McLaren Formula 1 junior driver Bianca Bustamante has apologised for liking an ableist post on social media, directed at Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll. The post in question was posted to X - formerly known as Twitter - and called F1 Academy racer Bustamante 'over-rated' with a caption that aimed an ableist slur against Stroll. It has since been deleted after the like was discovered, leading to a social media backlash against the 18-year-old, who joined McLaren's academy earlier this year. Bustamante has since offered an apology for her actions on her X account. "I truly deeply apologise," she wrote. "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 with autism. "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 [sic]. "To Lance Stroll, any anyone that this has offended, I sincerely apologise 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." Bustamante then uploaded a video of her and her brother to her 57,000 X and 1.1 million Instagram followers.
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I rarely share so much about my personal life. But if there’s one thing that kept me going, it was my brother... And truly I’m sorry to the whole Autism community. pic.twitter.com/s3gwnnTgym — Bianca Bustamante (@racerbia) December 27, 2023
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