How F1 Academy’s Abbey Pulling trains to stay calm and keep going

It’s hard to find a driver who has had a better season than Abby Pulling. The 21-year-old Briton won 7 of the first 11 races at the all-female F1 Academy earlier this year and clinched her driver’s championship in Qatar ahead of the series finale in Abu Dhabi this weekend. As if that wasn’t enough, Pulling made history in May by becoming the first woman to win a race in British F4.

“I’m really enjoying my time this season,” Pulling said. “When you’re on top of the table, you can’t complain!”

It’s difficult to find free time for pulling these days, as most of their calendars are booked with simulator or fitness sessions. This may actually be the secret of his tremendous success.

“The workouts are pretty much nonstop, I admit,” Pulling said. “But it’s actually a good thing, because in motorsport, you’re always training for the next step. I’m in F4 at the moment, but I’m making sure I’m ready for the opportunity to come to F3.

And although she’s enjoying all of her wins and platforms, she’s happier being a part of something bigger than herself.

Motorsport spoke to Pulling about his powerhouse season, the awkwardness of neck-training in public and the driver equivalent of racket-tossing.

What does a typical week look like for you from a fitness perspective?
Yesterday, unfortunately, I didn’t get a workout session because I was creating content. I’m a little annoyed by it, but you need a rest day sometimes.

Today, I’m running the simulator to get some more technical training, and then tomorrow I’m going to a university to do heat chamber training, then a gym session on both Thursday and Friday after that. And often I’ll do some cardio on the weekend.

Heat chamber training feels intense. How warmly are we talking?
Approximately 41-degrees Celsius (~106-degrees Fahrenheit). You hang out for an hour, sweat your hardest, and try to get used to it! Sweating is a big thing – the more you sweat, the better you’ll regulate your core temperature.

You mentioned strength and conditioning are more than your speed. What are you usually focusing on during that time?
So, in my previous program, I worked different muscle groups. But now I’m making a full body, so it’s quite brutal! At the moment, it’s a full body session with cardio in between. Some days, depending on how busy I am, I’ll get a double session: strength in the morning, cardio in the afternoon. However, it all depends on the old schedule.

We always see Formula 1 drivers focusing on training their neck. How much does it affect your workout?
That’s mixed with my strength and conditioning, and we usually end up with that. We end up at either the core or the neck – and, for the neck, you have to make all four angles. This may take a lot of time, but it is really necessary.
Motorsports are pretty unique when it comes to neck training, and you’ll probably look like a bit of an idiot in the gym. Luckily, I’m usually in an alpine gym, so everyone knows what I’m doing—but when you’re in a commercial gym, some people stare!

Obviously sports are not just physical. How do you stay mentally sharp throughout the season?
Actually, I do a lot mentally. I work with a guy named Martin at a company called Gazing Performance Systems. He has helped me a lot and I have worked with him for three or four years. This is a part of the game that is often overlooked, but when you compete in such a high-pressure, intense environment, you have to be the best in all aspects. All of this is affected, along with your mindset, and even that extra 1% you can gain over the rest of the competition can make a difference. I think this year, I’ve put a lot of emphasis on mental health, and it definitely seems to be on the right track.

What do you work on from a mental standpoint?
Lots of different things. We review race weekends: What could have gone better mentally? What did I do well and what do I need to prepare for the next event? And then we have strategies. For example: red to blue. If you’re in a crunch, you’re being unproductive, so it’s all about ways to get yourself back out of the crunch.

Now, in a race car, you’re making decisions in the moment, so you have to reset quickly. Unlike something like tennis, where you can throw the tennis racket and refocus. In the car, you don’t want to throw the steering wheel, because it won’t end well! You have to find methods that work for you and everyone is different.

At the same time, some people say that you should not throw a tennis racket – doing so means that you are not mentally strong. But if this is their way of resetting and it works for them, there’s no problem. Plus you’ll have to shell out a few hundred bucks for a new tennis racket!

So it’s really about refocusing and resetting as quickly as possible.
Yep, it’s systems like that, and knowing what you can control and what you can’t. Motorsport is really unique because so much of it is out of your control. So you have to take into account what you know you can influence – and if there’s something you can’t control, there’s no point letting it affect your next race.

It’s obviously been a great year for you and you’ve been garnering a lot of attention. Reaching Formula 1 is at the top of most drivers’ aspirations, but what are some of your future goals?
Yes, Formula 1 is the dream, and I will keep trying to get as close as possible. But I’m open-minded if other opportunities present themselves. There are endurance racing – WEC and Hypercars – and Formula E, to name a few. I think some drivers may be too myopic towards Formula 1 and turn down other opportunities which they may regret.

And I’m sure you’ll be pleased to see that women are getting more attention in motorsports thanks to the F1 Academy.
I constantly say that I wish I was eight years old again. I was winning championships and doing really well in go-karting, but to be honest, junior teams or sponsors never paid attention to me. If I were doing this these days, I guess I’d be what you might call…hot property! So things have definitely changed for the better, and it’s a great time to be a woman in motorsport.