Williams Racing has introduced that Leah Bullock will race for the crew in subsequent 12 months’s F1 Academy Sequence. The daughter of late rally legend Ken Block will compete within the ART Grand Prix, with the crew additionally competing within the F1 help collection with McLaren’s Bianca Bustamante Bustamante to organize feminine drivers for the subsequent stage of competitors.
“I am delighted to be becoming a member of the Williams Drivers Academy and competing within the F1 Academy in 2024,” stated the 17-year-old. “That is one thing I by no means dreamed of doing. I am unable to wait to embrace this new expertise and be taught as a lot as attainable.”
In addition to racing below Williams’ identify on the F1 Academy, Bullock may even work intently with the F1 crew at its base in Grove, England.
James Vowles, Williams Group Principal, stated: “We’re delighted to welcome Leah to Williams Racing as an Academy driver for 2024. “Leah has achieved nice success in motorsport and has Unbelievable expertise, championship mentality and dedication have made her open wheel racing journey a hit.
“We are able to’t wait to start out this journey collectively. As a crew we’re dedicated to Method 1 and the F1 Academy’s joint efforts to extend the illustration of girls in motorsport and we stay up for working with Lia as a Williams Racing driver An vital a part of the academy.”
Whereas Bullock’s profession thus far has been virtually solely targeted on off-roading – combining the championship within the American Rallycross Affiliation’s open two-wheel-drive class with competitors in Nitro Cross Nation and Excessive E – she has beforehand expressed her disapproval of racing. Curiosity in monitor racing in addition to off-road racing. She has been racing go-karts since she was 11 years previous and has been testing open-wheel automobiles for the previous few years.
Information of Bullock becoming a member of Williams comes after RACER revealed in July that two F1 groups had been monitoring her progress. Derek Dauncey, who has lengthy labored with the Bullock household as a mentor and crew supervisor, stated on the time that Bullock had a “enormous curiosity” in racing in F1, including that she was “not like her father” ”, in the case of driving, she is “anti-Ken”.
After Williams made the announcement, Dawsey stated on Instagram that he was “so pleased with Leah.
“Her expertise was seen on the highest ranges of motorsport,” he stated. “I’d personally wish to thank Sven Smets, James Partitions and James Matthews at Williams Racing for giving Leah this chance and belief.”