Marking a big step in her career, Bianca Bustamante isn’t about to rush things during her opening race in the GB3 Championship with Elite Motorsport.
Philippine racing driver Bianca Bustamante is taking her career to the next step as her debut looms in Formula 3, with opening weekend in the GB3 Championship slated next weekend at Silverstone in the United Kingdom.
After spending two years in Formula 4 with the F1 Academy, Bustamante has shifted her focus to F3 with Elite Motorsport, continuing to chase her dream of making it into Formula 1 as a female driver.
Having only been driving formula machinery for a few years, Bustamante acknowledges that there will be an adjustment period when she begins her career in GB3, especially as she goes up against more experienced drivers.
“Yeah, it's been tough… F1 Academy has its quirks, one of it being the season finishes so late. I think our last race of the year was December. So that meant that I still had my season ongoing before I could start preparing for the next season,” Bustamante said during a recent media roundtable ahead of her 2025 season.
“So it meant that my preparation was cut short by two, three months. And because of that, obviously, we couldn't test as much as we wanted or as much as I wanted, at least.”
But Bustamante said that she should have ample time to learn and develop her skills once the race weekends begin.
Opening herself up to mistakes and ways to develop her skills, the 20-year-old is looking forward to becoming a sponge to all the new experiences that she will garner in Formula 3 machinery.
“Regardless of all that, you know, you learn more in a race weekend than you ever will in a test. So we're going to go into every race with the mentality to learn, the mentality to adapt, to accept scenarios, situations, and accept when we're not having a good weekend or when we are having a good weekend. Mentality is everything,” she said.
Make no mistake about it though, Bustamante will be entering the initial weekend at Silverstone with a lot of belief in herself.
After experiencing ups and downs in the last two years with F1 Academy, the Laguna native is growing used to understanding the comings and going of each race weekend.
Not one to be deterred, Bustamante is eager to measure herself against better and older drivers — especially since she’ll be in a mixed grid.
“Obviously, there is so much confidence in me knowing that I've got the best support, I've got the best team with me. And, you know, we've got, we've had multiple test-ins where we were quite competitive. And I think that's always our confidence boost,” she said.
“But I'm not going to lie. I know that, I know in myself that I will have some very, very fierce competitors this season. A lot of them are second-year drivers. So they know tracks. They know how it goes. They know what it's like to race in a long-form weekend against the boys and here and that. So a lot of new things that are different or will be different for me,” Bustamante added.
Despite all the differences that will greet Bustamante in her first GB3 weekend, there is a long term goal in mind for the Filipina racer, which spurs her on.
At the end of the day, the learning experience of each race weekend will play an important role to keep Bustamante going.
“It's my first year racing single-seaters where I won't be alongside Formula 1, where I won't just be racing with girls. I'll be racing in a mixed grid. It'll be my first full year competing in GB3. So again, new championship, like I said. So a lot of new experiences,” Bustamante said.
“But we've got our eyes set on multiple years in this championship. Anyways, I know that this year will be the learning year. And what we do next year will be, you know, to go for it like we did in F1 Academy,” she added.
Bustamante is one of just two confirmed female drivers in the GB3 Championship grid, with the other one being 2024 F1 Academy champion Abbi Pulling who will be racing for Rodin Motorsport.
In Elite Motorsport, Bustamante will be joined by William Macintyre and one more driver in the team.