FORMULA 1 RISING STAR BIANCA BUSTAMANTE: I CANNOT FINANCIALLY AFFORD TO CRASH

0:28Hi, this is Knox from the Popcast with Knox and Jamie. contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

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2:06Hello everyone, my name is Jamie Lang and this is Great Company.

2:14Well hello, Jemima. Well hello, Jamie. Welcome back to the podcast, you wonderful listeners. Our wonderful listeners are ours, Hoot. Hoot, Hoot. We've not hooted in a while. We just hooted them, which I quite like. So if you are an OG listener, you know who we are. If you're new to the podcast, my name is Jamie, I'm the host of the show. And this is Jemima, who is our wonderful producer. And we like to take a little second at the top of the show to tell you about what's coming up. What's coming up. And any notes. Well, the notes are that you weren't actually in on this episode. No, I was not here.

2:45I was on holiday. And so, lovely producer Ewan. So if anyone ever listens to Newlyweds, Nearlyweds, Nearlyparents, whatever it is called at the moment. I can't keep up with you, Jamie. Nearlyparents. There you go, you've nailed it. Anyway, producer Ewan stepped in for this one. He stepped in and it was an amazing episode because we have someone called Bianca Bustamente, who is a young racing driver from the Philippines. Yeah. We have sort of been following her for a little bit and we're really interested to get her on. And when she came on, she didn't disappoint because her story from growing up in the Philippines in pretty much poverty to now being on the racing circuit to potentially getting into Formula One and being one of the only Formula One female drivers on the circuit will be absolutely incredible.

3:37She's a force to be reckoned with. And this episode is great to hear about resilience, to show what hard work can really do, what having that North Star of why that really counts and knowing exactly where you're going. It's also a really good episode for anyone who's got interested in Formula One, as I feel so many people are a little bit obsessed with it, you're hosting Silverstone. I'm hosting Silverstone going up, which is really exciting. And I had no idea that Formula One drivers, the impact of going that fast is on your body. Oh, the G-force. The G-force and like you have to strengthen your neck and you have to like, they are so strong, but small and compact.

4:15Small, compact, strong. If you're interested in that as well. Do you know what? Also, if you're not interested in that, it's absolutely fascinating. This is a really amazing, it's an insane episode. And watch out for this person, Bianca, because she's going to go to the top. Mark my words, you'll see her at the top. So be the first to listen to this, enjoy it, and then be a fan of hers. Yeah. All right, here we go. Enjoy this episode of Great Company. Before we start. Oh, such a tease. Before we start. We almost got there. Before we start, remember to please subscribe to the show. It does absolute wonders.

4:46And also, if you haven't already, follow us on social media and you send us an email. great company at jampo productions.co.uk. Okay, enjoy this episode of Great Company with Bianca Bustamante. Hi, everyone. I'm Bianca Bustamante. I'm a Filipino racing driver and I'm in great company, but I'm also a great company. Bianca, I heard that apparently you don't have your driver's license. No, well, let me explain. Okay, okay. So not in the UK, not yet. But When I was 17, that was when I first officially moved out of my home in the Philippines. And before I turned 17, got my driver's license. I was like, finally, I'll be driving in the streets.

5:28And then I got a call, be like, yeah, you need to race. So you need to move out of the Philippines and live abroad. So I still haven't driven a proper car on the road yet. Should I be honest about my driving history just quickly? Okay, get ready for this. This is going to shock you. I don't know if you have the same in the Philippines, but we have something called a theory test. A theory. That's like the practical. and then you've got like on paper written exam. Okay, so we don't have a written exam. Thank God. Oh, okay. We don't have that. We just have like a, we have like a multiple choice like thing that we just basically, you pick A, B or C or D or whatever.

6:01Since I was 18 years old, I've booked that 70 times. 70. You're joking. I've booked it 70 times. Okay. Finally passed my driving test. I was like, I'm on the streets. Here we go. Watch out roads. And I got, six points in my first year. So I got my whole license taken away. Taken away. Everything. I have to redo my theory test. I have to redo my driving test. What were you doing? Nothing. I was going 26 and a 20. I mean, that is obviously illegal. I don't promote driving fast or above the speed limit as a racing driver. I'm joking. Okay, exactly.

6:39It's amazing. Your story is honestly incredible. And it really is. It's super inspirational. And I was, like I said, I was saying to you, so many people have been speaking about that you were coming on and they were just so excited. What you represent, what you're doing. And I want to get into all of that. Before we get into that, right? Pretend I'm a complete novice in like Formula One and in that space. Explain to me what it is for anyone listening who have no idea about Formula One or race driving or anything like that. Driving in circles, pretty much. That's it. All right, next question. Okay, here we go.

7:13driving like donuts and like different weird shaped pizzas. That's pretty much it. Yeah. But the thing which I find so interesting about it is that there are people when you watch, like drive survive is a big thing at the moment, right? And that's what I think of the sort of popularity of like, especially Formula One has like risen because people would just watch it on like a Sunday or whenever it was. But now you can watch on Netflix and people see the ins and the outs of what's going on. I didn't realize the tactics that go into racing. Honestly, I think that's one of the common misconceptions about racing.

7:45It is just driving in circles. Well, that's the main ploy of it all. But actually, the amount of theoretical and thinking and planning and strategizing to actually win a race, that's the technical bits. Like, I think that's why I'm able to share my sport with so many of the people right now in my generation. It's because I drive to survive. Like, I no longer have to explain, you know, the technical bits of it. Because you get to see it in person. You get to see it on TV. And it's so amazing. Like, for example, in a race weekend, we go through such a rollercoaster of emotions. And not just emotions, but of events as well.

8:21You go from, like, practice to quality to the actual race. And you think about all these different variables. you know like when you watch a Formula One race you see the car and the driver but you don't see the teams of people behind it there's about a hundred to two hundred engineers like graduate from Cambridge, Harvard, MIT all different top schools literally thinking alike and like literally like working as one unit to make sure that that car finishes first and so many like decision making comes into making that happen you know you can think of it's like i'd related to playing golf you know with golf you think it's so easy just swing a bat and and like hit the ball right but then there's wind change there's humidity and there's the grass and there's it's it's very similar to racing like you think of for example a safety car happens or it starts raining you know you have to then think of plan a b c d e f g and it's like so many things can go wrong and it's so mathematical that a group of people needs to like work together to make it happen so how much is down to in any sort of racing is down to the sort of um quality of the driver and the quality of the car um this is a it's quite controversial topic i mean obviously to be world champion you need to have both in very rare occasions does a driver become world champion in a not in a not dominant car so you think of drivers like for example obviously now our reigning world champion max for stopping yeah he didn't have the fastest car last season i'd like to say that definitely not You know, I'd like to say McLaren had a brilliant car, but because Max was just so ahead of everyone and is just in a different level of his driving, his capacity.

10:14You know, I feel like to be a great Formula One driver, you need to have the capacity to be able to adapt in any situation, any given situation. And Max did that so brilliantly, even though his car was not the best. so I would love to say that you know the car does 60 % of the job but to finish it it comes down to the driver wow really 100 % and a lot of it is down to risk taking right it's risk it's also calculating risk it's also knowing when to take risk because there are times where it can cost you the whole championship it can cost you a race or it can cost you money as well you know obviously if you crash it's quite expensive but you're 20 years old right yes you have been racing since you were six yes take me all the way back okay i want i want to know and i want every little bit of detail oh my gosh i don't think an hour is enough oh yeah sorry we've already been an hour and now we have to go back no but i do because it's it's you know from growing up in the philippines you know where where racing you know it's it's a as you've sort of spoken about it's kind of like a or a European sport in lots of ways.

11:25Very, very Western sport. You know, we would have a saying in the Philippines that it's, you know, it's for the privileged people, group of people in the world that, you know, I, as a Filipino, unfortunately, you know, we weren't, no one really is wealthy enough because I think that's one thing that you kind of learn as you go along in motorsport is that there's always going to be someone richer than you in the sport. It's hard to compete with someone that has infinite wealth. And that's literally the picture of motorsport. It's like infinite wealth. But break that down for me. What is wealth really helping the sport?

12:01You know, to drive, you've already needed to spend money on a race suit that costs thousands of dollars, a helmet that costs thousands of dollars, your mechanic that you pay for, your engineer that you pay for, a car that you have to rent on a daily basis. It's about, you know, 15, a ballpark of 15 grand, depending on what car it is. And then you consume tires, you consume fuel, you consume, obviously you have to pay for the track. So the mileage on the car, every lap, on average, you spend maybe 500 US dollar per lap. If you add all in the expenses that you'd have to pay for, for literally one lap.

12:43so what you need to do in order to succeed in this industry is you need to find someone who supports you values you who is wealthy who will sponsor you and basically bet that you are going to succeed so they can help pay for your clothes pay for your kit pay for your car pay for your laps pay for your training 100 it racing is like it's like it's like casino it's gambling it is you it is it is portrayed in a very beautiful way because we are I'm very passionate about racing my parents were passionate they were diehard fans of motorsport that's why they gambled everything like my parents you know loaned off our house they sold anything they sold anything that they could sell like I mean I love my parents for it it's like it's the way it's the is the Filipino in them you know they wanted me to have to live my dreams like I always say as a joke but my dad would sell his liver if it meant that I could drive a Formula car like it's just I and I'm so thankful for them and that is the reason why I'm here today it really is because I had parents who really gambled everything just so I could be here so you're six years old right six years old you know when I was six years old I was um eating bark from a tree like I was not thinking about getting a go-kart or a car or thinking about motorsport in any way.

14:10What drove you? What is that moment? It's a unique thing to fall in love with. And sort of generalizing here, but especially as a young girl to fall in love with motorsport. I picked it up from my dad. To me, I'd call him a frustrated racing driver. He dreamt of being a Formula car driver, dreamt of, you know, making it to F1, but didn't have the money nor the talent, maybe. Hope he's not listening. I love you, Dad. But he was so damn passionate. My dad is the only person in the world that can live and breathe motorsport and talk about it 24-7 in the dining table before we sleep, before anything we talk about racing.

14:56And I just saw it so early on in my life. Like my first ever memory of like being like a child was not even like running around and breaking like a leg or breaking an arm or doing something stupid. It's literally being at the track and my dad already got me this tailor-made racing suit and he's put me in a go-kart and I was three years old. So I drove a go-kart for the first time at age three. I don't even think it was safe at that time to be honest. Is that legal? I don't know if that's legal. I don't think so. He just put you in there and just said, go on, let's go. Exactly. It was like, I drove like, I mean, I didn't go very fast.

15:35It was a 60cc powered engine. It's still not that little. It's still, yeah. 60cc, I was driving a 90cc motorbike maybe when I was like six, I remember. Yeah, it has some decent power to it. I remember like spinning a few times, but it's toughened me up, surely. like like my mom always told me that like she was really she was certain that like I was never gonna be feminine because of just how boyish I was growing up like obviously I grew up in a racetrack where it's always been like boys left and right and like I always tried to like fit in obviously so I wouldn't be picked on so I'd like wear a snap bag I'd wear like baggy clothes and my mom was like oh she's so she's so masculine I hope she wears makeup one day and here I am today mom oh my god but that's interesting right so you you fell in love with it from this early age you get into the car you start doing it and then you obviously you've got the you've got a big combination there right which is which happens with anything which is where you love it and you also have a talent for it and and that's like a big thing I think sometimes when parents have a real love for a sport whether it's I don't know running or cricket or football or whatever it is sometimes what happens is is the kids are kind of pushed into it but maybe don't have the love for it you had the love as well as the talent I racing is my first love it's like happy valentine's everyone but uh racing was my first love I it was like you know it's like I am also very passionate about other things like I love drawing and being creative but it's like when I draw I do it when I'm happy I do it when I'm in a state of mind but with tracing I do it sad I do it mad I do it angry it's something that I was so willing to bleed for and it just became it was my whole world like it was my everything like I didn't really know anything else the earliest memory I had as a kid was being in a car my favorite memory it was at the track my favorite moment with me and my dad my mom is at the track or you know racing or competing somewhere it's just everything about me revolved around motorsport and it's it's the best thing about me as well it's the thing I love about me is the fact that I race cars and I go I go fast in circles for a living what um are you an only child?

18:09I've got a brother so there's two of us yeah. Is your brother into racing? My brother isn't into racing unfortunately but so I think that was also one of the earliest struggles that we really had and that's why I always felt guilty about racing because it is such a privileged sport you know and my brother he's always been in and out of hospital since he was a young since we were young to be honest he's got a heart problem and he's also got autism and syndrome so it was so selfish of me to really pursue the sport and every single time I felt guilty of getting in a car and driving and and you know instead of like helping my brother out or being there for my brother or financially you know supporting my brother more but at the same time it inspired me so much that I was like I've got no other option but to succeed because I've got my parents relying on me I've got my brother relying on me you know I have to like support them obviously when I grow older so I think that's what's been always in my key motivation it's like a staying in the Philippines is called like a breadwinner when you're like the breadwinner of the family you have no option you really have to succeed you gotta do whatever it takes that is the hard thing you you've spoken about your parents and your dad you know from what I read and understood is that your dad lived away and he worked three jobs yeah to help pay for everything that went on can you talk about that a little bit yeah honestly i you know i my parents like i always speak so highly of them because you know they made sacrifices that i don't think even i could make honestly it is insane it is out of this world i always say that You know, my mom, she's the strongest woman I know.

20:03She's been my role model because she had to be both a mother and a father to me. She'd had to, you know, do the difficult conversations. She had to drive me everywhere. She had to cook the breakfast and the dinner. She was everything. My mom, to me, when I imagine her, she's like everything to everyone. And obviously, my dad, you know, making the sacrifice of living so far away from his family far away from me and my brother and you know working three jobs like it's it's so funny because he'd obviously work you know seven days a week you know and three jobs and he'd always go straight to western union after a week of work just to send money back home to philippines and make ends meet and to me that's the earliest memory and that's why i've always been i've always been open about talking about the struggles because they were they were very real like you know I've I've heard my parents fight about money and fight about paying off debts and loans you know obviously if a race doesn't go well and I have a crash that's another extra money that they'd have to pay for and you know just all these things that to me as it was my childhood you know other child other other kids' childhood were like running around playing with kids and everything but to To me, it was I faced the difficulties very early on and my parents never hid it from me, which is something I'm so grateful for because it's toughened me up in multiple ways.

21:31Do you think it does? Do you think it toughens you up as a kid where you just, because you realize that life isn't all roses and sunshine? No. And it's not. And it really isn't. It isn't. And it's something I'm so, so grateful for. You know, I didn't have the privilege of believing in fairy tales, so I just had to make my own. And I think because of that, it's allowed me to be so realistic of viewing things and, you know, and being so okay with not being okay and being so okay with failing. I think that's one of the great lessons that I learned from my parents. Obviously, they were my role model.

22:08They were, to me, my pillar. And they taught me so much. And one of the main things that taught me is, you know, failing. it's such a tab it's a it's a very taboo topic to talk about and on social media or even with other people you know like talking about not getting a job or failing an exam or not getting this interview and stuff like that and it's something that is so like taboo to talk about but my parents we tabled everything you know after a bad race or after you know difficult moments or stuff like this we always talked about it and I was always treated as an adult and not because I didn't have a choice but because I needed to from a sport because we couldn't afford to just do it as a hobby we couldn't afford to just go have fun enjoy like for me that wasn't my reality the fruit the truth was that it wasn't just for fun like it wasn't just for fun it was something that it was life it was it was a beginning of a career that i would embark on and my parents told me that if this is something that you're just gonna one one day throw away and one day get over with and you know fall out of love with then we can't take that risk there's so many things here that i want to unpack which i find so interesting right which is um firstly the failing thing is really important i i'm so it's i think that we as as humans we don't realize failure until we as we get a little bit older mostly and your one also which is so interesting is your your failings are so in the present if you failed it sort of it was a rat it was on your family and everything that's a that's a lot of pressure to have because if you crash in the car then that's money that has to be spent yes so you physically literally couldn't go to a race and crash no because if you crashed i couldn't afford we couldn't afford you literally could physically literally couldn't afford to crash and that is something that you know that constantly my parents would tell me like you know use your brain and you know make you know don't take risky moves be smart use your we can't afford to crash you know we can't afford to buy spare parts we can't afford to do this and that and and it's something that I've always been thinking before because like I said my parents were tough on me my parents were very strict first of all because I was that breadwinner of the family you know I had to be even though I wasn't the eldest I had to be the eldest and and and really show my parents that maturity and because I was pursuing something that is you know difficult where failure is so it's so inevitable in racing you lose more than you win I think in any sport um so my parents showed me that when I lost they they would never sugarcoat it they'd never be like Like, you did a great job.

25:17You did your best. You did this. You did that. You know, whenever I'd lose, first of all, they'd be my parents and console me and tell me they love me. And I think that's so important where they still showed me love even though I lost. To make me realize that losing doesn't make them love me less. It just meant that I had to go through failing and had to go through and learn from failure. So they'd love me and then show me, you know, my mistakes. They'd sit me down and tell me things I could have done differently, things I can work on for the next race. And they were very, very practical people.

25:55And I think that's a common mentality you have when you don't have the luxury to mess around. You don't have the luxury to have another shot. My parents would always tell me that I have to drive every race as if it's my last. and then I realized actually as I grew up that that mentality has gotten me so far but it's one of the main things that is holding me back now as I'm older explain that and and that is one of the greatest relation I've had in like the recent years like obviously I was a development driver for McLaren so I've had the amazing opportunity to learn from the best in the sport You know, learning from McLaren, the engineers, everyone, the drivers, Lando, Oscar, people that have made it in the sport.

26:44And, you know, one of the greatest things they taught me is to never fear failing. To me, I was driven because I was afraid to crash, because I was afraid to lose, because my parents, because of my family, because of this and that. So my main motivator, you know, we've got two things that motivate us. it's you know it's it's a it's a fight or flight thing it's the pleasure and fear that sometimes get interlinked and you and to me I wanted to make my parents proud and happy and make myself happy too well obviously winning that I would use fear as a main motivator and as I got older I realized how unhappy that kind of made me wow and like I said it's gotten me so far because of that and now it's only getting me so far because of it as well and one of the main things i've had to learn you know the past years is is actually to really not relate my self-worth to my success yeah i think to me that is will be the biggest learning the biggest takeaway i can ever take in motorsport if i walk away now from racing that is the biggest takeaway that i will bring with me until like the last day, until my last day here in this planet is to really never relate your self-worth to your career.

28:09And to me, because I was so personally invested, because my parents invested their whole being, their whole everything to the sport, that I always felt like I had to as well. I felt like if I lose, I lose my dignity. I lose my worth. I'm worthless in this and that and so on. because that's just how I thought. That's just how I grew up in. That's the environment I grew up in because we couldn't afford it because we weren't fortunate enough. I think you say that because that's, in the least patronizing way, and please don't take it, that's so mature of you because the fear is driving you, right?

28:48The fear is that's what is making you succeed, but that's also what's holding you back, which is such a good point, right? Because actually you have to not fear failing. Yeah. So fear is really great because you're scared of like you don't want to fail there. I want to do so well. So I don't want like exactly. That is so it. Like for me, I succeeded because I didn't want to lose. Poker is an interesting game, right? Because with poker, the way real professional poker players work is that they're not afraid of losing the money. So that's why they win is because they don't actually care about losing the money.

29:23That's just part of it. They actually they let themselves be free. And the more free you can be in the car and not actually fear the failing, the more you take those risks, the more you push it, the more those little hairline things get better, right? A hundred percent. Like you can never perform to your full capabilities and abilities if you've got even a slither of a thought of crashing. You know, that is just, that is the whole concept. How do you block that out? That's the whole concept of racing. I don't know how to explain it even in words, but it's something that you can only experience when you drive.

30:01You're going in speeds of 280 kilometers per hour. You're literally dancing with the car. You're so close to the wall, to the edge, to the grass. You're making micro-corrections. You're dancing. It is. And then all of a sudden you just think of, oh, I'm scared I'm going to crash and I'm scared I'm going to damage the car. You lose it and you're in the wall immediately. and this is something that has happened to me where I lost concentration because I was scared that I was going to crash and then I ended I did end up crashing you sort of manifested itself in the car it is because you you are what you think in the car that's why it is such a mental battle like motorsport is maybe 40 physical and the rest is all mental it's such a mental game it's the pressure it's the fear it's it's the angst it's the anxiety it's you know the people It's the crowd watching you, cheering for you, booing.

30:53It is intense.

30:59When you sit in the car, you said 280, how fast does it go? So I drive a GB3, which can get close to 270, 280 kilometers per hour. Okay, just give it to you. When you sit in the car and you have the helmet on, and you're going for it, right? And I'm going to sit there with you, okay? Okay. How quick are things coming? because when I go on the motorway and I hit that 60 miles an hour, things are coming quick. And I'm constantly thinking about crashing. I'm like, oh, God, please don't crash. Try and explain it to someone who hasn't been there. What is it like? How fast are things coming? How do you see it?

31:36Do you see it in slow motion? How does it work? Honestly, you go so fast that you become the scenery. You join the scenery. I think that's something I can only explain. Like, you know, when you're driving a smooth Sunday drive, calm Sunday drive, you get to enjoy the surroundings, the greens, the scenery. But when you drive a race car, you become the scenery. You join it. It's like you're going so fast that sometimes your eyes can't even keep up. That it's all very instinctual. Like racing is instinct. It's either you have it or you don't. Really? To a certain extent, yes. like that's why there's people that are just so gifted in the sport like generational talent which i'm not i'm not generational i'm not a senna i'm not schumacher no nothing because those people are so gifted in many different ways for example um one of my heroes nikki lauda he's my all-time hero and he's always been known for having it's a quote in the movie so it's a quote it didn't come for me for having a great ass that can feel anything in a car so that's he said that not me and that is such a gift because when you're driving a car and you're experiencing so many different things you're driving fast you're driving a straight line you're cornering you're experiencing laterology you're turning the wheel you're braking you're trailing into the corner apexing you reach the apex the middle point of the corner you start accelerating as you're getting off the brakes and you start unwinding the steering wheel it's everything it's the hand and eye coordination it's your foot it's your fingers you're shifting obviously you're speaking with your engineer on the radio and then you have to feel what's happening in the car like that's why it goes hand in hand a great car can only be developed by a great driver and Nicky Lata was one of those drivers that can feel anything in the car like he could literally be like going into a corner understeer oversteer oh that's because of this that's because of that he was so um he was so meticulous about the finer details about what he felt because he can feel a lot of things like for example you tell me you're going fast right and you're like when you reach like 60 miles per hour you're like okay i need to slow down because the car is like feeling light it's like i'm going fast like your first instinct was to slow down but driver's first instinct is to go even faster so then you kind of have that like thought process and like how do I go faster when you're turning a corner it's like it's so much geometry into it as well there's so much math into it in physics it's actually crazy have you ever had a bike crash I um I've always been fortunate I have somehow I've crashed here and there, but I've never had a bad one.

34:34That knock on wood, yes. Knock on wood. I've never really had a bad one. And people tell me that after you have that one big one, it's kind of like... It changes you. It changes you a little bit. It's like, oh, shoot, I'm not as invincible as I thought I was. I'm not, you know. And that's why it takes, again, that sort of mentality to accept that there is that chance you can crash. but to not you know to not hide away from it but to not let it linger in your mind because then there's a bigger chance that it can happen so there's that fear factor obviously everyone fears of getting injured or crashing or getting hurt right um but you think of racing there's always risk like you um i think one of the biggest crashes was actually in silverstone i think it was Lewis Hamilton oh wait no it was Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen going into cops I think it was like one of like the strongest crash impact in history of Formula 1 and it was like close to like 51G what is that what does that mean to normally like I don't have the capacity to explain how much that is that's G4 so it's like 51G4 yeah it's 51 because you're going Yeah, so basically that's what kills you.

35:57It's not the crash. It's going from 100 to zero that kills you. That rate of deceleration kills you. And that's why you think of airplanes. They don't land and then stop immediately. They have a rolling time of when they just kind of let the car or let the plane keep going and then slowly come to a stop. And you think of crashing, that's when you go from in crazy speeds and then all of a sudden nothing, zero. And so I think that was the strongest impact of a crash written in Formula One. I mean, the mental strain of a race is huge. But there's also the physical. How tiring is it to do a race? Is it tiring?

36:40It is. So I couldn't do it? You're a rugby player. Like, surely you've got... When I was 17. Glad you remembered. I had to say that before I'd say anything else. and be like, no, but it's crazy. But you can see different physiques from different athletes. You know, rugby players, you know this. They're built. They're big, yeah. They're big, they're built, they're strong, they're muscular. They're like, it's this different type of strength compared to racing. Like you'd see F1 drivers. F1 drivers' weight range from like 65 to 79 or 80. Kg. Kg's. So quite light. that's very light that is so light yet so strong um you can see drivers that can lift the same weight as bodybuilders but they're like half their size because we've got so much compact like muscle and lean muscle because we have to be when you're fighting through g-force we get stronger not from lifting we get stronger from driving the car and withstanding the g-force it's It's like, you know, G-Force means it's like you're walking around like a planet with like carrying like maybe a 30 kg backpack.

37:55Like that's what we constantly have to do in the car. It's literally it. So we're being pushed to the side, front and back. And like imagine someone constantly pushing you like this. It's your neck muscles which have to be so strong. Yes, yes. No, you don't. I'm just saying it like that's because I'm just thinking about your head and the way that you spin and just constantly moving. so that means you have to be in the gym every day pretty much i'm at the gym yeah every day obviously if i'm not traveling or driving i i train every day it is it has been i honestly find it p sometimes it's for the body most of the time it's for the mind yeah agreed when i'm in the gym i'm just like i feel so strong i feel like i can conquer anything um so i'm normally at the gym every day um three hours a day so it's been like it's pretty much like a day job for me like training so yeah you're a real inspiration no you are and and i and i i really want you to know that because i because i really do because what your your story and your maturity and your drive it's it's pretty special

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40:47was there ever a point when you nearly gave up racing when you thought it wasn't going to happen yeah oh a hundred percent like i gone through obviously my fair share of you know slump you know i was i was depressed and everything even like were you a hundred percent yeah and this was actually during the pandemic um so how old were you being then i was 16 14 14 i was 14 during the pandemic i was a baby yeah 14 turning 15 um so that was during the pandemic and that was like my last year of junior carding so i should have i got a free drive everything sponsored by factory teams to drive for um to drive for asia because i'd won the junior carding title the previous year so coming into the next year I was supposed to be sponsored everything we wouldn't have to pay a single penny we just would just have to cover flights and accommodation obviously food and then I read on the news that there was this outbreak in China and we'd have to go through quarantine and then obviously I knew to myself that there's a huge chance I might not be raised in this year which that to me is so detrimental in my career if I miss a year I might never get back at it again because we didn't have the money it wasn't like we would just you know it wasn't like my dad would just swipe a credit card and I can race again you know that took months and days of conversation of talking to people begging them if they could sponsor me you know I was and then all that down drain because of the pandemic something completely out of my control and out of anyone's control you know I'm still fortunate enough that I didn't lose any of my close relatives to you know to COVID or to during the pandemic so I still classify myself as very lucky but at the same time I had so much hatred during that period you know that I was telling myself that I did everything I could I drove I smiled I I talked I did everything I could to to make it and still it was taken away for me just like that and i couldn't even fight i had like i had no fight in me and so obviously i went through a huge phase of depression and denial of questioning i don't deserve it i'm so unlucky you know if i was if i was you know if i came from a wealthy family this wouldn't have happened if i was in europe then it would have been okay and all those things and that's hard to accept as a kid as well it is it's hard especially at that time i was i was 15 14 15 i obviously i i speak now with so much knowledge and i look upon i look back on myself with you know with a smile knowing that oh she didn't know it she didn't know it then but at that time i took it to heart i was like this is it um i'm this is it is the end of the line for me i'm i it's all over to the point where you know I spoke to my parents told them that I want to stop you know trying for it even if next year the pandemic you know eases off and we can go back racing and I don't want to try anymore I've lost that fight that fight in me I told my parents that so I was retired for for three years I wasn't racing and yeah I wasn't racing for for two and a half years um I was focusing on studies i was graduating i you know was going into college i that's why i actually took um stem i took science technology engineering and mathematics because i wanted to be an engineer and hopefully one day be at the track not as a driver but maybe an engineer that's amazing yeah i was like full-on i was working i was like studying making sure that i could get into the top uni like I was trying to go for UC Berkeley in America on a scholarship yeah on a scholarship because they're expensive yeah very expensive um so I did I had the grades for it and everything and then one day I just woke up and I had my silver lining I had my second chance I you know got a call from my manager now Darryl O 'Young Darryl is an amazing racing driver one of like the most decorated racing driver in Asia.

45:15He's won multiple championships all over Europe. He's from Hong Kong. And he actually spotted me when I was 13 and I had won this race and he came up to me and he was like, you've got so much potential, you got to keep pushing. And then when you make that transition from carding to formula cars, give me a call. Obviously, I didn't give him a call because I didn't make that transition. The pandemic happened. But he sent me a messenger, a chat on messenger asking me how I was. I responded. I was, I'm good. I'm studying now. And he was really shocked that, you know, he asked why I wasn't racing. And I was told him that because we never had any money to begin with and we definitely don't have now.

45:56And so that conversation led to, you know, a call, a meeting. And that also led to, you know, Daryl managing me. So he then became mentor and my manager and he was the first person that actually funded my racing career he from his own pocket which would have been how much do you think I have no idea but definitely close to at that time it was a lot like obviously it was about 80 to 100 grand to initially initially start off my formula car career out of his own pocket he he paid me I still I'm still I still get so emotional when I speak about it but you know obviously we couldn't afford it I couldn't even afford to graduate because I was so behind on my tuition on school in school and everything so Daryl out of his own pocket paid for my tuition so I could graduate he paid for my braces so I could take them off because we put them on for loan it was a loan but unfortunately we couldn't pay for it so I couldn't get it out so I've had it on long for for an excess of three years because he couldn't afford to get it taken out um so he paid for that you know he paid for my medical so i could get a racing license he paid for my ticket so i could fly to america and drive you know and practice and test formula cars so he did everything he was the one that initially funded my racing career and now we're here today that's incredible i was very fortunate he he is my lucky star and And today, you know, he's like, he's my strongest ally.

47:37He's my strongest pillar and he's my mentor. Everything I know now, I got from him, the mentality, the passion. And obviously, because I couldn't afford to, you know, to spend money in Dres, I had to build my own brand. So I could then earn money from working with brands and sponsorship and endorsement deals. so I can fund my career and fund myself. That's why I made choice of leaving home at the age of 16, turning 17, to leave home and be financially independent and not ask money from my parents because I wanted to take that burden away from them. And I've been living, I've been working hard, doing 10 interviews a day, working with different brands so I could fund my life and my career.

48:31I want to high five you that is that is amazing that's an incredible story

48:41is that mentality from your parents and from you is that a cultural thing or is it a unique thing 100 it is it's so cultural like obviously now I live in UK I'm surrounded by people that didn't grow up in the same environment as I did I didn't grow up in the same culture as I did which is so shocking. Is it really? Yes. Don't be afraid to say it. Explain it to me because I'm super interested in this. Let me explain why. Okay, I recently got married, right? Congrats. Thank you so much. It was like doing prom. I had flowers. I said, well, let's get married. But what I didn't think about when you get married, right, is that I meet this person.

49:25We fall in love. Oh, my God, that's amazing. let's go on and live together happily ever after but two families come together and two families have two different ways of living the way that we celebrated Christmas or the way that we went on holidays or the way that we book restaurants like from the small to the big and for me that was a huge shock like oh wait you don't do it the same that I did it my wife is half Arabic as well so there's lots of culture things going on very different right so explain that more to me in the UK you were shocked at the mentality of people or go deep, try and go deeper and don't feel like you're going to offend me or anyone at all.

50:01So there's actually this amazing analogy that my sport psychologist told me. It's like, it's not related to racing at all, but it was just a way for her showing me that differences in people. So imagine, obviously, you got married, like your partner and you, you both grew up in different houses and you come together thinking that, oh, I want her to live at my house. and she's thinking that no I want him to live at my house so you come together in two different you know lives and forms and shapes and everything you come together at one and thinking that I want him to come to mine no he wants to come to his and stuff like that but what you should actually be doing is take the bricks of the houses that you've all built from different experiences in life in different forms and take the good ones good bits from one or the other and build your own house together.

50:52And that is for me, the perfect harmony in life. When you pick up all the good bricks and build a perfect house that you live in and you grow old in and you make families and good memories in. And that analogy translates so much in your career, in life, in everything. You don't come to your office showing all the bad bricks and showing all the bad habits. You come there and you put your best foot forward and so there's everyone else in racing motorsport you know you work with so many different people that come from different forms of life you know experienced younger generation or you know coming from multi backgrounds or not engineer or or it's so many different things and you think of like engineering a car and you're like i can't do all of it i can't all my good bricks is not enough to build that house so you ask bricks from other people you ask help from different people that have the tools that can help you be the best driver or build the best car for you to win and that for me was the analogy that made me understood why the difference is is so important in your life you know they always say you have different things for for different reasons you've got friends that are good for different reasons some good for life some good for health some good for partying some good for laughs um and that is also for racing so for me i've just you know when i came here obviously i wanted people to be the same as i was you know like i'm asian i i love rice i love you know i love eating heavy breakfast lunch and dinner and i expected my friends to do the same but no they have they do brunch instead of instead of heavy breakfast so I was like what you don't you don't eat fish for breakfast what and that shocked me because they were like oh let's go grab this cotton and and tea for for for brunch and I was like I sign up where's the rest of it um and and obviously those are just the cultural differences that I've had to bend and and realize that oh it's because we didn't grow up in the same house we didn't grow up with the same bricks that makes us different that is beautiful by the way i love that analogy i i love that analogy of bringing each brick from different places and building a house and and that is literally how you build the best car with the best team it's not the one it's it's not the one with the best driver it's not the one with the best engineer it's not the one with the best mechanic because one person isn't enough it's when you bring the best out of everyone to give you the best opportunity and to be the best chances and and it then makes it then makes sense in in sport and everything and why how come you know athletes are so detriment like athletes perform so detrimental to their environment you see you know you you read about athletes or in basketball and football you know when they struggle with their coaches or they They struggle to build a relationship with their teammates and why it's so detrimental.

54:03And it is like that in life as well. So, yeah. How do you build a sense of home when you're so far away? Oh, gosh. I try to bring as many bricks from the Philippines to the UK as much as I can. So when did you come to the UK? I moved here about a year ago. So I live here now. Was that a big move? Oh, gosh. I wish I could bring the sun with me, but that's something I couldn't do. You can't do that. No, no, no. we don't like the sun here we just like it we like it to rain and be miserable and we like to talk about it that to me was the difficult the the most difficult thing about moving to UK you know it's because to me I was like I need to go to a place where I can easily blend in like you know UK is perfect everyone speaks English it'll be easy and then I was like people speak English but I still don't understand it.

54:54So it's not as easy as I thought it was. And then... Yeah, I can imagine. Because it's funny, like, I work with my, obviously a British team now. Yeah. Some of them from Scotland, some of them are from the North, some of them are from, I forget what it's called. Wales. Yeah, Wales is also really difficult. And then there's this accent. Essex? Nope, it's called the Brummie accent. From Birmingham. From Birmingham. Yeah, yeah, yeah. and I would still have to constantly repeat myself and I keep telling myself I might as well have just lived in Italy or something it's hard it is very difficult and I always had like you know an abundant amount of sunlight vitamin d and then I come to UK and I don't see the sun for a month and I'm like I don't even want to get out of bed I'm I'm frowning and I get a message from my from my engine from my manager actually i obviously posted a story probably i think i posted a selfie and then my manager messaged me and be like what happened to smiley face why are you why are you all grumpy now i now live in the uk i now live in the uk and welcome and you're welcome so that's been my excuse now um so yeah it definitely affects people like in the philippines everyone's like smiling like that's one of the best things i like about myself i'm very i'm very high energy you have this great energy so coming here and then seeing the the mentality of people your age it must be different right it is it is honestly one of like the most like not shocking i wouldn't say shocking but like the biggest thing that like made me realize the differences in people like obviously my generation that's one thing but one of and but the other is when i first moved to UK I obviously had to go buy my stuff I had to go buy bed sheets furnitures everything and obviously it was about 5 p.m and I was at the mall and like literally an hour later they told me that the mall's closing I was like what do you mean it's closing it's only 7 p.m it's it's the mall it can't be closing and they told me that oh yeah we close the mall here around 8 p.m because people got to go back home and i was like are you serious what do you mean i'm not done i thought it was open till late like because that in the philippines in the philippines or even in asia we're open 24 7 we're no well we're open all days of the week from literally we're open from 9 a.m till like 12 p.m or 12 a.m or like 11 p.m wow people work till midnight in the philippines And that is just a common like work culture.

57:38So if you had to put this in order, maybe this is tricky, between sort of like friends, family, work, what order would that go in instead of Asian culture? Work. Work is the top? Work, because if you work well and you can provide well, that translates to prioritizing your family. Wow. So that's the mentality in the Philippines. You know, our way of giving love isn't by saying, I love you. My parents, I could count a handful of times when my parents told me they love me. Get out of here. Well, maybe a bit more handful and maybe a toe or something. But like, it's just not, it's very uncommon to say, I love you.

58:21It is. To me, it's like nearly like a reward. My parents told me they love me. is like if I get a good grades, if I get a good raise, they maybe tell me I love you, you did a good job. But you know, my parents, their way of showing love is, you know, providing. Like we are such providers, you know, my parents are such providers to the extent that they would save up every single penny to give me that go-kart or to give me a new helmet so I wouldn't feel left behind with the other drivers, you know, that's their way of showing love. And it's never by words or by actions. It's being a provider. And I think that is the main difference here in the UK.

59:02I see kids that still live with their parents even when they're like 22, 23, and it's quite common. It's like 30-something and above. I had a friend who's still living with a parent who's 33. I mean, that is very uncommon in the Philippines. That's the polite way of putting it. I like it. Is it really? It is. Would that be seen as someone who is failing? You can be honest, it's okay. Obviously, we've got different... Different bricks. Yeah, different bricks, obviously. Some have it tougher, some have it easier. We've also got different definitions of failing, but I think that would definitely be a definition of failing.

59:48And because we are such providers, that my parents are such providers that they expect me to provide for them when they're older, and that's normal. like they've done so much for me that i owe it so much to them to give them a comfortable life like that's why i work hard so i can you know it's like one of the greatest pleasure in life was actually when i flew my parents to uk for the first time um first time they ever came to uk i brought i flew them from philippines to london for new year's and they obviously i you know took them out nice dinners and stuff like that and and to them it was everything it is so much like they carry that experience with so much pride they might my mom goes back home to philippines telling everyone like oh my my bianca brought me to the restaurant and it's so and then with the philippine accent and everything and to them that's like that's love and it's just yeah it's just differences it's a different culture i cannot wait to see you in the f1 it's gonna be it's gonna be amazing you're amazing you truly are listen i like to end the conversation with 10 questions or eight questions are you ready for this gosh are you ready for this quick fire or whatever you want you ready for it i can't do quick things i okay you can apart from racing are you ready for this yes what's a saying or phrase that always makes you smile or cheers you up oh gosh why are we starting with a tough one already i don't know that is actually really tough is there anything that your parents say or your dad says to you your mom or that makes me smile yeah um it's not something that makes me smile but like okay it does make you smile it's not a saying though it's like um someone out okay i'm gonna give a story behind it because i can't do quick fire things so when i was young my parents would always buy me things that are always one size bigger like for shoes and clothes so i just walk around like around like the house around like places with like big shoes because my parents would always want me to be like oh so you can wear them next year so i think that's something that still makes me smile like i've grown into the habit of like wearing bigger things so I can wear them next year and that makes me smile I love that that's great um best compliment anyone's ever given you my skin color people people like my my tan and that's one of the main things I love about myself what scares you most about yourself my habit of being of being obsessive over things like when I when someone tells me I can't do it I obsess over it until I become good.

1:02:35Like golf. I'm literally like sending my videos to chat GPT so he can analyze my swing. Are you serious? You can do that? I'm going to do that. What? Are you serious you're doing that? I'm like life hacks. Are you serious? What? Yes. You literally record like your swing and chat GPT will literally give you like things to work on and like exercises, how to be better and like your grip and stuff like that. I know what I'm doing this evening. I can't wait. That's amazing. Yes. When was the last time you cried? I don't know, like a few days ago. Just happy tears sometimes. It doesn't have to be sad.

1:03:10Crying doesn't have to be sad. Crying doesn't have to be sad. What's something you can't let go of? Something I can't let go of? My habit of eating rice and fish in the morning. I'm sorry. I'll brush my teeth. That's so good. I can't. What's your guilty pleasure? Snacking on shrimps. Snacking on shrimps? I always have a pack of shrimps from Waitrose and stuff. Like this ready-to-eat prawns. And you just eat them with no sauce? Nothing. Just be like, snack. Those are your snack in your bag? Warm prawns? Okay. All right. What turns you off? People that aren't able to put themselves in other people's shoes.

1:03:56What makes you excited? What turns you on? What makes you love life? Planning. like having something to look forward to what do you like most about yourself my smile maybe yeah i like smiling and last one who's your favorite formula one driver oh gosh who wrote these um current or anyone you can say that that make it easier for you uh i mean i i know this easily it's nikki lauda he's my favorite but probably currently on the grid um i'd have to say oscar piastri yeah he's he's such a great driver and such a amazing human being thank you're amazing thank you so much that has been incredible i really appreciate it you've been amazing i enjoyed that that was amazing

1:04:50what an amazing person that was so great so i've listened to that with you guys enjoyed it? I loved it yeah she's incredible. She's amazing she's very amazing and yeah just a complete force. Yeah very inspiring but very like infectious and kind of magnetic her energy is like so bright. And also mark my words you'll see her in the Formula 1 soon mark my words. We hope you enjoyed the episode guys. If you would like to let us know what you think of the guests, what guests you would like on the episode, what you like and don't like about it please do. Send us an email greatcompany at jamppodproductions.co.uk you can slide into our DMs at greatcompanypodcast and we're going to see you next week for another episode of Great Company

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