Racing
© Eterna
Lewis Hamilton said watching Doriane Pin drive his old Mercedes W12 at Silverstone brought back memories of his own first taste of Formula 1, as he praised both the significance of the moment and the progress she has made as a young driver.
Pin completed her first Formula 1 outing in April when Mercedes put her in the 2021 W12 at Silverstone. The run made her the first female driver to test a Mercedes F1 car, giving added weight to a milestone that Hamilton said he followed closely.
Speaking to F1TV cameras, Hamilton framed the moment less as a publicity exercise and more as a career marker that every driver remembers. “I remember driving a Formula 1 car for the first time and it is the most incredible feeling,” he said. For him, that first run captures what years of work in junior categories are aimed at, because it means “realizing your dream from when you were very small.”
That is why he put so much emphasis on Mercedes creating the opportunity. Hamilton said he was pleased to see the team open the door for Pin and give her a proper experience in an F1 car rather than treating her development as something abstract or long term. “I followed it closely and I think it is amazing that Mercedes got her out on track,” he said.
The test also carried a personal angle for Hamilton because the car Pin drove was his old W12. He said there was an extra sense of satisfaction in seeing it back in action at Silverstone. “It is amazing to see my old car on the circuit as well,” he said.
What stood out most in Hamilton’s comments, though, was not nostalgia. It was how strongly he rates Pin’s trajectory. Pin won the 2025 F1 Academy title and has since moved into a Mercedes development role, and Hamilton made clear that her Silverstone test fits into a longer pattern rather than being an isolated reward.
He said he has tracked her closely through the last two years in F1 Academy and has enjoyed seeing the way she has developed. That growth is why he described her in especially strong terms, calling her “a real force.”
Hamilton’s reaction suggested the Silverstone outing mattered because it turned potential into something more tangible. A first Formula 1 test is a symbolic moment for any young driver, but in Pin’s case it also underlined that Mercedes sees her as more than a name in a development program. With Hamilton openly backing her progress and pointing to how far she has come, the focus now shifts to what this first run in the W12 can lead to next.