11-748: Bianca Bustamante (born 19 January 2005) is a Filipina racing driver who currently competes for ART Grand Prix in F1 Academy . She is a part of the McLaren Driver Development Programme . From 31 January to 4 February 2022, Bustamante competed in a W Series test in Arizona , United States, along with 14 other prospective drivers. She then participated in a second pre-season test in Barcelona on 2–4 March along with 11 other potential drivers and 9 automatic qualifiers from
22-545: Is the first female driver signed to the McLaren Driver Development Programme and the second full-time female driver signed by McLaren after Emma Gilmour for McLaren XE . In Round 1 at Jeddah , Bustamante finished fifth in Race 1 and was promoted to sixth (from eighth) in Race 2 due to penalties for other competitors. Bustamante qualified in fourth for the second round at Miami and finished
33-466: The first race in ninth after stalling at the start, but set the fastest lap in consolation; in Race 2, she scored her first podium of the season with a second-place finish. In Round 4 at Zandvoort , Bustamante crashed during qualifying and finished outside the points in both races – a pointless streak which continued in Singapore after she received a stop/go penalty in Race 1 for being out of position on
44-592: The grid, before colliding with Tina Hausmann in Race 2 whilst recovering from a spin. On 24 May 2023, it was announced that Bustamante would make her debut in Italian F4 at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps , driving for Prema Racing in a one-off appearance, replacing Aurelia Nobels . Bustamante returned to Italian F4 for the final round in Monza , driving for ART Grand Prix , the French team making their debut in
55-417: The previous W Series season. On 22 March, Bustamante was confirmed to compete in the 2022 W Series season . She finished the season in 15th place scoring 2 points across 7 races. On 9 January 2023, Bustamante was announced to race under Italian team Prema Powerteam for the 2023 Formula 4 UAE Championship. She finished the season in 27th place scoring 3 points across 15 races. On 3 February 2023, Bustamante
66-447: The season in the following reverse-grid race and winning the third and final race of the weekend. Bustamante scored a total of 116 points, finishing 7th in the championship standings; one point behind MP Motorsport 's Amna Al Qubaisi . On 18 October 2023, McLaren announced the signing of Bustamante to the McLaren Driver Development Programme and that she will represent McLaren for the 2024 season under ART Grand Prix . Bustamante
77-494: The second round at Circuit Ricardo Tormo , but was demoted to 8th for a track limits infringement. Having recovered to fifth in the first race, Bustamante then won her first race in the reverse-grid second heat – earning personal congratulations from President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos, Jr . Bustamante did not finish the first race of the weekend at Monza , before grabbing her third podium of
88-656: The series. On 15 October 2024, McLaren announced Bustamante and her F1 Academy successor Ella Lloyd as the line-up for the McLaren Formula E Team women's test pre-season testing for the 2024–25 season in Formula E . She placed in third in the test. Born in Manila , Bustamante resides between Laguna , Philippines, and San Jose, California . Former GT racer Darryl O'Young acts as Bustamante's manager. In March 2024, vehicle rental company Avis ranked Bustamante
99-412: The third-most influential non-European female racing driver; at the time, she had a combined 2.2 million followers across Instagram and TikTok . In December 2023, upon joining McLaren , she received backlash on social media after it emerged that she had liked several tweets critical of Formula One driver Lance Stroll , one of which used ableist language. * Season still in progress. As Bustamante
110-961: Was a guest driver, she was ineligible for points. ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Season still in progress. ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) List of female racing drivers This
121-509: Was confirmed as the second driver to compete in the newly launched all-female F1 Academy series with Prema Racing. Bustamante finished 3rd in the series' first race at the Red Bull Ring , but was promoted to P2 following the disqualification of Nerea Martí . Having finished ninth in the second race, her car suffered a technical failure on the formation lap for the third race at and did not start. Bustamante initially qualified 2nd for
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