Doriane Pin lands milestone F1 test with Mercedes

Doriane Pin has secured a landmark private test with Mercedes at Silverstone, becoming the second ever female driver to test an F1 car in the 2020s.

Credit: Mercedes

2025 F1 Academy Champion and Mercedes Development Driver Doriane Pin is set to become the second ever female driver to test an F1 car in the past six years since Jessica Hawkins with Aston Martin’s AMR21 in 2023, signifying a landmark moment for women in motorsports.

For Pin, this milestone comes after a tremendously successful recent months, securing the 2025 F1 Academy Drivers' title, taking on development driver duties with the Mercedes F1 team and earlier this week, returning to LMP2 machinery with a podium at the ELMS 4 Hours of Barcelona season opener.

For this historic test with Mercedes, Pin will get behind the wheel of their 2021 Constructors'-winning car, the W12, on Saturday at Silverstone.

Part of the Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme, Pin will have the unique opportunity to rack up mileage in F1 machinery, after plenty of successful simulator work done for the team since being announced as their Development Driver earlier this year.

Separately, ahead of being confirmed for this test, Pin spoke with F1.com on her role within Mercedes: "It’s a very interesting role that for me is important for my career and to develop as a person and also as a driver, and Mercedes can bring me so much knowledge in my racing career so I’m very honoured to have this opportunity."

When pressed about a possible testing opportunity, which has now been announced, Pin expressed at the time: "First of all it will be a private test. For sure the second step [being] FP1 would be good, but that’s not yet in place.

"We will see when the days come when I will test the real car and then we see [going] forward, and I hope I will have more opportunities in the future to drive the car and be competitive to then reach my goal in the next few years."

The French driver added: "The goal of my racing season is to win the championship but also to be good in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which we will also be racing in, so if we can do good out there it will be a positive result that can bring other opportunities afterwards,” she asserts.

“But definitely combining both roles and continuing the development with the F1 team, and me continuing my racing and trying to push and do my best every time, hopefully the two combined things will be bringing new opportunities and [working] towards my goal.

“I think we all have the same goal and we are all working towards this one, so let’s keep working.”

With a packed racing season and plenty of opportunities on the horizon for the rising star, paving the way for women in the sport, Pin's name will go down in history as one of the first of hopefully many more female drivers getting a shot at driving F1 machinery.