academy champion Doriane Pin has urged young girls aiming for a career in motorsport to “dare to believe” in their ambitions.
Pin began karting at the age of nine and started competing in the national championship when she was 12 in 2016. In her three years in the karting championship, she finished 10th and fifth in the junior class in the first two years and then won the female category in 2019.
She subsequently competed in the Renault Clio Cup in 2020, the GT3 class of the Le Mans Cup in 2021, the Formula 4 South East Asia Championship in 2023, the Formula 4 UAE Championship in 2024 and F1 Academy in 2024 and 2025. The French driver also took part in a one-day Formula 3 test at Magny-Cours in November 2021.
Since winning the F1 Academy championship in 2025, Pin was promoted to development driver for the Mercedes F1 team and became the first woman to drive a Mercedes F1 car when she drove the W12 at Silverstone in 2026.
In addition to her work with the Brackley outfit, she races in the Le Mans Prototype 2 Pro-Am class in the European Le Mans Series with Duqueine and serves as a development driver for Peugeot in the World Endurance Championship and Citroën in Formula E.
Speaking in a Mercedes In Convo With Kids interview, the 22-year-old reflected on her own journey and offered clear guidance to young girls hoping to follow in her footsteps.
Doriane Pin, Prema Racing
Photo by: Pauline Ballet / LAT Images via Getty Images
When asked what advice she would give to young girls who dream of becoming a racing driver, she explained: “You should believe in your dreams. It’s what drives you every day to reach it. So if your dream is to go to the greatest races in the world, just go for it. Trust yourself, enjoy, dare to believe.”
Pin added that if she were to tell her younger self something, she would tell her to “trust” herself.
“To trust yourself because when you’re a bit younger, you don’t think that it’s possible and then you do it, and then you realise that it was easily reachable. So, you always have to think ahead,” she said.
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