Doriane Pin: "You Provoke the Success with Your Mindset"

The feeling winning the F1 Academy Championship with Prema and Mercedes [0:20]

Greg: You were second last year, but now you're the first French Champion in F1 Academy. I can see the smile. You finished every race in your F1 Academy career. And then last night I was watching the celebration, you had the whole Mercedes team, Kimi, George, Toto, Susie. You also had obviously your team, the Prema team, everyone there with you. How are you feeling now that you're 12 hours out from that experience?

Doriane: Still in the cloud, it's an amazing feeling. Obviously you don't live that moment every day and being Champion is an amazing achievement. After so much work with the team and so much commitment on my side as well to perform and always to be competitive wherever I go. I mean, it was an amazing celebration, obviously, yesterday with the whole team. They have been there from day one and they are also part of the success. So I'm very glad we checked it and we won our first title together.

Greg: I love 'check it' like it's like this small achievement. It took a lot. Were you able to go out and celebrate with the team or did you do it around the track?

Doriane: Yeah, Mercedes brought the champagne, but we just celebrated mainly spraying it.

Greg: Are you keeping the bottle?

Doriane: No, actually, the team maybe. I keep the trophy.

Greg: That's a fair trade. How does it feel, the French bit, because I saw the smile? I want to know.

Doriane: It feels great. I mean, there are not so many women in motorsport and obviously being one of the few and competing at a high level and almost the only one as a French driver, and it feels great to be the best one.

Doriane's preparation for the 2025 F1 Academy season [2:06]

Greg: You mentioned in your post-race interview the hard work. You mentioned it here again. Make that tangible. What was that like this year in terms of your preparation, keeping yourself in the right mindset? How did that really manifest for you?

Doriane: Obviously, the preparation is fundamental for the performance and the success. I've learned a lot from the 2024 season. Obviously, it was jumping into endurance racing to single-seater racing. And my first ever year in single-seater, there were a lot of new things around, and obviously on track driving a different car. And yeah, I mean, I've been ticking my weaknesses of 2024 to bring it on to 2025 with improvement and innovation and basically becoming a better driver and more prepared, better approach in terms of racing as well. And I know I grew a lot in the last two years and it's clearly helping me to perform. We were absolutely more ready this year and the preparation in simulator, for example, creating the model of the tracks and I'm working with a mental coach. So a lot of things have been improved and the success is there on track. So easier to enjoy it and easier to succeed when you feel ready.

Staying in the right mindset and securing major points in Vegas [3:34]

Greg: Watching the races this weekend, I felt like I was watching ice skating more than I was watching car racing. I'm curious, when you're in that cockpit and you know what's on the line and you know you could either go for the win or you could hold back, what was your mindset in that moment?

Doriane: Yeah, obviously we were fighting for the Championship. So the importance of bringing it home was there. But if you approach the race like you have to be careful, you are a contender to win the Championship, this is not the right mindset, you know. So we had to be very aggressive. We had to be fully there from [Free Practice] to the races and be aggressive when we had to, taking it lap by lap and bringing results as well. And the race on Friday, when it was raining, was completely unexpected. And the race was completely crazy. A lot of things happened and we won that race with fastest lap and our main contender [Maya Weug] scored zero points. So we did almost the full job there, and were very proud of being able to succeed in this super important moment and making the difference as well. So I'm very glad that we were able to switch on and be very good the whole weekend.

Why she's The Pocket Rocket and how she perseveres through tough moments [5:07]

Greg: You know those infamous signs in amusement parks and karting tracks that said, "You must be this tall to ride"? Well, those were nearly Doriane's downfall. She was deemed too small to start racing when she initially wanted to, delaying her a couple of years. While her competitors had a head start, that didn't stop Doriane from coming back, racing fast, and dominating. Hence her nickname, The Pocket Rocket.

You're no stranger to hard work, obviously, it's been a challenge for you getting to this point. Going all the way back, you had to wait to even get into karting until you were much older. Is that something that maybe taught you that notion of having the right mindset, having the perseverance? What did you take away from even that during the early days?

Doriane: Yeah, the importance of the mindset is obviously fundamental to succeed in any sport. From a very young age, I was passionate about high level of sports and especially when I jumped for the first time in a go-kart, I completely fell in love with that sport and that's my environment and it's where I felt so good, you know.

Greg: I was going to ask you, what was it? Your dad has been involved in the karting business. Was it the moment that you got in the car? Like did you feel something that hooked you?

Doriane: Yeah, I mean the speed, the adrenaline, you're alone and driving around the track and you're nine years old. I mean it's insane. You feel so powerful. And yeah, I never give up. I never really think that something isn't reachable—the power of your mind saying everything is possible if you work for it. And actually even if I face a lot of challenges, I realize that, you provoke the success with your mindset and with the work behind it. So it definitely plays a good role since the beginning of my career. And then obviously I met new people and I met the important people that changed my career and gave me opportunities to race. So I'm thinking about Iron Dames, and obviously Mercedes and Prema. They have been there from the day I met them and without them I'm not here today.

What it means having Prema, Mercedes, and Iron Dames supporting her career [7:23]

Greg: I wanted to ask you about, in 2018, you put the karting on pause to then come back in 2019 to win the French Championship, and it was a bit of a gamble, which is ironic that we're sitting in Vegas talking about gambles. But the result of that is you ended up with the backing that you had, right? Iron Dames, Mercedes, Prema, all these teams behind you. You're in F1 Academy. Is that vindication for that gamble, that risk? How does it feel, truly in words, to have those amazing names supporting you?

Doriane: 2019 was a very hard year. Obviously, we had to choose one race to perform and to try to win the title and then hopefully have some doors open after that. And you know when you don't have the choice to perform and when you know that it might be your last chance, everything is different. And at that moment, if we wouldn't have won the Championship, the French Championship, I think my career was over. So clearly it was a good success. Then obviously starting to realize that people are interested in being involved in my career and saw something in me. So it's absolutely amazing and I'm very grateful for all of this.

Competing in endurance racing and gaining an edge [8:52]

Greg: You've then had the privilege to go onto endurance racing and other series. Do you think that sets you up better than some of your peers who were out on the track with you last night, having all those different experiences?

Doriane: Definitely. All my years in endurance have been very powerful for my career and very helpful. Obviously, endurance is another approach to racing, but you learn how to work as a team with a lot of people around and also the intelligence of racing, because endurance is not all about performance. It's also about the approach of racing, how to be smart, where to use the tires and when to keep it for us, and fuel saving and everything. There's a lot of parameters. But it brings me maturity in my driving and me as a person and is definitely very helpful for especially this weekend when something is going on, when you're playing something big, you have your moment of reference and you keep that in mind and you use that to then perform on track.

Learning from the Mercedes team: Kimi Antonelli, George Russell, and Lewis Hamilton [10:03]

Greg: When you became part of the Mercedes Junior Programme, what was it like—talking about the learning bit—stepping into a room with Kimi, with George, Lewis at the time, Toto, Susie, all these people that are in that sphere. What did you take away from that experience? Maybe someone's advice?

Doriane: It's amazing to be a part of this amazing family. I mean they have been so successful in F1, but also in the junior categories to bring drivers to the top into Formula 1. I'm definitely very grateful for the people who come to me on the race track as well, because there was always someone with me, so I always have some tips and advice throughout the weekend and it feels good to have support from someone who is experienced. Also racing next to Formula 1, chatting with F1 drivers, who are the best in the world, obviously, and hearing their advice before the race weekend is very helpful.

Especially for places where we haven't raced before like Montreal or Vegas, we have to be quick and adapt quickly, so we always have a bit of time together, especially this year with George. He has been very involved and there all the time when I ask it. We actually go through an onboard video and then we go corner by corner with advice and references—the approach of the corner, the characteristics of the track. So it's very helpful.

And also advice that I have from when I met Lewis Hamilton. He always took notes on everything and learned from what he learned every day, and he's still doing it in F1 today. I actually have my own journal, too.

Greg: I was about to ask you what you've been doing!

Doriane: I write every session what I'm doing. How the car balance is, how I learn, how is the set up change and what that effects in the car. It's so good to have this journal. I've been writing for so many years now so I have a lot of memories and it's very helpful for the success.

Recovering from broken ribs and how a crash helps you grow as a driver [12:27]

Greg: In 2024, you broke your ribs. When that happens, because you have a very physical job, how do you wake up the next day and move forward from something like that and get back in the car?

Doriane: Injuries are part of our career. You cannot have a full career being very good and in shape. And it happened, and it was my first ever injury in my racing career. And you learn a lot from it. Because you know the importance of your body—how important it is to be in the right window of performance, physically and mentally and everything around. And, yeah, it was very unfortunate but then you understand the importance of your environment, to find the keys to recover as quickly as possible. And we recovered very quick, because ribs are actually very hard to heal but we were back on track after a month and a half which was quite impressive.

And also surprising myself of the importance of your mental state and of saying 'I will recover, I will be fine, I'm healthy.'

Greg: Does it give you more confidence? Because we've talked to some drivers and we've heard people talk about the Indy 500, where there's a lot of crashes. And they say that the first time you hit the wall you now know what it's like. And it makes you—you're more in tune with the car, you're better at the track. Does that help you?

Doriane: Yeah, definitely. In a hard moment like that, you always take something from it. And you know how to prevent it as well.

How 2025 is shaping Doriane's future and her advice for rising F1 Academy drivers [14:10]

Greg: I heard you talking again last night about how last year was about learning. Obviously this year you won the Championship. What does this season mean now as a springboard for you into what's next?

Doriane: It's meant a lot obviously being Champion because that was the deal. Definitely for the future, we had to win this Championship to move forward and now we can definitely start the discussion for what is next. We don't have a clear answer yet because there is a lot going on and obviously now we checked it so we will decide what is best to have a long career and a successful one.

Greg: Maybe then on that point, it's a two year limit in F1 Academy right now. It's getting to a point where it'll be three. But for young women who are coming up into the Championship, what would be the advice that you would give them now that you've taken it all home?

Doriane: Yeah, it's a beautiful opportunity to be part of F1 Academy. You have so much opportunities off track but also on track. You have to take every opportunity like a gift and work super hard to bring home some good results. But thinking about you and focusing on yourself, mainly, because there is a lot of going on and you can be easily distracted. So you really have to trust yourself and work on yourself to arrive in that Championship and be fully ready.

Looking ahead to the future (2026 season and beyond) [15:47]

Greg: To close it out, when you were five or six, you had to wait to clear the bar. You have this pocket rocket nickname, right? And then there was always that—get to the right size and be able to do this. Clearly you've taken every challenge head on and pushed through it and you've raised the bar every time. Now that you're moving on, what do you want 2026 to look like for you? What is that next chapter going to become?

Doriane: Success. That's the word. I want to reach my ultimate goal one day, so it might take a long time, but I'm still young. And I want to succeed in motorsport. I want to push boundaries. I want to take all the opportunities that I will have ahead to perform and hopefully reach Formula 1. That is my ultimate goal.

Greg: So you'll say, "George, thanks for the advice on the turns in Las Vegas, but you're getting second place."

Doriane: Yeah, "See you in F1 one day."

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Cover photo credit: Prema Racing Team