F1: The Academy Lifts The Visor On Abbi Pulling's Championship Run

Forbes

6 hours ago

The effect of Netflix's Drive To Survive on Formula 1 was seismic. The sport had stagnated, stuck in its ways, catering to the select few. Then the streaming giant ripped the curtain back on motorsport's elite world and exploded its global popularity, driven as much by character arcs as championship points. Now, the hope is that F1: The Academy, produced by Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine for Netflix, can do the same for its all-female junior series.
Released earlier this month, the series flips the camera onto the grit and pressure behind the 2024 F1 Academy season. Among its protagonists is 22-year-old Abbi Pulling, who claimed the championship in dominant fashion, but the series lets viewers into her most private world, from moments of grief and loss to the work that powered her rise.
When filming a documentary, the cameras don't just capture the podium. They linger. Post-race. In the gym. At the kitchen table. When Abbi Pulling agreed to open the door to her world, it wasn't without hesitation.
"This is really sensitive to me, they knew that I was all tentative about the filming," she said. 'But I think it was necessary.'
She wasn't alone in that vulnerability. The documentary doesn't just show Pulling the driver. It shows Abbi the daughter, the granddaughter. Her family, especially her father and late grandmother, are woven deeply into her story. That was the line she hesitated to cross. Letting cameras into those sacred spaces.
'It was a really emotional part of the season. I got off the plane from Jeddah and had to go straight to my nan's funeral. It was really sad… and it was weird to kind of share that,' said Pulling.
'I've barely ever seen my dad cry,' she added. 'To see him cry and to see that moment [the championship win] for him… I've never seen it from his perspective before.'
What the series captures is more than just a racer chasing results. It's a young woman navigating what it means to be seen. Her grief. Her grit. Her growth.
'I didn't know how it was going to be received,' she said. 'People are going to get an opinion on you that have never seen you or come across you before in this seven-part series… and it's quite scary.'
For Pulling, the 2023 campaign wasn't the golden year it was supposed to be. She entered the season as one of the title favourites but found herself just scraping into the top five. The pressure, the expectations, the weight of needing to win every race. It all caught up.
'I did a lot of work with a guy called Martin from Gazing Performance Systems… to understand what I did wrong, what was in and out of my control,' said Pulling. 'I focused on so many things that weren't even in my hands.'
And with that work came a new perspective. Less obsession, more precision. Less pressure, more perspective. 'I just took every race as it came,' she said.
And it worked. Pulling didn't step off the podium once in 2024.
As champion of F1 Academy, she secured a seat up the ladder in the GB3 Championship— a series with quicker cars, more downforce, and tougher competition.
"The competition is really tough, and the car is bigger, faster," she said. "It's a large challenge, and it's a lot to get used to."
Silverstone was an incredible debut; she qualified fourth and finished fifth. Since then, it's been about working through technical issues, rough weekends, and pushing through the noise.
'The last two results at Zandvoort and Spa are definitely not where I know that I'm capable of finishing,' said Pulling. 'It's tough but I really hope to continue the season and keep progressing and get back on the form we were when we had my debut at Silverstone.'
The goal is still crystal clear—Formula 1. But Pulling knows the route isn't straight. It's unpredictable, and dependent on more than just talent. It requires backing, exposure, and a bit of luck and that's where the docuseries steps in.
When you're one of few women in a male-dominated sport, being seen isn't always as simple as it sounds. And letting the world in through Netflix's lens isn't just about telling your story. It's also about visibility. It's about opportunity.
'No other junior drivers have ever had this kind of access and exposure,' Pulling said. 'Hopefully it can help propel us. And get the financial support we need. Show brands that there's a conversation about women in sport—not just motorsport.'
F1: The Academy offers raw, emotional access to drivers like Pulling. But it also packages that vulnerability into a polished product, one that serves the broader brand of Formula 1, eager to prove its inclusivity. At times the show skirts past the context, rarely interrogating the actual barriers that hold female athletes back, whether that be the funding disparities or the lack of support in the grassroots. We see women fighting for space in a system that still wasn't built with them in mind. What we don't always see is the system itself.
It's not that the series failed. It's that it plays it safe. Instead of confronting the tension between gender, merit, and visibility in elite motorsport, it often opts for the neater arc: heartbreak, hustle, hard-won success. Next race, next episode, roll credits.
But the reality is messier, perhaps more political. And while exposure matters, it's not the same as equity. Cameras won't solve the sponsorship gap. Or reverse years of institutional doubt about whether women belong on the grid. Visibility helps massively. But only if it leads to tangible support.
As managing director of F1 Academy Susie Wolff said, "This isn't a moment. It's a movement."