Recently in the world of four-wheel racing, a new history has been printed.It is Tatiana (Tata) Calderon, a beautiful woman from Colombia who has just signed a contract with one of the Formula 2 teams to compete in the 2019 season.
This event made her the first woman to compete in Formula 2 (F2), a car racing competition located one level below Formula 1 (F1). Speaking of dreams, the struggle of 25-year-old women in the world of racing is indeed a thumbs up.
Not only the challenge of death on the track, Tata must accept contempt from a handful of people who say if women will never be able to compete with men on the racing track. “It is not true if there is a saying that women cannot compete with men on the racing track. With hard work and dedication, women are able to excel in the racing world, “Tata Calderon was quoted as saying by Femaleinmotorsport.com.
All negative comments received by Tata are transformed into motivations to perform better. The result, Tata managed to shake the world of motorsport lovers by standing on the podium while participating in the Formula V8 championship, last November 2017.
The peak, this year Tata is one step further to realize the dream of competing in F1 by competing in F2. In the competition, Tata will compete with talented young riders who in fact are projected to become F1 riders, including Mick Schumacher (Ferrari), Nicholas Latifi (Williams), and Sean Gelael (Scuderia Toro Rosso) from Indonesia.
For the record, women’s progress in F1 racing is indeed nothing fancy. Of the four women who had tasted the fierce F1 cars, only Lella Lombardi (1974) had scored points.
Hence, no wonder, many are pessimistic about women’s participation in F1 racing class. But even so, in the midst of the various oblique comments, Tata’s spirit did not fade. It is through this struggle that makes her trusted by the F1 team, Sauber, to become the test driver (developer rider) in the 2018 season.
In F1, being a test driver is a trust that no one can easily get. The task is heavy, it must provide accurate data to the team regarding the development of the car.
Now, challenges and obstacles await Tata in realizing its dreams, especially to compete in F1 is not as easy as before. Because the World Racing Federation (FIA), has made regulations so that not just anyone can be in F1.
One of the conditions is the driver must be finish the top three in the F2 final standings to get 40 SL points (super license). Not to mention, the characteristics of the current F1 car are increasingly complicated and of course the speed when on the track is faster.
But once again, challenges and obstacles did not make Tata Calderon’s guts faint. In fact, she wanted to motivate women to dare to dream higher.
-RDS-
