Bianca Bustamante is ready to conquer the GB3, UK’s leading single-seater championship which already kicked off last weekend at Silverstone, after a magnificent two-year run with F1 Academy in a bid to further her racing career.
The 20-year-old Filipina racing driver joined Elite Motorsport to take on the eight-round championship this year and has trained rigorously with the team since winter break. Bia will be driving the all-new Tatuus MSV GB3-025, which is being introduced to the GB3 Championship for the first time, featuring a completely revised chassis, a more powerful engine, and a drag reduction system.
Despite the unfamiliarity of it all, Bia welcomed the challenge with open arms and a determined spirit.
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“[It] still feels so new to me. I get in the car and I still feel like I know nothing. I feel like a rookie every single time, which I am. It’ll be my rookie season in the GB3 Championship,” Bia told reporters in a recent press conference. “I’ve been loving it. I’ve been loving the growth. I feel way more professional. I feel I’m going from junior driver to actually being a professional now as we’re going through the GB3 season. When people talk to you, you’re no longer a kid, you’re an adult.”
While her two seasons in the F1 Academy, one of which was spent as part of the McLaren Driver Development Programme, provided invaluable experience and showcased her undeniable talent, the GB3 Championship represents a significant step up in competition and car performance. As Bia moves forward in the competition and eventually proves herself worthy of advancing to Formula 3, she takes with her the one crucial lesson she learned from her Papaya family.
“A specific learning that I probably will always carry with me forward [from my season with Mclaren] is [their professionalism],” Bia shared with When In Manila. “Since I was a young age, because of racing, I’ve always needed to be a bit more mature. … And being with the McLaren family and joining them last year and watching them triumph and win the World Constructors’ Championship, I got to see everything with a front-row view. I saw them win, I saw them succeed, I saw them fail, I saw them make mistakes, saw them cry, saw them smile.”
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She continued: “[I saw] them lose multiple times [yet they] still held composure and [showcased] utter professionalism. So I think professionalism is probably the best thing that I can take away from my whole journey with Mclaren. It’s the fact that they never let any emotion control them. And as a young kid, … I would say I was very emotionally driven. I still am now. But having that professionalism can go a very long way. So that is something I’m trying to work on now that I will continue to try to work on because it is very difficult to keep professionalism when you’re put in scenarios, situations where you’re really being tested.”
Bia also acknowledged that this new chapter in her career will demand a recalibration of her driving style to better adapt to physically more taxing races.
“I just need to be a little bit smoother or more aggressive in certain ways. It’s a weird mix. It’s like a smooth but aggressive type of thing. So, yeah, I probably still need more laps, especially in a new car,” she shared. “With different cars, you’ve got different driving techniques. So I think adapting into a GB3 car is our biggest goal right now.”
(ALSO READ: Bianca Bustamante Makes It to the Worldwide List of “Most Marketable Athletes” of 2024—Here’s Her Rank)
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