Bianca Bustamante told talkSPORT she felt like an outcast while growing up karting – now, she’s loving living in the spotlight.
The Filipino, a development driver for Cupra Kiro and GB3 rookie, is one of the fastest rising figures in motorsport.
Bianca Bustamante attended the European premiere of Lewis Hamilton’s F1 movieGettyBustamante, who is the daughter of former go-kart driver Raymund Bustamante, made her debut in the same closed-wheel car at age six.
Her father worked three jobs and moved away to be an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) in America to raise the funds for her to race.
Two years ago, Bustamante became the first female driver to enrol in the McLaren Driver Development programme.
She is one of just two women competing in the 2025 GB3 Championship, alongside F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling.
Bustamante has also signed as Cupra Kiro’s Development Driver in the Formula E World Championship following her P3 result in last year’s all-women test.
Ahead of her Formula E rookie test on July 14 in Berlin, Bustamante exclusively told talkSPORT: “It’s different, that’s one way to put it.
“It’s quick, it’s rapid, a lot quicker than what I drive in the F1 academy, which is essentially a Formula 4 spec car and the nature of it being electric means it’s all speed, and that’s why they’re able to race in the hearts of the cities like Jakarta or Miami, and really drive around the streets without any troubles.
“For me, as a driver, that’s something I very much look forward to, driving so close to walls and also the travelling is fun.
“You get to race at all these amazing places, like Shanghai, Tokyo, that’s pretty cool.
“So I think it’s also a great tool in my toolbox going into my career to adapt to all these dexterities in the sport, and that obviously makes Formula E very intricate, which is amazing for me, being 20, I get to experience this so early in my career.”
Bustamante is the most followed female racer in any Formula category2023 Formula One World Championship Limited She has a massive fan base that turns out every race weekendGettyBustamante currently boasts a fanbase that is beyond that typically seen of a rookie driver, with 1.7 million Instagram followers, and another 1.4m fans on TikTok alone.
For context, Britain’s three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick, the most decorated female racing driver of all time, has just over 300,000 combined on the same two social media platforms.
It is also more than 2025 F1 stars Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto, Liam Lawson, and Jack Doohan, all individually have on Instagram.
Bustamante was the leading star of F1 Academy’s recent Netflix debut, a sister-show to the global success of Drive to Survive.
She added: “It’ll be a chapter that will always have a bookmark in my storyline, it’s where I learned, where I grew.
“I grew up in front of the crowds and the people alongside Formula One, and it’s a dream – I never really would have expected to be here today, to be honest.
Bustamante only made her single-seat racing debut in 2022 at age 17 She was the featured star of Netflix’s F1 Academy showGetty“Looking back to three years ago when I really thought it was over for me, and I didn’t have a shot at it. And now I’m here at the paddock in Formula E. Our F1 Academy documentary on Netflix just came out.
“That obviously highlights the highs and lows of motorsport and intricacies and the difficult journey that we have to go through as drivers, as well as being female in the sport.
“And I think it’s pretty cool to go and grow up in front of all these people, which is a double-edged sword at the same time.
“It comes a lot of pressure and a lot of weight on your shoulders, which I’m very happy to have.
“I love living in the spotlight and the pressure of it all. So, yeah, very, very grateful.”
The 2022 season marked Bustamante’s first year in the W Series, a defunct all-women’s racing series only launched four years prior.
The 20-year-old is now racing in the same junior spec series that gave Britain’s Formula 1 duo George Russell and Lando Norris their start.
Bustamante told talkSPORT: “I’m 20, so dating back to a decade or so ago, there weren’t any opportunities for women in the sport.
Bustamante has been enjoying her new role as a development driver in FEGetty Bustamante joined talkSPORT live from Jakarta, Indonesia“When I was karting at a young age around Asia, I was often the only female driver, often the only one with long hair and red lips.
“So that kind of made me feel like an outcast. I didn’t really feel like I belonged for the longest time until only three years ago when W Series happened and then F1 Academy came about, all these amazing opportunities, girls on track, women in motorsport, all these initiatives really championing women in the sport, but not just for drivers, but for everyone in the paddock.
“You see the paddock brimming with women working in communications and partnership engineering and mechanics, and strategists.
“For the first time, we see females on the podium in Formula 1, you know, as representatives of the winning car.
“So I think things like this that is happening, and I get to be in the front line of this barrier being broken and this bridge being built.
“I feel very honoured, and to be part of F1 Academy and this documentary, it’s always about passing the torch a little bit brighter to the next generation.
“So I’m very grateful to be a part of that and, I guess, to also represent my country, the Philippines.
“I know I come from a country not really known for racing, but I get to inspire the next generation, and hopefully, there will be more of us in the future.”
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