The Sauber team have announced today they have signed GP3 hopeful Tatiana Calderon to be their development driver for 2017.
Calderon, who is 23 years old and from Colombia, has been racing competitively in single seater series since she move to Europe in 2012. Her career highlight so far was finishing second in the MRF Challenge Formula 2000 series in 2015. In 2016 Calderon moved on to the GP3 Series with the Arden International race team, scoring points in two races and finishing 21st in the drivers championship. Alongside her work as Sauber development driver she will continue to race in GP3 for 2017 with the Dams Racing team. She will also take on a role as a Dare To Be Different Ambassador, a motorsport initiative set up by ex Williams development driver Susie Wolff that aims to get more females into racing. The Sauber F1 Team have already said they will provide Calderon with an extensive young driver development programme, which is likely to include simulator training sessions and coaching with the engineers on-site during some of the Grand Prix weekends at their factory in Switzerland.
Team Principal of Sauber Monisha Kaltenborn was quick to welcome Calderon to the team and highlight the opportunities available to her by working with them. “We are very pleased to welcome Tatiana onboard to the Sauber family. We have the opportunities and facilities to provide Tatiana a professional platform on which she can further develop her knowledge and skills in racing. I am convinced that we can provide her lots of in-depth motorsport know-how for her future career in racing.”
“I am extremely happy to join the Sauber F1 Team as a development driver. I want to thank Monisha Kaltenborn and the whole team for giving me this opportunity,” Calderon said in a statement from the team today. “I am grateful to be working with such an established Formula 1 team and to benefit from its long experience. I look forward to working with the team and learning as much as I can. It is a step closer to my dream – one day competing in Formula 1!”
Feature Image Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2014_F3_HockenheimringII_Tatiana_Calderon_by_2eight_8SC1510.jpg
