Filipina racer Bianca Bustamante found herself in a middle of controversy before the year ends involving another driver over an insensitive post she ‘accidentally’ liked on X. 

The 18-year-old McLaren development driver recently trended on the said site following an ableist post she liked essentially saying Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll is an "autistic who bought his way into the sport."

The younger Stroll’s father Lawrence Stroll is a Canadian billionaire who owns the team he currently drives for in Formula 1. 

Bustamante’s slip up didn’t go unnoticed by the eagle-eyed racing community as she was eventually called out for it, prompting an apology she issued on Thursday, Dec. 28. 

“I truly deeply apologise. I own up to my mistakes having liked an inappropriate tweet, I can't believe all the people whom I have hurt. I was scrolling and I accidentally liked the tweet, once I discovered that later on, I immediately unliked it. As someone who grew up with my only brother having Autism, I completely understand the challenges faced by anyone that is Autistic. I would never in a million years support Ableism at any level, let alone support an Ableist tweet against a fellow driver. I take the topic of Autism very seriously and very personal,” the post read.  

“To Lance Stroll and anyone that this has offended, I sincerely apologize as these types of comments is something I do not support. I hope the racing community understands this is 100% an accident, my sincerest apologies for this big mistake,” it continued.  

It all started when fans caught her former PREMA teammate Marta García about a controversial TikTok post she made alluding to a driver ‘who is always [making] an excuse of why she wasn’t the fastest instead of facing the reality’, which many believed was about Bustamante.

A few days later, the Filipina cleared the air with a photo of herself with García and their other teammate Chloe Chong, seemingly laughing off the issue. 

She then ended up liking tweets defending her from the controversy, including the one involving Stroll. 

Bustamante finished seventh in the drivers standings of the inaugural F1 Academy season behind eventual champion García of Spain. 

She claimed her maiden career win in Valencia, Spain to finish with overall four podiums in the all-female competition. 

In October, she joined McLaren and will be racing under ART Grand Prix in the upcoming season.