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Fascinating Women 2024: Filipino Racing Driver Bianca Bustamante

As her racing career accelerates internationally, Bianca expresses her hopes of seeing more women in motorsport

Article (news)

Mariel Abanes

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/8dd62c79-cd08-4f61-b022-9b0d66496b52_bianca bustamante profile 1.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Bianca Bustamante"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Bianca Bustamante<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><em> Photo: CBR Media  </em></span></span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>Race car driving isn’t a typical career choice for many, especially for women. But for 19-year-old <strong>Bianca Bustamante</strong>, regardless of her gender and age, pursuing this dream is the ultimate end-all—and nothing can shut her down from conquering the adrenaline-filled field she’s so passionate about.</p><div><br/></div><p>The Filipino racing driver, who hails from Laguna in the Philippines, has been on the track for several years, and her hard work paid off as she recently debuted with <strong>McLaren</strong> and the <strong>ART Grand Prix </strong>for her sophomore campaign in the <strong>F1 Academy </strong>season opening last weekend in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. After taking 2 victories and 4 podium finishes in 2023, she is looking to raise the bar in 2024 with a new approach to her F1 Academy campaign. Finishing fourth following an intense play on the tracks, the first female driver in the McLaren Development programme has no plans of slowing down—for her, it only begins here.</p><div><br/></div><p>After all, she has her whole future ahead of her, determined to get past obstacles that come her way—literally and figuratively. “Forward forever,” as she would say. In the racing tracks, Bianca wears her go-getter hat (or, should we say helmet?!), eager not for glory but to give her best shot in every lap. In life, she tries to find her balance to keep her head above the water.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/709456ba-1eba-42f3-b0b6-0df3456abbec_bianca bustamante 2.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Bianca Bustamante"/></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><font face="Georgia-Bold"><strong>Rocking the track</strong></font></div><p><font face="Georgia-Bold"></font>While a racer’s goal in every game is to swift past other contenders and get first place, Bianca entered the series with a refreshed intention taken to heart. “My goal this year is to just come off as a better driver than I was last year,” she said during a virtual roundtable discussion before she set off to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the F1 Academy season opener. While she admits that she easily blows off steam whenever things don’t get in her way in her previous races, this shift allowed her to be more flexible—and see the more important things clearly. </p><div><br/></div><p>“One negative thing that I really didn’t like about myself is that I often link my results to my self-worth—when I wasn’t getting good results, when I feel like I wasn’t worth it, or when I couldn’t find happiness elsewhere. And so I went into the season [F1 Academy] with a completely different mindset—that it’s not always about winning because you can&#x27;t win all the time,” she mused. “It’s my job to be the best person that I can be—the driving part is easier.”</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/cd29e5a6-2e18-4554-87ff-5eb7d172eee6_bianca bustamante 3.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Bianca Bustamante"/></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>Bianca credits McLaren Development programme director <strong>Emanuele Pirro</strong> for carving this kind of mentality in her head. Sure, she’s got the talent and grit to see her through several tourneys in the next few months and years, but none of these would matter if, deep inside, she’s losing yourself. </p><div><br/></div><p>Asked about the best piece of career-related advice, Bianca told <strong>Metro.Style</strong>, “For the first time in my life, someone told me that he didn’t care if I qualified last. He doesn’t care if I lose or if I wasn’t performing well. He cares that I gave it my best. You know, [that] I’m fine walking away from everything knowing that I was a hundred percent. Because if you give it your 100 percent, you’re bound to get good results... You’ve got to make sure that you’re in your hundred because you’re in control of the car, in control of your life.  You’re the captain of your boat. And I think that’s the mentality that he wanted me to realize not just as a mentor in motorsport but even as a person.”</p><div><br/></div><p> She knows she cannot control other variables like the condition of the car, the weather, or her team’s performance. But if she knows she did her best then she won’t have any regrets no matter the outcome. </p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/9c5141f9-0977-45cf-bd98-762a303bedf6_bianca bustamante 5.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Bianca Bustamante"/></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>Paving the way</strong></div><p>The racing industry is tough and may be dominated by men, but Bianca, who is her family’s breadwinner, isn’t unnerved.</p><div><br/></div><p> The journey of women like Italian racing driver <strong>Lella Lombardi</strong> deeply inspires her. Bianca shared, “She was a woman in F1. She was the last of us that actually made it to Formula One and it’s happy Women’s Month! And I think it really saddens me the fact that no other woman followed after her, and it shocks me until now that there’s still no woman in the Formula One. And that’s why we’re making all these changes to make that happen.” </p><div><br/></div><p>Becoming McLaren’s first female development driver isn’t just a milestone Bianca takes pride in for herself—she believes that it’s a win that goes beyond her. “The fact that we made this leap into the world of motorsport just goes to show how one small thing can lead to a big massive movement,” the racing driver says. Being in the frontline gives her pressure, she admits, but the Bianca is keen to zoom through it all. “In the end, we’re just drivers—we’re not really merely female drivers. And everyone wants it as bad as we do.” </p><p><br/>Emphasizing her hopes for more women to pursue the same path she did, Bianca added, “I don’t want to be <em>the</em> one; I want to be one of many.” She knows it cannot happen overnight, but at least, there is progress. “Nothing is built overnight,” Bianca pointed out. “It’s through continuous hard work by everyone, by every female in the sport or even male, and the fact that all of them are working towards one goal, and that’s very important.”</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img loading="lazy" src="https://assets-metrostyle.abs-cbn.com/prod/metrostyle/attachments/9ea3b33c-b154-433c-a898-f9f55fb6d5b9_bianca bustamante 7.jpeg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Bianca Bustamante"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Bianca Bustamante<span id="isPasted" style="color:rgb(65, 65, 65);letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial;display:inline !important;float:none"><em> Photo: PREMA Racing  </em></span></span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>If there’s one thing that she realized about being a female in this sport, it’s that feeling scared when you’re outnumbered is an obvious thing—but it doesn’t mean you should succumb to this intimidation. Bianca points out, “The fact that I’m actually one step closer to my dream makes me realize that the sky’s the limit and you should always have that approach to anything. It’s good to be different. It’s good to break boundaries. I believe in following your own person. And I hope I get to inspire more people to pursue them, and not just what everyone else is doing,” she ends.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong><em>Follow Bianca Bustamante on Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/racerbia/?hl=en" target="_blank">@racerbia</a></em></strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Lead photos courtesy of <strong>PREMA Racing</strong></p><div><br/></div>