At 20 years old, the Parisian who carries the hopes of women in motorsport on her shoulders knows exactly what she owes to Winfield Racing School, where she first experienced single-seater racing.
At the age of seven, Doriane Pin asked her father—founder of Fun and Race, a company specialized in karting events for businesses—to let her start competing. However, she had to wait until 2013, when she turned nine, to reach the minimum legal age. For the Pin family, karting was a family affair, far removed from professional structures, yet this did not stop her from excelling on the national karting scene. In 2018, she stood on the podium in the French Women’s Championship before clinching the title the following year under challenging circumstances. “In 2019, I could only afford to race in one event, so I had to give it everything or it would be over for me,” she recalls. “I chose the French Championship because it was the biggest competition I could enter to try and win a title and get noticed.”
Despite the challenge, she wasn’t shaking in her boots. “I had learned from my mistakes and understood what I had been missing to win.” At 15, with a title under her belt, her sights were now to compete in single-seater racing. That’s when she heard about a selection event held at Circuit Paul Ricard by Winfield Racing School. She signed up. “I participated in the selection at the end of 2019,” she recalls. “It was my very first experience in a race car, and it was undoubtedly the best introduction to single-seaters I could have hoped for. It was an incredibly enriching experience for someone like me who had everything to learn. The atmosphere was both serious and supportive, and it was at Winfield that I learnt the basics of racing. The school, with its vast expertise, gave me the fundamental tools I needed to grow as a young driver. There isn’t a single lesson I learned at Winfield that I don’t use in my daily life as a driver.”
Doriane coached by Winfield instructor in 2019
Selected for the Girls on Track – Rising Stars program in 2020, she was one of four drivers invited to train at the Ferrari Driver Academy. Joining a full-time racing program with the Iron Dames in the Le Mans Cup, she showcased her skills by achieving five podium finishes. However, it was the following year that she truly burst onto the international scene, dominating the Ferrari Challenge Europe Series.
Doriane during the FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars selection program, in the Winfield Formula 4 (2020)
After transitioning to the LMP2 category in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2023, Doriane Pin became the first woman to win the coveted Rookie of the Year award. In single-seaters, she claimed victories in the Southeast Asia and UAE F4 Championships before being invited to join the Mercedes Junior program. She has since made her mark in the F1 Academy, finishing this season as the runner-up.
At just 20 years old, Doriane Pin’s story is still being written. She is following in the footsteps of Cathy Muller, winner of the Pilote Elf in 1982, with Formula 1 firmly in her sights.
Photo credits: Morgan Mathurin
