“Hamilton Can be a Bit More Reliable”: Bianca Bustamante Snubbed Max Verstappen to Pick Lewis 2 Years Before Their Special Meet Up

The 2021 season is one of the best seasons in recent history in terms of pure competition for the drivers’ title. Red Bull was out of the picture for winning the constructors’, but the team put in everything to ensure Max Verstappen won the championships. Going up to the final race, the competition was so intense that you couldn’t give one driver an advantage over the other. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were level on points till the final race, and of course, who can forget the infamous safety car decisions that ended up favoring Max Verstappen?

Naturally, a lot of people had their own opinions about who would win the title. Almost unanimously, all the fans and pundits knew deep down that both the drivers deserved the championship that year. Both gave it their absolutely everything. However, McLaren F1’s only female driver in the Academy, Bianca Bustamante, gave the edge to Lewis Hamilton during the season.

Bianca Bustamante gave the edge to Lewis Hamilton

While still applying for a Ferrari scholarship, the erstwhile 16-year-old racing driver appeared in an interview with Philstar.com. In that interview, the host, Luisa Morales, asked Bianca which driver she had as a favorite to win it all that season.

Naturally, the young driver couldn’t pick one, as both drivers equally deserved the win that year. “Oh no!” she responds, “Can I pass?” When the host emphasizes that she needs to pick one, Bianca gives an edge to Lewis Hamilton. “I just think Hamilton can be a bit more reliable. He has a lot of experience backing him up. But Verstappen is actually quite fast, he has a lot of pace this season. I am actually not sure, but if I had to pick a driver, I definitely have to go with Hamilton.”

Since then, a lot has happened in the young Filipina driver’s life. Last year, she raced for Prema racing in the F1 academy series and met with the very same person whom she backed to win the title in 2023. In 2024, she will be racing in the F1 academy as a McLaren Development driver for the ART Grand Prix team.

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Despite recent controversies, Bustamente’s incredible promise might very well see her on the road to Formula One, not too far in the future.

Bianca Bustamante’s recent controversies

If you’ve been following Formula One Twitter, you are sure to know about the recent controversy involving the young McLaren driver. She accidentally liked a post that called current F1 driver Lance Stroll a slur, while backing Bianca Bustamante to be a better driver than the Canadian.

However, since the fans did not know that this was an accident, there were a lot of pitchforks raised against the young McLaren driver. Since then, Bianca put out an apology, clarifying the situation, underscoring that she would never condone the use of the particular ableist slur.

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This split the 1.5 million fans that she has between the two accounts, with some calling out the young star, stating that the apology was a lie.