Interview
Pulling: British F4 podium ‘valuable practice’ for Zandvoort return
Abbi Pulling added another piece of silverware to her collection with a P2 finish in the ROKiT British F4 Championship on Sunday, aiding her preparation for F1 ACADEMY’s visit to the same Circuit Zandvoort next month.
Lining up on reverse grid pole for Race 2, the Alpine driver lost the lead to Rodin Motorsport teammate Alex Ninovic into Turn 1 but managed to fend off Championship leader Deagen Fairclough’s attack to secure her third podium of her 2024 campaign.
Although saddened to have not brought home another win in the Championship, the Briton sits sixth in the British F4 Standings and believes her efforts across the weekend will bolster her F1 ACADEMY campaign when the series resumes for Round 4 at the Dutch circuit.
“Starting on the front row, so I was looking to take some trophies home from the race, but a little bit disappointed,” Pulling admitted. “I obviously wanted to win. I think I had the pace and was capable of it, just struggled a little bit more than we expected with the colder conditions that it was this morning.
“It was obviously very green after the rainfall as well yesterday. All in all, it's really good practice for when I come here next with F1 ACADEMY and that although, Qualifying didn't show our true potential, we've been fast all weekend here. It just goes to show how valuable the track time is here with the British F4 Championship.”
With downpours impacting running during F1 ACADEMY’s in-season test at Zandvoort in April, Pulling recognises the advantage of having the opportunity to assess the tyre degradation in drier conditions in order to make the necessary tweaks to her long-run pace.
She explained: “When I did the test here with F1 ACADEMY, it was all wet running other than the last session at the end of Day 2, where we got a performance run in. But we didn’t know how it would go off over a long period, like over a race run — it's really useful.
“Obviously, we've just done a dry race today, so we saw how the tyre fell off and where our weak points are when that happens. It gives us a bit of insight of what to expect on the race weekend here in in a month's time and also, refining the track, tidying it up.”
British F4’s first visit overseas also proved to be a monumental weekend for female representation in the Championship. Pulling was one of eight female drivers competing — with four fellow F1 ACADEMY drivers joining the Standings leader — with the percentage of women competing reaching a historic high of 29%.
The first woman to win a British F4 race at Brands Hatch earlier in the season, Pulling praised the increase in female participation and the benefits of being able to run a dual campaign to strengthen her on-track development.
“I think it's amazing,” remarked Pulling. “It's so nice to see obviously being one of the few females on the grid in the past in this Championship, to now see so many be attracted to it.
“Obviously, it has been such a great thing that the British F4 Championship has expanded, going abroad and coming to this European track because it has attracted so many drivers and also female drivers, which is great. It's a great opportunity for all of us girls, a lot of us have come from F1 ACADEMY, so it's great for us to get some extra laps in before returning here with F1 and F1 ACADEMY”