BIANCA Bustamante bucked a dangerous crash in the opening race of Round 5 of the inaugural F1 Academy season to come away with big points from Monza, Italy over the weekend, placing her smack in the middle of the championship race with two rounds to go.
The Filipina racer figured in a dramatic incident with ART Grand Prix’s Chloe Grant in Lap 1 of the first race of the weekend at Monza circuit, where Grant’s car damaged Bustamante’s rear before it flew over the 18-year-old’s head, grazing the halo of Bustamante’s PREMA Racing car.
Despite the jarring incident, Bustamante was able to quickly shrug things off and tally a P2 and P1 finish in Race 2 and 3, respectively, all within the next 24 hours.
READ: Bianca Bustamante scores big win at Monza
Looking back, the 18-year-old said that she was eager to recover quickly, since it was her team’s home circuit – and a personal favorite of hers as well.
“I think it was really a rollercoaster of a weekend for us. You know, especially with the unfortunate incident in Race 1, I was forced to have a DNF. Obviously, I was heartbroken because like I said, it’s my favorite track and for me,” Bustamante said in an exclusive interview with SPIN.Ph.
“You know, I never really cared about the result… I remember telling my team that I just wanted to drive, you know, I wanted to maximize every lap, I wanted to just drive at my favorite circuit and the fact that I couldn’t do that and I couldn’t even do a lap, I was heartbroken.” she added.
The PREMA Racing driver said what happened in Race 1 served as motivation to do even better.
Bustamante did a tremendous job that afternoon, with a stellar drive that saw her finish P2 – a good seven positions from her starting point in the grid at P9.
“I think because of this, it was actually the reason why I pushed myself so much to perform very well for Race 2. I guess, it was just sort of like [a] trance where you’re just kind of like [getting] tunnel vision,” she said.
“For me, I was just eyes forward and I knew we had the pace, I knew the car was great, we just needed to put it together.”
More than recovering quickly from her accident, Bustamante knew that it would also be a tall task to plow through the grid – especially since all 15 drivers are quite experienced.
“I knew it was going to be quite difficult, starting from P9. Because, with all the drivers, they’re so competitive, you know, the gap between us was very very small [and] because of this, everyone was running at a similar pace, which meant that it would be quite difficult to pass.” she said.
“But in my head, I had the confidence in me to make the moves, around the outside, and I think I made three passes on the outside in Race 2 and because of this I moved up.”
All in all, Bustamante’s great weekend propelled her back into the top half of the standings of the driver’s championship, now P6 among the 15-driver grid with 102 points.
Though a ways away from PREMA Racing teammate and championship leader Marta Garcia’s 190 points, Bustamante is making a case for herself as one of the drivers to watch out for in the near future.
As it stands, Bustamante can make more ground with two rounds to go.
Up next for the F1 Academy is Round 6 in Le Castellet in France at the end of this month.
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