LAS VEGAS — Susie Wolff was the one who actually broke the news.
F1 Academy’s managing director spoke to the crowd of hundreds of people who piled into Casa Playa for Female Quotient’s Equality Lounge. She began a round of introductions for the first panel, which included herself, Naomi Schiff, Tommy Hilfiger and 15-year-old Alba Hurup Larsen, who will race in the fashion brand’s red, white and blue colors next year in F1 Academy.
Sat onstage next to the 73-year-old fashion designer, Hurup Larsen didn’t appear nervous or starstruck. She listened to Wolff and Hilfiger discuss partnerships and women’s sports before answering a few questions about her future. She will fill the vacancy left by Spanish driver Nerea Martí, who will have completed her second and final season in the all-women junior racing series at the end of the year. F1 Academy has a two-season limit, which prevents drivers’ careers from becoming stagnant and aims to help promote young talent. There is also an age requirement; the youngest allowed to compete full-time is 16 years old (which Hurup Larsen will turn in December).
“I’m deeply honored that Tommy has entrusted me to fly his flag in the F1 Academy,” Hurup Larsen said in the company’s announcement. “Having this support at such a pivotal stage in my career means the world to me. I’m excited to represent the Tommy Hilfiger brand as we dream big, show what’s possible and drive change.”
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The Dane didn’t jump into a go-kart until during the COVID-19 lockdown and didn’t start racing competitively until she was 11 or 12. Most people begin when they’re around six or seven years old. But once she gave it a go, Hurup Larsen “fell in love with racing, tried racing against others, tried winning, and then just took it from there, one opportunity after another.”
In 2023, she won the fourth edition of the FIA Girls on Track – Rising Stars program, displaying notable skill. According to Ferrari in 2023, “Alba stood out from the group with her ability to learn quickly and manage the car, running a consistent race pace, along with the skill she demonstrated over a flying lap and was declared the best of the quartet by the experts from the Ferrari Driver Academy, who will monitor her progress next season when she will be invited to Maranello regularly to check how she is getting on.”
In 2024, Hurup Larsen made her Formula Four and single-seaters debut, competing in the Indian F4 Championship beginning in August. She secured a top-six finish in Chennai on August 31 and won Rookie of the Race.
Hurup Larsen already has ties to the Formula One world, having been mentored by Haas driver Kevin Magnussen for nearly two years. He told The Athletic he’s still helping “as much as I can,” adding that “it’s fun to be a part of and to try and help out in something that I feel like I can contribute. I’ve been through the journey, and I think it’s exciting and fun to be helping out a young kid going for her dream.”
Magnussen has known Hurup Larsen’s father, who is friends with Magnussen’s father, for years. But Magnussen met Hurup Larsen at the go-kart track when he went to support his brother, Luca. He kept in touch with her father and offered to help. It’s not that he has an official role on her team, but rather that he’s offering advice where he can.
“She’s been, from the first time I saw her drive, just very sort of curious and very eager to try and learn, just asking questions and being switched on,” Magnussen told The Athletic. “Something that I felt stood out with her, her curiosity and willingness to gather information. I was there as a Formula One driver (at) this go-kart track, and she took the opportunity to really ask questions and, like, take that info. So I think her focus and sort of her attitude stood out.”
Hurup Larsen said, “He has helped me when I first moved to cars. And he knows a lot about, of course, how to talk to the team, the technical stuff … how to explain (to) the team how you feel with the car, and what you notice about the car that the team needs. And also how to, before a big race, how to calm yourself after. Also if something went wrong, how to get on the horse again.”
Magnussen noted how Hurup Larsen has had a “steep learning curve.” Most kids start karting at six or younger, he noted, and she’s been catching up quite quickly. Over the last two years, she’s gone from karting to single-seaters — a rapid rate. And now to join the F1 pyramid? Hurup Larsen is a step closer to achieving “her dream of getting to Formula One.”
“She certainly has the attitude, and she also has the right sort of backing at the moment,” Magnussen said when asked if he thought she could make it. “Certainly from her family, they’re all behind her, and you need that as well.
“So I think the foundation is there, and there’s a long journey ahead of her, of course, but I believe in her.”
F1 Academy is a fairly big step for Hurup Larsen. The drivers race in cars similar to Formula Four but compete on F1 circuits. Next year, only one race weekend is in Europe, and the calendar is a mix of permanent and temporary tracks across multiple continents. But the series is a training ground of sorts. And she’s already shown how she is quick to adapt.
“It’s going to be much different from what I’ve experienced so far. Over the winter, I’m going to have a lot of testing, and also I’ll drive in the winter series, I think, in Saudi Arabia to help me prepare,” Hurup Larsen said to The Athletic. “And yeah, we’re already preparing with tests. So yeah, my team and I, we’re really taking it seriously because it is such a big thing and really excited for next year and having tests alongside the season.”
Hurup Larsen knows F1 Academy will be different than her previous racing experiences, and she’ll do testing throughout the winter. She said she’s excited for her career to keep moving forward, especially as the motorsports landscape is evolving.
“It has been a man’s sport in the past 100 years plus, and now it’s finally getting turned. And it’s not just like something that happens in a short time,” she said. “It’s going to be the road ahead from now on, and it’s going to be permanent, because now’s the time for change, and it’s here to stay, which is truly amazing, and it’s great time for me to get my career started.”
Top photo of Alba Hurup Larsen courtesy Tommy Hilfiger
