Doriane Pin: The Current ‘Pin’acle Of Women In Motorsport
We are only 5 months into the year, and Doriane Pin is booked and busy for the rest of it with weeks full of training and improving and weekends full of racing and observing. Concluding a groundbreaking year in F1 Academy last year, Pin walked away as the 2025 world champion, after fiercely competing through her two victorious seasons. The season was packed with competitive battles between Pin and her rival, Maya Weugg, for the fight for the title. Fans were kept on the edge of their seats, and teams held their breath, anticipating who would come out on top of the standings. A season of four race wins and eight podiums in total, she left the season with a fifteen-point lead in the standings and an inevitable bright future waiting ahead of her, as opportunity after opportunity opened up for the ‘Pocket Rocket’.
So, what has 2026 had in store for Doriane Pin so far?
To a great start to the year, in January of 2026, Mercedes Formula One team announced that Pin would be joining them as a Development Driver after graduating from their Junior Programme and excelling abundantly in F1 Academy. Earning this role means it will aide Pin in her goal of reaching the top position of the ‘motorsport ladder’ of Formula One, with working on the simulator, building and developing on her skillset at trackside and at the Mercedes factory in Brackley, whilst supporting and acting as a mentor to 17-year-old Payton Westcott, Mercedes’s new junior driver in F1 Academy, helping her improve throughout her motorsport journey. After Pin had fulfilling advice and support from the director of F1 Academy and a former development driver for Mercedes in 2012, Susie Wolff, who had the great achievement of competing in the free practice one round at the Silverstone race weekend in 2014.
Not only has Pin joined Mercedes as a development driver, but a plethora of other roles have welcomed the French driver; she has also been appointed as a development driver with Peugeot for the FIA World Endurance Championship. Pin is familiar with endurance racing after her success in prior races like the 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps in 2022 with Iron Dames, and Le Mans with PREMA Racing in 2023. Additionally, the new roles have not stopped there, as only this week Citroen Racing announced that Doriane Pin will also be joining them as a Gen4 Development Driver in Formula E.
The opportunity to be a development driver for Mercedes opened up a monumental achievement for Pin, a private test at Silverstone National circuit in the Mercedes-W12 Formula One car, a car driven by the seven-time World Champion, Lewis Hamilton. On the 17th of April, Pin completed 76 laps around the track, adapting to the car after hard work on the simulator, enhancing and improving her performance. This made her the first French woman to drive a Mercedes F1 car, but her track time this year has not stopped there.
A Formula One car isn’t the only time Pin has been on track this year, as she has been competing in the European Le Mans Series with the Duqueine Team in the LMP2 Pro/Am category, joined with teammates Roda Giorgio and Verchoor Richard. The French driver has already completed two rounds with Duqueine; her first round was the 4 hours of Barcelona, at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Doriane Pin took control of the mid-race phase, and the team ended the weekend on the podium in P3, with a best time of 1:58.039, starting their season positively. This success followed on into the 4 hours of Le Castille, where they once again landed on the podium within their category.
However, it's important to remember that Pin is only 22 years old, her motorsport journey is still only at the beginning, and she is a driver with so much potential on track. Pin is inspiring many young female drivers to keep pushing and breaking the glass barriers within motorsport. So the big question is… Could we see Pin in a Formula One Race weekend?