From GT Racing to retirement from the sport entirely, we continue our three-part series by exploring the careers of several F1 Academy graduates.
In the first part of our three-part series, we explored the careers of Marta Garcia, Amna Al Qubaisi, Nerea Marti, Bianca Bustamante, Maite Cáceres, Carrie Schreiner, and Chloe Grant since closing their respective chapters with F1 Academy.
Building from where we left off, let’s now examine what Abbi Pulling, Hamda Al Qubaisi, Léna Bühler, Emely De Heus, Jessica Edgar, Megan Gilkes, and Lola Lovinfosse have accomplished since completing their time with the series.
Abbi Pulling
Abbi Pulling burst onto the scene in W Series in 2021. Stepping into the series for the first time at her home race at Silverstone, Abbi would impress everyone with a P8 finish. But it was at the final round of the season in Austin, Texas, where Abbi Pulling would really begin to turn heads and force people to take notice of her. On that occasion, Abbi secured Pole Position and finished in P2 in only her fourth race. Having only competed in 50% of the races that season, Pulling finished in P7 overall.
Seven podiums came her way in 2023 in Abbi’s debut season in F1 Academy. But that elusive first win in single seaters continued to be just out of reach. P5 overall was where Pulling would end the year. Then, in 2024, Pulling obliterated the competition in F1 Academy, winning the title to boot. Her lowest finishing result for the entire season was third place – which happened once. Read that again.
In every other race, she either finished in first or second place. Nine wins, fourteen podiums, ten pole positions and six fastest laps all helped her on her way to winning the title. She was one hundred and twenty-one points clear of Mercedes backed Doriane Pin in second place. Pulling was also a whopping one hundred and sixty two points ahead of Maya Weug in third.
Post F1 Academy
Having raced in British F4 for a number of races in 2024 alongside her F1 Academy duties, where she won a race alongside two further podiums, Abbi moved into GB3 in 2025. Her highest result was a P3 finish at Brands Hatch and she finished in P10 overall that year.
Moreover, earlier this year, the Nissan Formula E Team signed Abbi Pulling to be their test and reserve driver. She also took part in the Formula E rookie test in Berlin back in July as well as the women’s test held in Valencia back in October.
Hamda Al Qubaisi
With ties to one of the Middle East’s most recognisable racing families, Hamda Al Qubaisi is the daughter of endurance racer Khaled Al Qubaisi and younger sister to fellow single-seater driver Amna. Though her motorsport journey began later than most, her rise through Formula 4 — specifically her performance in the 2021 UAE F4 Championship — quickly cemented the Emirati racing driver as one of the most successful female drivers in the category.
Hamda joined F1 Academy in its inaugural 2023 season with MP Motorsport representing Red Bull Racing, and instantly made her mark. In her rookie campaign, she achieved four wins, two pole positions, and stood on the podium five times — a result that saw her placed third in the championship even after missing time due to an injury she sustained while competing in the 2023 season of UAE F4.
In 2024, she remained with MP Motorsport under the banner of the Red Bull Racing Academy Programme. Although the season brought fewer wins, Hamda delivered consistent points and closed the year with podium finishes at her home race in Abu Dhabi. She finished fifth overall, rounding out two seasons that firmly established her as one of F1 Academy’s early benchmark drivers.
Post F1 Academy
The Qubaisi sisters would eventually transition to endurance racing in 2025, joining Team Virage in the Ligier European Series. The move from single-seaters to prototype machinery represented a significant shift, but one that aligns naturally with her family’s history in long-distance racing. Competing in the Ligier JS P4 class, Hamda and her sister collected early podiums and finished the season in fourth place in the championship.
Léna Bühler
2023 F1 Academy Vice Champion Léna Bühler already had a stacked portfolio before she made her debut in the inaugural F1 Academy season. After transitioning from BMX and karting to single-seaters, the Swiss racing driver competed in the Spanish Formula 4 championship and then took on the more demanding Formula Regional European Championship (FRECA) by Alpine for two seasons, before signing with ART Grand Prix and joining the Sauber Academy as their first female racer in F1 Academy.
During the 2023 season, Lena’s consistency and race-craft were her greatest assets. Throughout the season, she secured two wins and an exceptional 13 podiums, maintaining her title contention all the way to the final round in Austin. While she ultimately finished as Vice-Champion behind Marta García, Lena’s consistency made her stand out among the rest in the field. Beyond this, she also had no major DNFs or heavy incidents, which is rare in a field of rookies.
Post F1 Academy
Following her runner-up finish, Lena continued with ART Grand Prix in FRECA for the 2024 season. The move came as part of a milestone agreement, which saw FRECA’s top teams grant a fourth entry if they signed a driver who finished inside the top three for the 2023 F1 Academy season.
In 2025, Lena transitioned to LMP3 machinery in the Michelin Le Mans Cup, with her experience in high-downforce single-seaters expected to translate well into prototype racing. During her rookie season, the Swiss driver claimed a breakthrough victory at Circuit de la Sarthe to become the first woman to win a Michelin Le Mans Cup race.
Across the seven-race season, Lena recorded one win and multiple top-five finishes and ended the season seventh in the LMP3 standings with 33 points.
Emely de Heus
Born in Mijnsheerenland, Netherlands, to Bert de Heus, a veteran amateur driver in the 24H Series endurance racing championship, Emely de Heus’s passion for racing was cultivated at an early age. She made her debut in single-seaters with MP Motorsport in the Spanish Formula 4 Championship, before securing a seat in the F1 Academy following her participation in the W Series.
In the inaugural 2023 season, the Dutch driver enjoyed a breakthrough weekend in Barcelona, where she converted a pole position into her first series win and added further highlights with a podium on home soil in Zandvoort. Despite competing against a field stacked with more experienced drivers, she finished the season ninth in the championship, marking an impressive debut campaign.
Returning with MP Motorsport for 2024 under the Red Bull Ford Academy Programme, Emely continued to develop her racecraft. Although the results fell short of the highs from her rookie year, she remained a consistent points scorer and closed her F1 Academy chapter with a strong fourth-place finish in Abu Dhabi.
Post F1 Academy
Emely would compete in the Eurocup-3 Championship and the 2025 Dubai 24 Hour before stepping into GT racing by joining ID Racing for the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, becoming the first woman in over a decade to contest a full season in the championship.
Early highlights of her 2025 campaign include a rookie-class podium at Zandvoort and a second-class podium at the Nürburgring. She would eventually finish the season 27th in the standings after claiming two championship points.
Jessica Edgar
Growing up in a well-known British racing family, Jessica Edgar was raised in an environment that helped nurture her competitive instincts from an early age. She quickly established herself as a standout kart racer before stepping up to GB4 in 2022 for her first full season of single-seater racing. The Briton finished the season seventh overall, scoring points in all rounds and achieved a best finish of second at Oulton Park.
Jessica made the switch to F1 Academy, driving for Rodin Carlin. While she wasn’t initially considered a title favourite, she delivered a highly competitive season with four podiums — including a maiden win in Austin — to close the season eighth in the Drivers’ Standings. Returning with Rodin Carlin, now renamed as Rodin Motorsports, with support from American Express, Jessica would fail to replicate the performance of her rookie campaign, even though she was still one of the series’ most consistent point scorers.
Post F1 Academy
Since completing her time in F1 Academy, Jessica currently races in the British Kart Championship and Super 4 in KZ2, a high-performance gearbox karting class. She also had a taste of Formula E machinery in October this year with DS Penske during the all-women test at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
Megan Gilkes
Canadian racer Megan Gilkes’s debut in the inaugural season of F1 Academy marked the end of her professional racing driver career.
Her career began in karts in Barbados before she transitioned to single-seaters in 2017. Starting her car racing career in Canadian Formula 1200, she has claimed race victories in multiple series since then, including two race wins in GB4 in 2022 and becoming the youngest-ever W Series race winner in 2019.
For 2023, Megan raced with Rodin Carlin alongside Jessica Edgar and Alpine junior Abbi Pulling at the British team. Although the season was not entirely successful on a personal level, the Canadian racer remained a consistent point scorer — including a best result of fifth in Monza — to help the Surrey-based team finish third in the championship standings.
Post F1 Academy
Alongside racing, the Canadian racer recognised the financial commitment it takes to reach the top level of motorsports and opted to have a “backup plan”, which involved studying Aeronautical Engineering at Imperial College London and securing a placement for the Aston Martin F1 Team as a trackside support engineer.
Now, the 24-year-old engineering graduate has fully embedded herself with the team and currently works as a Graduate Performance Engineer at the Silvestone-based F1 team in Northamptonshire.
Lola Lovinfosse
Lola Lovinfosse began karting in 2018 before transitioning to single-seaters, competing in the Spanish Formula 4 series from 2021 to 2022. Through this, the French driver accumulated plenty of experience around traditional European circuits.
Joining Campos Racing for the inaugural 2023 season in F1 Academy, Lola delivered several strong performances, including three third-place finishes across the Spielberg and Le Castellet rounds. Her consistency kept her in regular points contention, and she ended her rookie campaign 10th in the championship.
In her 2024 sophomore season, Lola drove the Charlotte Tilbury-backed Rodin Motorsport entry, a notable partnership as it marked the brand’s first global sports sponsorship. Despite sustaining a minor right-wrist fracture after Race 2 in Miami, she continued to compete steadily and remained a firm presence in the midfield throughout the year.
Post F1 Academy
Alongside her F1 Academy programme, Lola contested selected rounds of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe series with Schumacher CLRT in 2024, sharing the car with Jean-Baptiste Mela and Laurent Hurgon. She was also the only female driver selected for the 2024 Lamborghini Young Driver Programme.
For 2025, Lola stepped up to a full-season campaign in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe with front-running outfit Leipert Motorsport, partnering former ADAC GT Masters driver Pablo Schumm in the Pro class. The pairing marks a significant progression in her GT career as both drivers embark on their first full championship season together.
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Keep an eye out for Part III of our series on the F1 Academy Graduates which is coming soon.
Featured Image Credits: Red Bull Content Pool, Léna Bühler, Lola Lovinfosse