Abbi Pulling’s domination of the all-female series showed once more in Singapore, where the English driver supported by Alpine placed on the top of the sheets in the practice session, took double pole and then won both races. With one hand on the Drivers’ Championship trophy already, Pulling can now rest after another brilliant performance and prepare herself for possibly winning the title in the penultimate Round 6 of F1 Academy. This will take place in Qatar in two months.
However, even though the 21-year-old looks unstoppable now, she’s careful not to feel too confident and pressured: “Definitely not, I know that I need to keep the momentum up. You know, one little mistake could drop us back a bit, so I’m making sure to keep a cool head and to keep consistent.”
Pulling gives emphasis on her grounded mindset a lot, pointing to the fact her thinking didn’t change throughout the successful year — and perhaps that’s exactly something a future champion needs.
“You know that race was kind of similar to [Saturday],” the Alpine driver reflected on Race 2. “It was just: get off the line and lead and control the race from there. And yeah, [I’m] really, really happy.”
“The car was amazing, we were all a bit worried obviously because it’s really, really hot today, hotter than yesterday. But the team did an amazing job, and it was a lovely car to drive,” she praised Rodin Motorsport who she competes with in the F1 Academy Constructors’ Championship.
Rodin Motorsport is currently second in the overall standings, lacking seven points on leading PREMA Racing currently. Pulling’s teammates are Jessie Edgar, tenth in the Drivers’ Championship, and Lola Lovinfosse, fourteenth. Pulling alone brought the team 245 points out of 280.
Of course, the 21-year-old is happy with all of her wins and achievements, but she admitted that something about the double pole position and then the double win felt special on the Marina Bay street circuit.
“Honestly yeah, I’ve just clicked with the circuit. I love street circuits and this one is really, really raw, and it’s bumpy, and it’s unforgiving, and I just absolutely love that in a circuit. And yeah, it’s made it that much more special getting the double pole and then obviously the double win here, it’s yeah…”
“I couldn’t even dream of it, so I’m so happy with how the weekend’s gone, and I can’t thank everyone around me. My team, not just my race team but the support team around me, the network that I have — they’re making all of this easy for me, putting pressure off of my shoulders and that’s… I can’t thank them enough. And also my family, my dad and everyone like that,” Pulling concluded with a smile.
