ICYMI: Bianca Bustamante's F1 Academy season summed up

The 18 year old Filipina driver, Bianca Bustamante, is a force to be reckoned with. We take a trip down her F1 Academy season so far

August 07, 2023

Bianca Bustamante, the 18-year-old Filipina currently participating in the F1 Academy series with Prema Racing, has had a strong run to the inaugural season with two wins and two podiums. While just a few weeks ago, she was basking in the glory of her second race win in Monza, the races at Le Castellet before the summer break had a whole other story to tell. We sum up what has been a topsy-turvy season so far:

Starting the season in the Red Bull Ring at the end of April, she placed second in Race 1, getting her first podium. She left the Red Bull Ring with 18 points after missing out on the points in Race 2 and a technical issue with her car, leading her not to start Race 3.

Rounds 2 and 3 were in Spain, at Valencia and Barcelona. Bustamante won her maiden race in Valencia for Race 2 and headed to Barcelona with 26 more points. Barcelona saw some amazing battles from Prema driver, but it wasn’t enough to take the last step of the podium from her teammate in Race 1 of the round. 

Going into Round 4 in Zandvoort, Bustamante had scored 57 points. Placing 10th in Race 1, 8th in Race 2, and 5th in Race 3, she scored points in all three races, with 12 points for the round.

Round 5 of F1 Academy was in Monza, which was quite a weekend for Bustamante. Starting 9th in Race 1, she was involved in a disastrous crash that led to her retiring the car. However, this didn’t dampen the weekend for her as she finished 2nd and on the podium in Race 2. Making a remarkable comeback in Race 3, she won her second race in the home race of her team, Prema Racing.

The penultimate race of the series was held in France at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Race 1 for Bustamante first saw a post-qualifying, three-place grid penalty for impeding. This was followed by a bent steering rod due to contact on Lap 7 that led to a post-race 5-second penalty, dropping her down from 11th to 13th place for this race. Qualifying 10th for Race 2, she kept that place but came out of that race with no points. Race 3 was also rather unfortunate as she finished last following a spin while trying to overtake on Lap 9.

Bustamante is currently 7th in the standings, scoring 102 points with one round remaining of the inaugural 2023 season, to be held at the Circuit of the Americas in late October alongside F1.