Sauber F1 announces a female test driver for its team
Tatiana Calderon, 25, will take her place behind the wheel for Sauber during an upcoming filming day.
Tatiana Calderon has wanted to compete among the best racecar drivers since she was a young girl and says while her mother would have preferred that she choose a sport like tennis, her father was very supportive of her dreams.
Now, at the age of 25, she is one step closer to that dream as she prepares to take her place behind the wheel for a Formula 1 test drive with Swiss team Sauber.
Calderon says she has always measuring herself against the best people in the sport and, while she understands that women often have to train longer to build enough muscle to compete on the same level as men, she does not believe that women should be held back. This is why Calderon is also not enthusiastic about the proposal of the W Series (an all-female racing series) that made headlines in the racing world.
The W Series uses F3 vehicles, while Calderon would prefer to push herself to master F2 and compete on the same level as other drivers.
The test drive at Mexico City's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez will last 100 kilometres and will only be for filming purposes. Calderon, who is Colombian, explained how special the moment is for her: "As a Latin American driver, there could not be a more special place for me to make my debut behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car."
It is the first time since 2014 that a woman will drive an F1 vehicle in an official capacity. The last person to take up the position was Susie Wolff during the British Grand Prix.