Bianca Bustamante

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.

W Series
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 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.

Formula 4 UAE Championship
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.

2023 season
On 3 February 2023, Bustamante was confirmed as the second driver to compete in the newly launched all-female F1 Academy series with Prema Racing. After the inaugural race at Red Bull Ring, Bustamante finished P3, however due to a technical infringement discovered during Parc fermé of Nerea Martí's Campos Racing car, Martí was disqualified from the results pushing Bustamante up to P2.

Bustamante's car suffered a technical failure at the start of the formation lap during the third race at Red Bull Ring and could not start.

At Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Bustamante initially qualified P2, however, a track limit infringement saw that position move down to P8. The reverse grid order of race 2 now meant Bustamante had achieved her first ever pole position which she subsequently turned into her first ever race victory the following day. Following the victory, Bustamante was personally congratulated by the president of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

At the first race of the 5th round of the season, Circuit Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Bustamante was not able to finish due to a racing incident that prompted her to retire the car from the race. She grabbed her third podium of the season the following race after qualifying on pole due to a reverse grid classification. On the third race, she clinched her first full points win, her final and second win of the 2023 season.

Bustamante scored a total of 116 points, finishing 7th in the championship standings, just a point behind MP Motorsport's Amna Al Qubaisi.

2024 season
On 18 October 2023, McLaren announced the signing of Bustamante to the McLaren Driver Development Programme and that she will represent McLaren (with additional support from Cisco and Google Chrome) for the 2024 season under ART Grand Prix. Bustamante is the first female driver signed to the McLaren Driver Development Programme and the second female driver signed by McLaren after Emma Gilmour for McLaren XE.

At the first round at Jeddah in Race 1, Bustamante finished the race in fifth to score her first points of the season. In Race 2, she finished the race in eighth but was promoted to sixth after race winner Doriane Pin and seventh-place finisher Hamda Al Qubaisi were given post-race time penalties. At Round 2 in Miami, Bustamante qualified in fourth in Race 1 but finished in ninth after stalling at the start of the race and post-race penalties while claiming the fastest lap of the race. In Race 2, she qualified and finished the race in second, scoring her first podium of the season.

2023 season
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.

Personal life
Born in Manila, Bustamante resides between Laguna, Philippines, and San Jose, California. She is the daughter of Raymund and Janice Bustamante.

Bustamante has a combined 2.2 million followers across Instagram and TikTok, making her the third most influential female driver in the world according to vehicle rental company Avis. 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.

Bustamante was featured on the July 2024 cover of Vogue Philippines.

Racing career summary
* Season still in progress. † As Bustamante was a guest driver, she was ineligible for points.

Complete W Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete F4 UAE Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete F1 Academy results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Italian F4 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula 4 South East Asia Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Winter Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)