RACER Bianca Bustamante of the Philippines finished in the points at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Friday during the first weekend of the 2024 F1 Academy Season, her first race with McLaren.
Bustamante, McLaren’s first female driver under its Driver Development Programme, crossed the line in P6 in Race 1 but placed 5th after post-race penalties for a productive 10-point haul in the opening race of the season.
McLaren cites Bustamante's debut
“Points in our F1 Academy debut. Bianca crossed the line in P6 to start the season.” McLaren posted on its social media.
The Filipina driver suffered a hiccup in Lap 1 when she got clipped in the back which caused her to lose pace for the rest of the race.
Though Bustamante tried to recover with an overtake during the race, she couldn’t keep up with Chloe Chambers’ Haas as she ended up in fourth.
Lola penalty benefits Bustamante
Rodin Motorsport’s Lola Lovinfosse finished ahead of Bustamante at P5, but she later suffered a penalty which sent her tumbling down to P8.
Lovinfosse was handed a 10-second time penalty after the race for causing a collision with Campos Racing’s Nerea Marti in the last lap.
The contact pushed Marti out of the race into a DNF.
Meanwhile, Mercedes driver Doriane Pin enjoyed a lights-to-flag victory as she converted pole into her first F1 Academy race win with Alpine’s Abbi Pulling finishing second.
Ferrari junior driver Maya Weug wrapped up the podium in P3.
Bustamante hopes to have better pace and ring in better results in Race 2 on Saturday.
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