Doriane Pin: From her first experience behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car with Mercedes to her ambitions in Italy and the European Le Mans Series, via the disappointment of Le Mans: the story of a season filled with emotions and the pursuit of victory.
There are moments you wait for your entire life, others you dream about for a long time, and then there are those that arrive unexpectedly and leave you speechless. For all of us at Formula1andco, interviewing Doriane Pin was all three at once. We had been waiting for this opportunity for years because Doriane means a great deal to us. We had imagined sitting down with her countless times—and finally, those fifteen minutes we spent together completely exceeded every expectation.
Doriane is open, cheerful and effortlessly engaging—a whirlwind of energy and positivity. She speaks a lot, but always with purpose and maturity, carrying herself with the confidence of someone who already has a wealth of experience behind her. And that’s exactly the case. She is incredibly young, yet remarkably seasoned. She knows exactly what she’s doing, but never comes across as arrogant. Instead, she conveys confidence with humility and sincerity. Strong in endurance racing, fast in single-seaters, ruthless in F1 Academy—she seems to have every quality a racing driver could wish for. If she decided to climb a mountain tomorrow, you’d probably expect her to reach the summit.
Interview with Doriane Pin
1) Doriane, I’ve been following your career for a long time and I’ve always supported you in every category you’ve raced in. Recently, you had the opportunity to drive a Formula 1 car. What was that experience like?
“Yes, it was an incredible experience—one of the best days of my life. I think I had been waiting for that moment for a very long time. Driving the fastest racing car in the world was truly something special. You simply can’t imagine what it’s like to drive a Formula 1 car until you actually do it for the first time. It was really special. We completed 76 laps, covering around 200 kilometres, and the Mercedes is the best car I’ve ever driven in my entire career. It has an incredible amount of grip, it’s very stable and extremely powerful. The G-forces are also unbelievable. It’s a completely different world compared to any other category. I enjoyed every single second of it, and the test went really well. I hope I’ll have the chance to get back behind the wheel again as soon as possible.”
2) What are your expectations for this round? What is your goal for this race in Italy?
“I really like this circuit because it’s a bit old-school. It’s very demanding, with lots of corners, but at the same time it’s also highly technical. There are many high-speed sections, yet it also requires great precision from a technical point of view. I really enjoy it because it’s such a complete circuit. It’s a very challenging track, and traffic management will be crucial, especially for us in LMP2 since we’re the fastest cars on the circuit. I think the race will be quite hectic, so we’ll need to make sure we handle every situation in the best possible way. Our objective, of course, is to win. I believe we have what it takes because we’re leading the championship. We’ve finished third twice so far. The level of competition is extremely high, so we certainly can’t say that winning will be easy. In the end, we’ll simply try to maximise everything we have and hopefully we’ll have a great race this weekend.”
3) I know the last 24 Hours of Le Mans didn’t go the way you hoped. You were dominating your class before suffering an unfortunate setback. Have you managed to move on from it? Has that disappointment motivated you even more?
“I think that for 21 hours everything went really well, and we were very happy because we didn’t expect to be that competitive. We believed we could be strong, but the level of competition was incredibly high. We didn’t make any mistakes, we didn’t receive any penalties, and I think the car was fantastic to drive. We raced for 21 hours without a single issue, and that was probably the most special part of the entire race and of our Le Mans experience this year. The car felt amazing, and we were truly unstoppable. But motorsport can be incredibly cruel, especially when it comes to mechanical reliability. It wasn’t something we did wrong—it was purely a mechanical failure, and that’s simply part of this sport. It’s heartbreaking that we weren’t able to finish the race and secure the result, because winning Le Mans isn’t something you get the chance to do every year, and standing on the top step there means winning one of the greatest races in the world. I hope we’ll get another opportunity next time. I hope to come back next year and fight for victory once again.”
Fonte: Mercedes profilo X4) After winning the F1 Academy title last season, what do you think was the most important lesson you took with you into this year’s championships?
“I think the biggest lesson was that, whatever you do, you always need to reflect on what you’re doing and what you’ve done. Because when you rush things and think you already have the right answer, sometimes it actually isn’t the right one. I believe it’s important to have a complete overview of everything you’re doing, rather than focusing only on your lap time or on your own feelings. There are many factors around you that are outside your control, but there are also many things that depend on you and that you can improve. That’s why it’s better to look at the bigger picture and always find ways to improve your performance every time you get on track. In F1 Academy we weren’t allowed to drive before qualifying, so we had to be ready every single time we went out on track. I think that’s also very important in endurance racing because you share the car with other drivers, you test a lot of things during test days, and sometimes you don’t get much track time. That’s why you always need to be very clear and very precise with your feedback and in all the work you do together with the team.”
5) You’re involved in several different projects, from endurance racing to your role in Peugeot Sport’s programme, while also representing Citroën in activities related to Formula E. How difficult is it to balance all these commitments, and how does each experience contribute to your development as a racing driver?
“Managing everything isn’t easy because, of course, there’s always a lot going on, but I think they’re all positive experiences. Working with different manufacturers teaches me so much, especially from a technical point of view. Whenever you’re involved in developing a car, you always learn something—from the team, from yourself, and from all the work you do during development sessions. I believe this allows you to grow faster and become a more complete driver. You also learn how to work closely with manufacturers, and that’s something that’s very important if you think about the long term. I hope to be working with a manufacturer in the top category, Hypercar, in the near future. I think this journey is really benefiting me. It’s been a positive year and, above all, I genuinely love what I do.”
6) Looking back at the little girl who dreamed of becoming a racing driver, do you think she could ever have imagined achieving everything you’ve accomplished so far? And what is the biggest dream you still hope to fulfil?
“No, I don’t think she would have believed it, because from the very beginning we didn’t have a big budget or a lot of money to build a career in motorsport. We had to work incredibly hard to find partners and sponsors who believed in my potential and were willing to support my journey. The higher you climb, the more the required budget increases, and everything becomes much more complicated. For many years—and even today—we’ve never been certain about what the next step would be, because in this sport you never know what the future has in store. But I think all of that helped me develop my character and taught me how to accept the compromises that come with what I do. At the same time, it was also very difficult. Every year we thought we might have to stop, and we didn’t know what decisions we would have to make. In the end, though, I met people who helped me, and I’m incredibly grateful to them, because without them I wouldn’t be here today. Even now we still need support, but in the end the results are there, and that’s what matters most. In this sport, results are the only thing everyone looks at. From that point of view, we’re in a good position. Now I hope I can achieve my next goals: making it to the Hypercar category, hopefully as soon as possible. And then there’s my ultimate dream—to reach Formula 1. Hopefully, over the next few years, we’ll be able to take those final steps needed to make that dream come true as well.”
Fonte: Mercedes profilo X
We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Doriane Pin and the Duqueine team for giving us this wonderful opportunity. We truly hope it will be the first of many.
Featured image: Source: Doriane Pin Official X account.
Laura Piras and Louis Rosace.
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