Denmark has produced a number of notable racing drivers over the years. Tom Kristensen. Christian Lundgaard. Michelle Gatting. Kevin Magnussen. Be it the 24 Hours of Le Mans, IndyCar, the European Le Mans Series or Formula 1, the Danes know how to race. In 2025, another will continue to follow in their footsteps – Alba Hurup Larsen.
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Motorsport Origins
Born on the 12th December 2008, Alba didn’t get into karting until her pre teen years. Of all the times to jump into motorsport, this happened for Alba during the Covid-19 Lockdown. However, her late start didn’t prevent her from getting straight down to business. Larsen first finished 64th in the Italian IAME Karting Series X30 Junior Standings. Alba then finished 12th in the Danish Karting League’s X30 Junior Standings series, establishing a solid foundation of racing for herself.
Photo Credit: larshemming
In 2023, Alba won the FIA Girls On Track Rising Stars programme. To achieve this, she was put through her paces in a number of on track as well as off track activities. This was all done under the watchful eyes of the Ferrari Driver Academy and Iron Dames. Also keeping an eye on proceedings were the founder and FIA Women in Motorsport Commission President Deborah Mayer, FIA CEO Natalie Robyn and former program winners Maya Weug and Aurelia Nobels. The latter two have in the past themselves successfully competed in F4 as part of the Ferrari Driver Academy and in F1 Academy.
“First of all, if it wasn’t for Ferrari, I wouldn’t be standing here today because of the initiative they took with Girls on Track with the FIA and Iron Dames. I wouldn’t be here because that competition really pushed my whole career and Ferrari has been so supportive all year.” – Alba Larsen
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Indian Formula 4
This programme set Alba on the path towards making her single-seater debut. This occurred in the Indian Formula 4 Championship where she competed in five of the races of the 2024 season. For the first three races in Madras, Alba finished tantalisingly close to the points for the first two races. She finished in thirteenth and eleventh respectively.
In the third race of the round, Alba then went one better and finished in P10. This meant that she got her first Championship point on the board in her debut weekend. At the following round in Chennai, Larsen continued to move further up the grid. Here, she finished in P6 and P8. Despite not competing in the rest of the season, Alba finished in eighteenth position out of twenty seven, ahead of full time driver Shriya Lohia and experienced Indian F4 driver Mira Erda.
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Alba Hurup Larsen joins F1 Academy
Larsen’s results in both the FIA Girls on Track Assessment and Indian F4 did not go unnoticed. At the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix, it was announced that Alba would be racing for MP Motorsport and supported by Tommy Hilfiger in F1 Academy 2025.
The car will be featuring the brand’s iconic red, white and blue colour scheme.
Nera Marti ran this livery last year when supported by Tommy Hilfiger and everyone can agree that it was an absolutely gorgeous livery and that it will be brilliant to see out on track again this year.
Photo Credit: larshemming
The news was announced at an event with F1 Academy Managing Director Susie Wolff, racing driver Naomi Schiff and Tommy Hilfiger himself. During the event, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was a normal day in the office for Alba. Through all of the proceedings, the young Dane appeared cool, calm and collected. That confidence and level headedness in, what would have been for anyone, a potentially high pressure scenario will serve her well as time goes on.
“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.” – Alba Larsen
In 2025, Tommy Hilfiger will also provide the uniforms for the F1 ACADEMY management team. By doing this they hope to boost awareness and support for young drivers, auto engineers, and managers – many of whom are women entering the sport for the first time.
Alba Larsen X Kevin Magnussen
In an encouraging and smile inducing twist, Alba is also receiving support from someone else from the world of Formula 1 – Kevin Magnussen. The former Haas driver has been mentoring Larsen for the last two years.
“I think it’s exciting and fun to be helping out a young kid going for her dream.” – Kevin Magnussen
Kevin has known Alba’s father for a number of years as he himself is friends with Kevin’s own father, a former racing driver in his own right, Jan. Kevin met Alba at the go-kart track when he went to support his brother, Luca. Keeping in touch with her father after this, Kevin suggested that he could help. While he doesn’t have an official role on her team, Kevin offers support and advice where he can.
Alba Hurup Larsen enters the Formula Winter Series
Each year, the Formula Winter Series provides young up and coming drivers with an brilliant series of opportunities to develop their skills behind the wheel of a single seater in a highly competitive environment. With F1 Academy being the main event of the year for Larsen, it was a no-brainer for her to compete in this series too as preparation.
Hurup Larsen joined Swiss team Jenzer Motorsport for the Gedlich promoted championship and would be going up against a tight knit 30-car grid.
The first three races of the 2025 season were held in Portimão, Portugal. It would prove to be a steep learning curve for the Dane. In her first qualifying session, she finished in twenty sixth position. In her second, she moved up two places to twenty fourth. Still, in motorsport, it’s not about where you start, it’s about where you finish that counts.
Portimão – Race One
The first race was one of give and take. After a difficult start, Alba then began to find her rhythm. On lap 9, she overtook fellow 2025 F1 Academy Driver Rafaela Ferreira to get back into twenty sixth place. She then steadily pulled away, building a two-second gap. Over the course of the race, Larsen then navigated herself through the pack and moved up into twentieth. Then, on the final lap of the race, Alba overtook Dante Vinci to cross the line in eighteenth place.
However, things were not finished just yet. After several post-race penalties, Alba was promoted up into fifteenth place. Thus, she ultimately gained eleven places from her starting position in her debut race.
Portimão – Race Two
The second race of the weekend began with chaos. Luckily, Larsen avoided all of this. By the time the Safety Car was deployed, the Dane had made her way up into nineteenth place.
On the lap 6 restart, Larsen executed a fantastic launch, quickly advancing up to sixteenth place. However, the race was soon neutralized again as Aleksander Ruta and Andrea Dupe collided, bringing out another Safety Car. It was turning into one of those races.
Frustratingly, she had to restart the race from fifteenth. But this was already ten positions higher than where she’d ultimately began the race. In the end, Larsen crossed the line in sixteenth. But once more, she was promoted up a single position thanks to post-race penalties. This gave Alba her second top-15 finish and an excellent fourth place among the rookies.
Portimão – Race Three
The final race of the weekend was held in mixed conditions. Once again, it involved some more chaos at the start. While the overtakes did not come as easily this time, there were positives to take away for Alba.
By the final laps of the race, she had significantly improved her lap times. She set a lap time of 2:02.9 – incredibly close to the pace of the top ten. Alba then managed to close down a two-second gap to Ferreira and overtook her on the penultimate lap to reclaim a spot inside the top twenty.
She finished the race in nineteenth.
Valencia
At the second round of the Championship in Valencia, things again got off to a tricky start for Larsen. Part way into the first race of the weekend, the Dane collided with Simon Schranz. She went airborne and upon landing, went into the gravel, ultimately DNFing.
In the second race, held on Sunday, Alba had a good battle with Payton Westcott early on and also neatly avoided a collision a few laps afterwards. Unfortunately, she wasn’t as fortunate later on when Kornelia Olkucka made contact with her, ripping the rear wing off of her car with her own front wing. This would place Alba in P30 at the end of the race as she DNFd as a result. However, she was still classified as a finisher due to the small amount of time left in the race. Sometimes, that’s just racing.
In the third race and final race of the weekend, Alba had another character building session as she the fierce competition around her proved difficult to navigate through. In the end, Alba Larsen finished in P22. The Formula Winter Series is so far proving to be a bit of a baptism of fire for the young Dane.
Alba Hurup Larsen – the next Danish Motorsport Viking?
Alba Hurup Larsen is an exciting new talent in the motorsport world. Having had such a late start (by normal racing standards), the speed with which she has been able to rise up through the ranks is impressive. Not only does it display her skill and potential but reaffirms the validity of the confidence that people like Kevin Magnussen and Tommy Hilfiger have in her. This is exactly what will help her to thrive over the coming years.
Like every young woman in F1 Academy, Alba dreams of being not only the next female F1 driver but the first female F1 World Champion. While realising that dream is still a very long and difficult road away, you can bet your bottom dollar that Alba will throw everything she has, and the kitchen sink, into trying to make it happen. The Danes have proven to be resourceful and tenacious racing drivers, as demonstrated by the list at the top of this piece. So one thing is for sure – Alba Larsen is going to be very exciting to watch as she attempts to become the next Danish Motorsport Viking.
The 2025 F1 Academy Season begins on the weekend of the 21st March in Shanghai, China.
Feature Image: larshemming
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