Tatiana Calderón: A story full of achievements

Onofre Zambrano November 7, 2018

347 3 minutes read

Tatiana Calderón became the first Latin American woman to drive in Formula One

At the Hermanos Rodríguez Autódromo in Mexico City, Tatiana Calderón made history. The Colombian racing driver filled Colombia and Latin America with pride by driving a car of the Sauber team. The reason is that this is how she became the first woman in this region to drive a Formula One racing car. Coincidentally the same weekend that Lewis Hamilton reached his fifth title in the highest category of motorsport.

Leer en español: Tatiana Calderón: una historia llena de logros

Almost two years accumulated Calderón testing the simulator. However, as Semana magazine explains, this is very different from getting IGNORE INTO a $ 15 million dollar and 1,500 pounds racing car. In fact, Tatiana herself confessed that she felt the "high pulsations", according to the same media.

"The first time I accelerated, I felt like it was a videogame of how fast everything happens (…) You cannot describe what it feels like, there are no words for something like that, the speed that you achieve is incredible," she declared.

A few months ago, Tatiana already imagined what it would be like to drive an F1 racing car and dreamed of that moment. "I've talked to some drivers who have tried F1 racing cars and they say that nothing can prepare you! You cannot imagine the forces that pass through your body and the speeds that the car currently has in the corners, the braking, is incredible. I hope I can feel that this year," she told Motorsport.

Tatiana Calderón: a history of achievements

The story of Tatiana began six years ago, back in 2012 when she stepped IGNORE INTO the racing cars, participating in the Star Mazda championship in the United States. In this, she got two podiums and was in sixth place in the overall score, according to El Espectador.

Then in 2013, the same media continues, she was the first woman to get on the podium of the "British International Formula 3, with a third place in the final date" at the Nürburgring circuit, Germany. In 2014 she won in the Florida Winter Series of the Ferrari Driver Academy, in Sebring, United States.

Her development has been progressive. In 2015 she was runner-up in the MRF Challenge, with one victory and five podiums during the season.

So talented is Tatiana that that same year, Susie Wolff proposed to the Latin American be her manager to guide her towards the highest category, ACC explains. Then, her performance allowed her to run in the GP3 Series with the DAMS team, as well as being selected as a Sauber F1 Team development driver in 2016.

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Other women pilots

According to historical archives reflected by the same media, the first woman who competed in a motor racing race was Hélène van Zuylen. She was a French athlete who was awarded to complete the Paris-Amsterdam-Paris race in 1898. Another pioneer was Camille du Gast, also French, who participated in the Paris-Berlin race of 1901.

But already speaking of more modern competitions, the first one is the Italian Maria Teresa de Filippis, who participated in three races in 1958, aboard a Maserati 250F. These are the other women who appeared after her, according to El Espectador:

In 1974, the Italian María Grazia Lombardi
The English Pole Divina Gallica, between 1976 and 1978
The South African Desiré Wilson with the Williams team, in 1980
In 1992, the Italian Giovanna Amati.
In 2002, the American Sarah Fischer
In 2008 the Swiss Natacha Gachnang of 21 years, sponsored by the former world champion Niki Lauda

However, in the history of F1, there have only been four women as test pilots. They are "the Spanish María de Villota, hired in 2012 by Marussia; the Swiss Simona de Silvestro, in 2014 with Sauber, the British Susie Wolff, between 2012 and 2015 with Williams, and the Spanish Carmen Jordá, currently at the service of Lotus ", explains the same media.

Wolff is the most recognized woman in the motorsport world, who at the time was the only woman in Formula One also as a test driver for the Williams team. In 2013, she became the first of her kind to compete in an official session, 21 years after the Italian Giovanna Amati did it.

Wolff is an activist and firmly believes that very soon a woman will be able to compete with racing drivers such as Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel, ACC finished.

LatinAmerican Post | Onofre Zambrano

Translated from "Tatiana Calderón: una historia llena de logros"

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