Who is Alba Hurup Larsen? The young Danish driver impressed Ferrari with her wins, is sponsored by Tommy Hilfiger for the 2025 F1 Academy season – and F1 driver Kevin Magnussen is her mentor

Mar 24 , 2025

Alba Hurup Larsen prepares to race. Photo: @alba.racing/Instagram

Larsen only started competing when she was about 11 years old – now, almost 16, she’s racing against the best young female drivers in F1 Academy with mentoring from F1 driver Kevin Magnussen

The third F1 Academy season has just kicked off in Shanghai, China. The female-only series’ debut saw young ambitious drivers from multiple countries like US, UK, France, Brazil, Denmark and more compete this past weekend. The seven-round campaign will visit three continents this year, heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia next month, followed by Miami, Montreal, Zandvoort in Holland and Singapore before wrapping in Las Vegas in November.

Only until recently, F1 has been a male-dominated sport. The single-seater car racing series has gained countless new fans through Netflix’s Drive to Survive, the hit show that takes viewers behind the scenes of the sport and introduces them to personable drivers like Daniel Ricciardo, Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda.

But women are carving out a place on the grid. Filipino driver Bianca Bustamante made waves when she signed as a development driver for McLaren and joined the inaugural F1 Academy season in 2023. Led by Susie Wolff, an ex-racer, the F1 Academy is a junior racing series that competes on some of the same tracks as Formula 1.

Last November, Wolff named 16-year-old Alba Hurup Larsen as the fifth driver to join the F1 Academy grid for 2025. Larsen turned 16 just in time to be allowed to race in the series. She’ll represent fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger, one of the series’ major sponsors.

“I’m deeply honoured that Tommy has entrusted me to fly his flag in the F1 Academy,” Larsen said. “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.”

So what do we know about Alba Hurup Larsen, who just competed in F1 Academy in Shanghai, wearing Tommy Hilfiger’s signature red, white and blue colours?

She started in karting

Alba Hurup Larsen celebrates a karting victory in 2023. Photo: @alba.racing/Instagram

While most drivers take to karts around the age of six or seven, Larsen only began racing at around 11 or 12. Once she had a taste, though, she “fell in love with racing”.

In 2023, she competed in karting races all over Europe, including the IAME Series Italy X30 Junior, the Danish Karting League X30 Junior and the IAME Series Sweden. She also won regional races in Denmark, such as the Sydsjællands Automobil Klub’s DASU Junior races.