Calderon hopes to prove women belong in F1 during test

Tatiana Calderon will drive in her first official F1 test with Sauber in Mexico this week and she hopes that she can show why female drivers belong in the sport during the day.

The test at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is mainly for promotional work, with running limited to 100km per day, or 23 laps of the circuit.

Colombian Calderon has been Sauber’s test driver for the 2018 season and finally gets her first go at a real test this week.

She has been racing in GP3 with Jenzer Motorsport this season, scoring nine points in the process, putting her in P16 with one event and two races remaining.

The 25 year-old believes that the test will give her the perfect chance to show how women deserve more respect in the world of motorsport: “Obviously it is a promotional thing, it’s always nice as my home country is like a few miles away, but I think to have a first taste to get used to the steering wheel, to work with the guys and to see how I handle the pressure I think as well will be good,” Calderon said.

“I’m aware that there are a lot of people that doubt if we are physically ready or mentally prepared to drive a F1 car, and this is a way of proving that as well. It has I think many purposes.”

Calderon also praised the new W Series for women only that is being launched soon, but did mention that she believes women should not need this platform to compete.

She added: “Obviously this new series is happening, and I think it will be helpful for some of the girls who are struggling with budget or that want to start to prepare to get competitive against the boys.

“In that sense, we need to thank also the organisation, if they’re doing the effort you can’t really be against somebody who wants to promote motorsport and female participation.

“But my view is that we can compete in equal terms, and anyway, if you want to reach Formula 1, you have to go through Formula 2.”