Alpine has named Alice Powell as the Talent Identification & Development Mentor where she will help in scouting female talent across junior series.

Having signed up Abbi Pulling earlier in the year, Alpine has signed up Powell as the new Talent Identification & Development Mentor for their Academy. She will be focused on scouting young female talent across all junior championships.

Once talents are accepted into the programme, Powell will act as a mentor to the girls and guide them on racing and fitness level. “I’m delighted to join the team,” she said. “More and more opportunities for women within motorsport are emerging now, but budding drivers often lack guidance and experience in the early days of their career.

“The Alpine Academy is an extremely useful stepping stone for all drivers. It provides a sense of credibility and has a defined place on the motorsport ladder. Mentoring is very important. We need to change the mindset of young women that these opportunities do exist, but to also give them the resilience to reach out and grab these opportunities with both hands.”

“I’m really happy to be working closely with Alice,” said Pulling. “I’ve found the Affiliate programme already to be very beneficial. I’ve recently had my first drive in a Formula 1 car and enjoyed some other track time ahead of my W Series campaign thanks to the Affiliate programme. It’s a really supportive environment which is also really useful for me to hopefully show other young women that the opportunities in motorsport are there, you just need the drive and motivation to seize them.”

At the same time, Julian Rouse, Alpine Academy Director: “We are committed to developing our pool of talent and bringing even more drivers through to F1. Through this programme we want to ensure women have an equal opportunity to do so. Alice will be a great asset to the team as we move forward with our Academy and Affiliate programme.

“Her role of identifying young racers, particularly female, and then guiding them through her extensive experience is incredibly useful and reassuring for the emerging potential talents we are seeing now.”

Here’s Fernando Alonso on another unlucky season