F1 Academy champion makes landmark Mercedes test debut
Mercedes has handed F1 Academy champion Doriane Pin her first test in a Formula 1 car at Silverstone this weekend.
It’s a landmark test - not just because Pin is one of only two female drivers to test an F1 car in the 2020s - but because of how highly rated Pin is.
The 22-year-old joined Mercedes’ driver development programme in 2024 as part of a switch to single-seaters, having made a big impression in endurance racing.
Pin finished as runner-up to Abbi Pulling in her first F1 Academy season in 2024, then returned one year later and won the title.
She became an F1 development driver for Mercedes’ F1 team this year, a role she’s dovetailing with a return to full-time endurance racing in the European Le Mans Series - which started with a class podium in the Barcelona season-opener last weekend.
Pin will also return to the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time in three years, having been forced to withdraw from the 2024 event due to injury. The 2025 event clashed with her F1 Academy schedule.
Pin is now driving the Mercedes W12 (the 2021 constructors’ championship winner) on Saturday at Silverstone in a private test as part of Mercedes’ Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme.
That’s a big landmark in Pin’s career, having already supported Mercedes with simulator work this year, alongside the likes of its official third driver Frederik Vesti.
Pin is the first female driver to test an F1 car since Jessica Hawkins drove Aston Martin’s AMR21 at the Hungaroring in 2023.
But while that test proved to be a one-off, there could be further opportunities for Pin, whose ultimate goal remains reaching F1.
That might remain a long shot for now, given Pin has moved away from the single-seater ladder, but success at the top level of endurance racing looks a real possibility.
“The goal of my racing season [ELMS] is to win the championship but also to be good in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which we will also be racing in, so if we can do good out there, it will be a positive result that can bring other opportunities afterwards,” Pin told F1’s website before the test.
“But definitely combining both roles and continuing the development with the F1 team, and me continuing my racing and trying to push and do my best every time, hopefully the two combined things will be bringing new opportunities and [working] towards my goal.
“I think we all have the same goal and we are all working towards this one, so let’s keep working.”
