BIANCA Bustamante, a Filipina race driver, is on her way to fulfilling her ambition of participating in Formula One after signing with the McLaren Driver Development Program on Wednesday evening.

According to British motorsport McLaren, Bustamante, an 18-year-old driver, will race in the last weekend of the inaugural F1 Academy season in Austin to cap off her season with Italian squad PREMA Racing. 

Bustamante will race for ART Grand Prix in the 2024 F1 Academy season now that she has joined McLaren. The Filipina racer expressed her delight at the deal.

“This is such an unreal moment in my career, to sign with McLaren and ART Grand Prix is way beyond anything I could have ever imagined growing up as a kid racing karts in the Philippines,” the lady driver said.

To be able to participate in a program that has produced seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, which strives to help young bright drivers advance to the most prestigious competitions in the motorsport world, including Formula One.

“Every single event I went to, F1, Formula E, IndyCar, I was always with McLaren. I wasn’t expecting this opportunity to come about, that I would actually be, you know, part of the team,” the Filipina racer said. “I am so happy to be joining the Papaya Family.”

So far, Bustamante’s F1 Academy season has been outstanding. She raced for the Italian-based PREMA Racing team and finished P2 (promoted from P3) in the opening race of round 1 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.

Bustamante made headlines last May when she won her maiden F1 Academy race at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo. In July, she won her second career race in Italy’s Autodromo Nazionale Monza.