It’s not common for a woman to thrive in the sport of motorsports, but 18-year-old Filipina Bianca Bustamante is defying all odds as she makes it to the Formula 1 Academy as a new recruit of McLaren’s Driver Development Program, in hopes of becoming the next big thing. However, the rising star quickly finds herself in the middle of hellfire and F1 fans definitely don’t like it.
Bianca Bustamante is the new target of “Cancel Culture”
F1 fans were quick to notice that Bustamante liked an ableist tweet calling Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (Lance Strulovitch) the “autism troll”. The now-deleted post was a response to make an argument for a TikTok video discussing why Bustamante is “overrated”.
Drivers like jokes and funny posts about other drivers all the time but Bianca Bustamante straight up liked a tweet calling Lance Stroll a spoiled kid with autism pic.twitter.com/ctCQYilDGq
— lfc and ferrari (@redsdahliaa) December 27, 2023
Meanwhile, sports fans, as well as Lance Stroll’s fanbase pointed out Bianca Bustamante‘s immature move. Unfortunately for the teen F1 racer, she’s currently the main target of cancel culture as fans already want her out of the spotlight. It may be an honest mistake, but Bustamante is now the subject of massive hate and criticism, and all of this could take a toll on her career.
Bustamante gets more hate even after a public apology
Just mere hours after Bustamante infamously liked the said tweet, the post was deleted and the Filipina racer/influencer subsequently posted a public apology. She did admit the act but claimed it was an accident. Yet again, this “sorry” didn’t do her any good.
https://twitter.com/racerbia/status/1740053034275901649
Bianca received more hate after dragging his autistic brother by posting a video of him on X. Even though she expressed her deepest apology to the autism community, the hate towards Bustamante grew larger after she suddenly brought up her brother out of the blue.
https://twitter.com/racerbia/status/1740054801675886724
Fortunately, there are some who are defending Bianca Bustamante amidst her controversy
Of course, not everyone is against Bianca. There are still others who support her, although they condone Bianca’s predicament. One of which is TikToker Kaitlin Aria, who happens to be a massive fan of motorsports. Kaitlin tried to defend Bustamante but made some sound points. She pointed out an incident where Stroll assaulted an Aston Martin employee that was caught on camera, which took place back in October. At the time, Lance Stroll found himself in hot waters after being spotted seemingly pushing the employee.
The 18-year-old Filipina has done far less crime than other sports icons, but still, she’s getting a ton of hate and backlash. That being said, does Bianca Bustamante deserve this kind of treatment or are F1 fans just getting out of hand?
https://www.tiktok.com/@kaitlin_aria/video/7317419157576863018
Lest we forget, this isn’t the first time that Lance Stroll was called Autistic
In 2020, Max Verstappen called Lance Stroll a “retard” and a “mongol” during a race. Surprisingly, the 3-time World Champion escaped punishment despite the ableist and racial slur. Two years later, Lionel Froissart, a French commentator, became controversial after giving an “autistic” remark to the Canadian racer during a live broadcast. Contrary to Verstappen, the slur was condemned by fans and the club. Meanwhile, the RTBF suspended Froissart shortly after.
But, is Stroll really in the Spectrum? Well, there’s no evidence and confirmation that the 25-year-old racer is indeed autistic. What he actually has is a pretty solid career and a wonderful life. Stroll and his camp have never cared for the ableist slurs, which is understandable given that it does not affect his goal to become a Formula 1 world champion.
