Tatiana Calderón: 'Motor racing is still a sexist sport'

To Tatiana Calderon Speed ​​runs through her veins, she is passionate about the motor world. That flame was lit when she was 9 years old, when, due to things in life, she drove her first kart, that's when she realized that she was going to be a racing driver.

At the age of 12 she began to write her own story, being the first woman to win a kart championship in Colombia. She did it in the pre-junior Easy Kart category, a true pioneer and an example for those who fight for their dreams in a profession run by men. Little by little she was climbing and overcoming challenges. In 2018 she cherished her dream of racing in Formula 1, the Colombian became the first Latin American woman to drive a car in the highest category of motorsports, she did so at the Autódromo de los Hermanos Rodríguez (Mexico) when she was a test driver. of the Sauber team (today Alfa Romeo Racing). However, the possibility of having a position never occurred and that illusion fades with the passage of time.

She is far from being able to follow in the pilot's footsteps Maria Teressa de Fillippis, the first woman to sit behind a wheel and drive an F1 at more than 300 kilometers per hour, or the Italian Lella Lombardi, the only woman to score points, she did so on the Montjuïc street circuit in the Spanish Grand Prix 1975. Today she is 30 years old and has a long career in motorsports, she has competed in Formula 2, being the first woman to do so, in the Europeans Le Mans Series.

In the run-up to her return to the IMSA championship, at the legendary American circuit, Daytona International Speedway, next Sunday, the Bogotá driver of the Telmex Claro team spoke with EL TIEMPO about that distant possibility of having a guaranteed seat and fighting hand-to-hand. hand in hand with the best racers in the world in Formula 1, a category dominated by men.

What is your current goal?
It's getting back to Indy Car in the United States, I feel like I still have it because I only had six races after the team's main sponsor stopped paying in 2022, that's what I would have liked to do the most. Without a doubt also the resistance. Now this year I will be competing in the 24 Hours of Daytona, I would love to do the 24 Hours of Le Mans again one day too, but let's say that the dream-goal is to return to Indy Car.

What was that experience like driving a Formula 1?
I was very lucky to have that opportunity, to be in one of the top categories of world motorsport, to have competed in circuits like Monaco just before Formula 1, to be that first woman representing gender in Formula 2, it is something very special. I also learned a lot from all the situations I had to experience there and from being able to demonstrate that I can drive a Formula 1 at a very high level. I think it has also helped me a lot in my career to have all these types of experiences in the highest categories.

Is it possible to see a woman in Formula 1 soon?
I would like to say yes, but in the end I think the question is more like: when would Formula 1 be willing to give a woman a chance, rather than when is a woman going to be ready for F1? We have the capacity to be at the highest level, but they have to give us that opportunity to be able to access Formula 1, where you have to have a super license that is earned with good results in Formula 3, in Formula 2, and if not They give us the opportunity to compete in the best teams, this is not going to happen.

Does Formula 1 need changes?
Yeah! I feel that changes are missing, we need to start having more data from women so that they can tune up the car, because we have a way of driving, we have to train in a different way, so they need a lot of data for that. You also need a lot of sponsorship to have the same opportunities as men to access good equipment.
Obviously, managers must have an open mind and want to give that opportunity that has not been given until now, but it is not because of a lack of capacity, but precisely I believe that those generations that come from behind have a more open mind and hopefully they will begin to see that change in perspective and inclusion of women.
I was a test driver for four years for the Alfa Romeo Racing team in Formula 1, I did four Formula 1 tests, I did very well in all of them. All the engineers wanted to give me a chance, but perhaps the managers are always a little afraid, in the end it is a difficult decision for them to make, because they feel that they are risking a lot if they hire a woman. What you need is someone who really believes and bets on you. No matter how fast I went in the tests, there was always a but. There is still that lack of credibility in a woman because no one has been in Formula 1 in more than 45 years, they need that vote of confidence and I hope someone arrives who has the pants to give that opportunity.

(You may be interested in: Colombia National Team: European rivals confirmed for friendlies and game venues)

Why don't managers take the risk for a pilot?
I don't know what the impediment really would be, it would be a great opportunity for any team to put a woman in a Formula 1 car, half of the world is women and for them to start watching the races would be a great opportunity. Sometimes I don't understand that blockage that exists perhaps from certain generations. Unfortunately, motorsport is not just about how fast you are as a driver, the commercial part, the political part play a very important role and that other part is needed to be able to access Formula 1.

Why do you say it has been difficult to find sponsorships?
Unfortunately, it is still a very sexist sport and because I am a woman it has not been easy at all. You would think it would be easier to get the attention of sponsors as a woman, but unfortunately that has not been the case. I think that every time we have been, let's say a little hung up, she has been the only woman on the grill who has always had that kind of difficulty. A lot of credibility is needed in women in this sport, in many others as well. It is sometimes difficult to understand that in motorsport it is one of the few sports where we compete hand in hand (with men), there is no separate league that justifies giving you less sponsorship than a man, so it has been very difficult. in that sense. There is still a lot of work to do.

If you had a car up to the task, could you compete head to head with the current Formula 1 drivers?
Definitely. If we are given the tools we need, there is no reason why we can't be as competitive as a man. Surely we will have different strengths and different weaknesses, but in the end the beauty of this sport is that sometimes we see how three different teams can be in a tenth of a second having totally different cars, that is why as women we can do very well in this sport.

Do you feel like a flag for motorsports not only for women, but for Latin America?
I didn't start believing that I could do it, but I think that little by little I am passionate about being able to open doors for more women in our region, for more women in general in the world, in this sport, to demonstrate that if they give us the opportunities and taken into account in many areas of sport, we can do it. As women we are different, not better, not worse, different, and that is why we need different things when it comes to performing at one hundred percent. In a racing car, a woman and a man are going to spend time in a different way.

HAROLD YEPES
Editor of EL TIEMPO
@@20_HART

More sports news