McLaren signee Bianca Bustamante reflects on flourishing career, following

MANILA, Philippines – Filipina wunderkind Bianca Bustamante is reaching new heights as she is set to continue pursuing her Formula 1 dream with the McLaren Driver Development Program shortly after finishing a successful year with Italy-based PREMA Racing in F1 Academy.

Just a couple of years removed from her transition to formula machinery, Bustamante has broken another glass ceiling — becoming the first female driver in McLaren’s program.

At only 18 years old, Bustamante has grown rapidly skills-wise despite her lack of experience and track time, as she also finished seventh among 15 racers in the F1 Academy driver’s championship.

Now with a new chapter in her career, Bustamante relished the journey toward reaching her ultimate goal of racing in Formula 1.

“A lot has happened. I still haven’t really digested everything that has happened. In the past years, we’ve had so much growth on track and off track,” Bustamante told the media during a press conference on Monday.

“On track, obviously, you know, we’re going faster and we just signed with McLaren but everything kind of happened off track as well,” she added.

Since moving on from her karting days, Bustamante has also built her own following and platform. Because of her stints both in the W Series and F1 Academy, more and more eyes have landed on the Filipina racer.

Though keeping herself focused on the things on-track, the 18-year-old can’t help but also marvel at what racing has done for her.

“[Off-track growth] is so pivotal for me. I think we just reached one million on Instagram and I think that’s kind of crazy… But I mean, a lot of incredible things happened,” said Bustamante.

But what the Laguna native cherished the most is being able to use her racing career to further the sport’s visibility in the Philippines, not only for herself, but to achieve a more welcoming community on and off the track.

“People [are] starting to watch Formula 1 in the Philippines and to see the fan base grow into more women, to find out more women are starting to watch F1, you know, more women are becoming fans of me, of everything. [It’s] quite incredible.” said the 18-year-old. 

“On social media, on Tiktok, we have a 40% male following and 60% female following. The fact that we’re kind of turning this man’s world into something diverse and inclusive is incredible.”