F1 News
How Norris and Piastri are helping Bustamante achieve F1 dreams
Launched in 2023, F1 Academy is the female-only junior-level single seater racing category, founded by Formula One. With all ten F1 teams supporting a driver, the aim is to encourage more women into the sport, and hopefully into the top class. Bianca Bustamante is one of the 15 drivers competing in the series. She races for ART Grand Prix, and is part of the McLaren Driver Development Programme. In an exlcusive with The Mirror, she shared how confident she is that she can turn her dreams of F1 into a reality.
Who is Bianca Bustamante?
Bustamante is a 19-year-old Filipina racing driver. She began racing in both local and international karting competitons at the age of 5, and has won the China Grand Prix Kart Scholarship 4 times as well as the Macao International Kart Grand Prix 3 times. In 2015, she entered the SKUSA SuperNationals and qualified 4th out of 91 participants. Bustamante was also the only contestant from Asia for the 2021 FIA Girls on Track Rising Stars scholarship.
In 2022, she raced in W Series, winning the award for Top Rookie in the driver standings that year. A year later, she secured two top 10 finishes in the Formula 4 UAE Championship with PREMA, announcing her signing with the team for F1 Academy the same year. In her first season in F1 Academy, she secured her first career win in Valencia, Spain, followed by a second win in Monza.
In addition to racing, Bustamante has also built up an impressive online social media following, where she shares her journey as a driver with her 1.4 million Tik Tok followers. She also claims this has been a big help funding her carrer, as she told The Mirror: "As long as you use it well, it helps you build your brand and leads you to bigger endorsement deals and branding deals, which obviously helps you race as well with the financial support."
'Everyone truly believes I can make it'
This season, she is racing with ART Grand Prix whilst being supported by McLaren. She secured a second place podium in Miami, the same weekend Lando Norris secured his maiden win. Bustamante explained what changes led her to secure her first podium of the season: "I've had a lot of growth mentally, physically. Having the chance to work with McLaren in the development program, I've had access to the amazing facility, working at MTC, training, and, of course, even having a sports psychologist."
Nevertheless, for Bustamante, the family culture at McLaren has also helped. She is able to ask plenty of questions and work with F1 drivers Norris and Oscar Piastri as she continues to develop. With the support of the team, the 19-year-old driver is confident she can make it to F1: "Everyone truly believes that I can make it and they support me on track and off track, giving me the experience and knowledge I need, as well as the support to make it and to be successful, which I think is very pivotal at this time in my career," Bustamante added.