Interview
‘It’s a transition year’ – Pin tips PREMA for Teams’ title triumph as she aims to round out debut season victorious
Casting her mind back to this time last year, Doriane Pin had just started to dip her toe into the world of single-seater racing, competing in the F4 South East Asia Championship.
Now, the Mercedes driver prepares to embark on the final two rounds of her debut F1 ACADEMY campaign. Sitting second in the Standings with a 95-point deficit to long-time leader Abbi Pulling, Pin knows that the title is an outside shot, but however slim her chances are, she’s going to be fighting to the finish.
“It’s been a challenging season,” she admitted. “A lot of work to do because it’s my first year in single-seaters. I’m lucky I (have been able to) drive quite a lot this year, so I learnt a lot in every single race and in testing.
“I think it’s not too bad. I was hoping for the title, obviously, but we are P2 in the Standings, and we are fighting constantly for victory, so that’s positive.”
Despite an extensive and successful CV across GT and endurance racing, 2024 marks Pin’s first full year in Formula 4 machinery, with eight rounds in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine adding to her busy schedule.
Asked to identify the biggest challenges of her transition to single-seaters, she remarked: “A bit of everything! Single-seaters are very different to GT and endurance racing — the techniques, the driving, the races, the fighting, the racecraft, the race start as well is a standing start instead of a rolling start.
“Everything is huge and F1 ACADEMY, the series itself, has big visibility for everyone and for us, it’s big. Until you’re at the place, you don’t realise how big it is, so it’s a bit of everything. But I’m well managed by my people around me and they help me a lot. It’s a transition year and I’m happy about the progression I’ve made and the improvement, but there’s still some work to do.”
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Racing under the Silver Arrows badge, Pin admits that the involvement of the Formula 1 teams - and the sheer number of eyes that comes with racing on Grand Prix weekends - has brought its own challenges.
“I’m representing Mercedes and I’m super proud and grateful for this opportunity,” she said. “I think I put more pressure on myself than people were putting pressure on me because Mercedes know that it’s a transition year. I think they are happy about what I’m doing and we are working well together, so we have to see in the long-term picture.
“It’s the series itself. Everyone is involved and we are running next to Formula 1, so it’s big, and there’s Netflix around. Nobody lived this (experience) before this year, so it’s new. But I don’t feel like I’m under pressure all the time because I love what I’m doing, and I focus on driving.
“It was my target to go into single-seaters one day, so I don’t feel stressed all the time. It’s the energy, you have to manage it and obviously, doing two categories, it’s not easy. It’s a lot, but it’s good.”
The title odds are not in Pin’s favour — with Pulling only needing to score 18 points across the final four races to be crowned Champion regardless of the French racer’s performances. Meanwhile, her PREMA Racing teammate Maya Weug is closing in, only 30 points behind in third.
Realistic about her prospects, Pin is resolved to maximise the most out of the remaining races and is hopeful that the close competition between herself and Weug can spur the pair on to help the Italian squad retain the Teams’ title over rivals Rodin Motorsport and Campos Racing.
“Honestly, I want to fight for victories, I don’t want to fight for P2 or P3, so I don’t really think about the Standings,” the 20-year-old remarked. “For me, the goal was P1 and it’s almost impossible now. Nothing is impossible, but it’s a bit far now. My goal is to win as many races as possible until the end of the year.
“I would be very happy to be the Teams’ Champion because we deserve it, we are a strong team. We came back strongly, especially together with Maya and we’re scoring a lot of points, so this is positive. I think we can be ahead at the end of the season. We’ll just do our thing and bring as many points as possible for the team to bring (home) the title.”
Pin added: “We always want to be the best and to be the best in the team, so we’re pushing each other constantly. Maya is a good driver, so we are learning from each other.”