Mercedes selects Doriane Pin for F1 Academy seat

Mercedes has chosen Iron Dames racer and full-time LMP2 driver Doriane Pin to represent it in F1 Academy in 2024, with the Frenchwoman also joining the team’s junior programme.

Pin, 20, won nine out of 14 races to become Ferrari Challenge Europe champion in 2022 and became a class winner at the 24 Hours of Spa in the same year, driving a Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo alongside Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting.

Last season she contested every round of the World Endurance Championship with teammates Mirko Bortolotti and Daniil Kvyat, scoring one podium in the LMP2 class on her way to winning WEC’s ‘Revelation of the Year' award last November.

She also got her first taste of single-seater racing in the Formula 4 South East Asia Championship last year, winning the season finale and finishing second in the standings despite only racing in the second half of the campaign.

With every F1 team backing a driver for the 2024 F1 Academy campaign, Pin will race alongside Williams’ nominee Lia Block, Alpine’s Abbi Pulling and McLaren’s Bianca Bustamante.

“I am incredibly happy to join the Mercedes-AMG F1 Team Junior Programme and to represent the team in F1 Academy this year with Prema Racing,” said Pin. “A new chapter begins, and I am proud to make this next step in such a prestigious team and with the Iron Dames project. I am grateful for their trust and honoured to race for their colours.

“Moving into single-seaters was a clear objective for my career, and to be in this environment is a great approach. I am working very hard to reach the top level of this sport and I cannot wait to go racing.”

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff - who has signed a three-year deal to continue at the helm of the F1 operation - admitted that Mercedes had “kept a close eye” on Pin’s development and had been “consistently impressed” with her performances, adding: “The fantastic support of Deborah Mayer and the Iron Dames organisation has enabled her to display her abilities to this point; she has taken full advantage of that opportunity with determination and skill.”

And Deborah Mayer, who founded the Iron Dames project, said: “It's extraordinary for a young woman of 20 to join the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, one of the most prestigious teams in Formula 1. Since her entry into the Iron Dames project in 2021, Doriane has been a demonstration of talent, determination, and exceptional maturity.

“This is also a wonderful and very positive symbol of the resonance and impact that the Iron Dames project can have in nurturing and blossoming talent. We are proud and delighted to be able to continue to support Doriane as she takes her dream as far as possible." 

The second F1 Academy season kicks off in Saudi Arabia in March, and will be on the F1 support bill in Miami, Barcelona, Zandvoort, Singapore, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.