ABBI PULLING & ASEEL AL HAMAD First Women to Drive F1 Car in Saudi Arabia

March 24, 2022

GRRL! SUMMARY:

W Series driver ABBI PULLING and Saudi motorsport leader ASEEL AL HAMAD shattered barriers by becoming the first women to drive a Formula 1 car in Saudi Arabia, taking Alpine’s 2012 E20 through Riyadh and historic sites including a UNESCO World Heritage location. This wasn’t just a photo op – it was a deliberate statement about opening doors in a region where women’s motorsport participation has been heavily restricted.
AL HAMAD, who sits on the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission and Saudi motorsport federation board, used her platform to deliver a clear message about talent over gender: “It doesn’t matter your gender; you need to show your talent.” Her previous experience with the E20 at Paul Ricard in 2018 positioned her perfectly to mentor PULLING while representing progress in her home country.
For PULLING, this F1 debut represented another step toward her ultimate goal after starting racing at eight years old. Her partnership with AL HAMAD created a powerful generational bridge – the established leader paving the way and the rising talent pushing forward. Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi recognized the symbolic weight, noting how two women driving through Saudi Arabia’s capital demonstrated that “anyone with enough drive can follow their dreams in motorsport.”