Bianca Bustamante works on having proper mindset with McLaren

MANILA, Philippines – Filipina racer Bianca Bustamante pointed to mental preparation as the key factor in her steadiness so far for McLaren during the ongoing 2024 F1 Academy season, as she was recently provided with a sports psychologist by the England-based racing team.

Bustamante, the only female driver in McLaren’s Driver Development Programme, has been perfect so far in scoring points for all races midway through the F1 Academy calendar and while she’s still searching for her first win with the team, she’s firmly in the running for a high finish in the driver’s championship at P5.

During a rare visit to the Philippines owing to her busy schedule, the 19-year-old shared her thoughts on how she’s stayed consistent so far.

“I think that was actually the main thing that McLaren wanted me to work on,” Bustamante said during the Race to Inspire event supported by GoTyme Bank and BeIN Sports at the SM Mall of Asia last week.

“You know, they said they don’t care about a driver that can do one fast lap; they need a driver that can [be] consistently fast and I think that was something I lacked last year.” 

Understanding the immense potential that the Filipina racer had, McLaren did not waste time in helping Bustamante work on her shortcomings on and off the track – especially when it came to her mental wellness and preparation.

“I’ve said [before] that admittedly, yeah, as a driver, I had good days, I had days where I didn’t even score points, I had days where I was winning races, and I was a rollercoaster and that was because of my lack of control of my emotions,” said the Laguna native.

“I was always driven by my emotions to a certain point that I’d lose control and I think that might be because I was immature, I was young, and this year, like I said, I had to grow up a lot and McLaren giving me the support of a sports psychologist to be able to talk about how I feel, how I deal with pressure, mindsetting, which is very important,” she added.

Results have been quick and many for Bustamante after working with the sports psychologist, as she also has a podium under her belt.

Still with half a season to go in the F1 Academy, the 19-year-old targets more improvement for her results when she returns for the second half of the season later this month, all with the support of her mental coaches at McLaren.

“So I think that is actually the main thing that helped me improve my performance this year was just to have the support of McLaren and to have that sports psychologist to work on those things.”

Next up for Bustamante in the F1 Academy is Round 4 in Zandvoort, the Netherlands from August 23-25.