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MANILA, Philippines – Young Filipino racer Bianca Bustamante continues to blaze trails in the highly competitive world of motorsports, but even she has a hard time believing that the opportunities she is getting are the realities she now faces every day.
Gearing up for her second F1 Academy season in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, starting this Saturday, March 9, the 19-year-old phenom is not taking for granted the lessons and support she continually gets from her new team, racing giant McLaren.
“There are a lot of people [to thank]. I can’t even name all of them with my two hands,” she told reporters in a virtual roundtable last Tuesday, March 5.
“It’s like a project, Project Bia. Everyone is so hands on and at one point, I was like, oh gosh, do I really deserve all this support? But here I am and they think I do, and I owe it to myself to believe it as well.”
Since her landmark signing with McLaren’s Driver Development Programme, making her its first female driver trainee, Bustamante has been honing her craft with her star-studded team in the United Kingdom, the newest pit stop since deciding to live on her own overseas nearly three years ago.
“It’s very rare these days to meet people who truly believe that you have what it takes to make it, and in finding that, I found myself. I found that confidence in myself to still fight,” she continued. “We showed that in all the tests, in F1 Academy. We’re the fastest in Jeddah, we topped a few sessions.”
“Overall, we were so, so strong, and the fact we’re coming to race weekend knowing that we were strong in the preseason tests, and the fact that I was able to work with my team in McLaren, it just feels so at home without even trying so hard.”
Bustamante caps off her month-long preparation in Jeddah this weekend and looks to measure her improvement since her last race with F1 Academy – an all-female division featuring a handful of the world’s best racers under 25 years old.
“We were able to get good results [in test runs] and that’s what matters,” she continued.
“Racing isn’t forced. It’s just the flow and how you work with the team and how you work with yourself, and I’m ready to show that at Jeddah this weekend.” – Rappler.com
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