Bianca Bustamante has become the talk of the internet ever since she was confirmed part of the Mclaren’s Driver Development Programme—the very first woman in history to be so—after a successful stint in the inaugural Formula 1 Academy where she won twice, in Valencia and in Monza.
Now part of the Papaya family, it’s apparent that Bianca is even closer than ever before to following the footsteps of her motorsports idols and making it in the prestigious Formula 1 championship.
The reception towards her securing a place in the British team has also been nothing but warm. Mclaren fans are obsessed with her, Filipinos racing enthusiasts are proud of her representing the country, and even the sportscasters covering the F1 and F1 Academy racing weekends couldn’t stop bringing it up.
Even as a month has passed since the big reveal, Bianca still can’t believe that she can call herself a Mclaren driver alongside two of the best ones on the current F1 grid, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
“It’s still really funky for me to imagine that I’m in the same team as Lando [Norris] and Oscar [Piastri]. Both of them I look up to,” Bianca told WhenInManila.com in an exclusive interview.
She revealed that she especially admired Oscar, the Australian rookie who made his F1 debut this year and had won the F3 and F2 championships with Prema Racing, Bianca’s team in F1 Academy 2023.
“Coming from Prema, he won all his championships in F3 and F2 in his rookie year, and he was really just blazing on track,” she said. “Officially, I haven’t met [Lando and Oscar] yet, but I’ve seen them on track. We were all racing at the same time in Austin, and I passed by them in the physio and in the paddock a couple of times. But it is quite intense during the weekends; everyone’s doing media or doing debrief or working on cars and I was obviously driving in F1 Academy. So I haven’t met them yet. I hope that I will meet them soon! Obviously, I can guarantee there will be a lot of opportunities in the coming future.”
Bianca also opened up about how the support by the other F1 drivers for F1 Academy has been like, addressing concerns some fans have about the seemingly lack of solidarity that the current grid has for the female athletes. Among the few who have openly expressed their support for Bianca and her fellow racers are 7-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who has visited them at the paddock a number of times, and Alpine driver Esteban Ocon, who praised Bianca’s work ethic in an interview last April.
I would be lying if I say I’m not smiling crazy right now. Thank you for inspiring me🥺🙏#EstebanOcon #EC31 #F1 pic.twitter.com/mg4wYWcoGF
— Bianca Bustamante (@racerbia) April 22, 2023
“Yes, Lewis and Esteban, they both have expressed how much they support women in motorsport,” Bianca shared. “But to be fair, some of the drivers that probably haven’t done it publicly yet do support us behind closed doors and behind the scenes. Some have sent messages or have spoken about women in motorsport a couple of times.”
“I think Charles [Leclerc], he said that he thinks that there will be a female driver in F1 pretty soon and that he is excited to see it one day. So that’s also quite a nice sentiment for him to say. I think there’s a lot of drivers that have [sent their support].”
Bianca will be racing with ART Grand Prix and will run Mclaren’s livery for the 2024 F1 Academy. She is also set to race in the F4 Macau Grand Prix with BlackArts Racing this November 11.
If you’d like to learn more about her story and her career in motorsports, read our feature on her here.
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