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F1 Academy driver Bianca Bustamante on life in the fast lane

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Deutsche Welle

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Filipina racer Bianca Bustamante. Handout/File photo" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/02/04/bianca-bustamante.jpg"/><figcaption>Filipina racer Bianca Bustamante. <em>Handout/File photo</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>A month on from her historic F1 Academy race win in Valencia, Filipina driver Bianca Bustamante still can&#x27;t believe it.    </p><p>&quot;When I won, it was like the whole world suddenly exploded,&quot; Bianca Bustamante told DW.</p><p>The 18-year-old received a message from the president of the Philippines, had a resolution voiced on the country&#x27;s senate floor and saw her face splashed across an enormous billboard on the busiest street in Manila.</p><p>&quot;I honestly didn&#x27;t know how to react. I wasn&#x27;t expecting the effect would be this much. It was really a crazy moment for me. To experience all this stuff at 18, sometimes I think it&#x27;s a bit too much,&quot; she said.</p><p>It would be easy to dismiss this response as classic athlete hyperbole, but Bustamante&#x27;s journey to this point explains why the tears flowed and the country celebrated when the teenager stood on the podium.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/05/11/23/bianca-bustamante-makes-herstory-for-ph-in-f1-academy">Bianca Bustamante makes &#x27;herstory&#x27; for PH in F1 Academy</a></li></ul><div><strong>HARD ROAD TO GLORY</strong></div><p>Her father, a motorsport fanatic, bought Bustamante her first suit when she was just 1. She was in a baby race cart by the age of 3 and at just 6 years old, Bustamante knew a life in motorsport was what she wanted.</p><p>&quot;Financially it definitely wasn&#x27;t easy for us. You know, coming from the Philippines, we&#x27;re a very middle-class family. My dad is actually an overseas worker. He moved away when I was young just so he could support the family and put food on the table,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;The fact that I was racing, it was really, really difficult for the whole family. We made a lot of sacrifices, sometimes you might say too many. That&#x27;s why I&#x27;ve always felt like I&#x27;ve had to pay them back.&quot;</p><p>Many aiming to be in professional sport say failure isn&#x27;t an option and yet, for one of myriad reasons that make being a professional athlete so hard, never make it. Like them, Bustamante never had a prom or sleepover and has been home-schooled for most of her life. A lot of what makes a typical childhood has been missing.</p><p>&quot;Five, seven years ago, we were just struggling to even pay for the entry fee, fuel, tires. It made for a difficult road and because of that I needed to really value every time I was just able to drive, to race because I never really knew when it would be the last time.&quot;</p><p>Life hasn&#x27;t been easy for Bustamante, but one mantra has helped her through: &quot;When life&#x27;s tough, you&#x27;ve got to be tougher.&quot;</p><p>That approach has helped her go from karting glory as a child to the top rookie in the W Series [an all-female single-seater championship] last year. Now, in 2023, she is competing for Prema Racing — the starting point for many F1 talents such as Ferrari&#x27;s Charles Leclerc — in both the F1 Academy and in the F4 UAE Championship.</p><div><strong>FAMILY SUPPORT KEY TO SUCCESS</strong></div><p>To be here is a testament to Bustamante&#x27;s determination, but even now, on the biggest stage, home remains a long way away. &quot;Other drivers have a home to go to after the race, but for me, home is a bit too far so I&#x27;m often by myself,&quot; she told DW.</p><p>&quot;There&#x27;s a lot of moments where you kind of have a crash. You have so much adrenaline during a race weekend and then suddenly you&#x27;re back to being by yourself. It&#x27;s one of the struggles.&quot;</p><p>It&#x27;s a poignant reminder of the mental fortitude needed when competing at the highest level. Family support helps, perhaps none more so than the bond she shares with her brother.</p><p>&quot;I have a brother and he has autism and Down syndrome. I think having him really taught me how to not only think of myself but to be very selfless with a lot of things because with him, I&#x27;ve always had to be selfless with moments where I needed to be very patient, forgiving when he would throw tantrums,&quot; Bustamante said, adding that after her win in Valencia, her brother was one of the first people she called.</p><p>&quot;And I think that&#x27;s why I&#x27;ve always been really, really patient with life, dealing with difficulties, losing, progress, patience just with everything. With that, comes a lot of maturity. To not act on your emotions, or what&#x27;s around you or in the moment, it really takes a lot of self-control and discipline.&quot;</p><p>It&#x27;s no surprise, then, that her end goal is to join the biggest show in motorsport.</p><p>&quot;The end goal for me is making it to Formula One, that&#x27;s my Everest,&quot; Bustamante told DW. &quot;Everything I&#x27;m doing is to hopefully make it there.&quot;</p><div><strong>BIG DREAMS</strong></div><p>Last year at Hungaroring, Bustamante got a taste of the big show when she met seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton. The two bonded over the similarities of their journeys, two aspiring drivers who didn&#x27;t look like anyone on the grid. For the teenager, the meeting was &quot;a moment she&#x27;ll always cherish,&quot; and she credits Hamilton as being one of the original supporters of the existence of the F1 Academy.</p><p>&quot;Lewis has always supported women in motorsport. He was one of the first few people that really stood up for it and said: &#x27;We need to have an initiative to support women.&#x27; Looking back five years ago, there wasn&#x27;t even an initiative for women in the sport,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;The fact that now, it&#x27;s not just about us drivers, but even engineers like McLaren launching their new women program for STEM engineers — that&#x27;s amazing,&quot; Bustamante said, referring to the science, technology, engineering and math courses that lay the foundation for a career in motorsport. </p><p>The teenager has specialized in STEM and was, as of early June, on the verge of graduating.</p><p>Bustamante is paving the way for women in motorsports and in the Philippines. Perhaps her future won&#x27;t include F1, but after all she&#x27;s been through reaching that goal isn&#x27;t going to define her. She has a lot more to do right now, including hopefully making more phone calls to her brother after a race win.</p><div><em>Edited by: James Thorogood</em></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2651396" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

A month on from her historic F1 Academy race win in Valencia, Filipina driver Bianca Bustamante still can't believe it.	