Guest Column: Tatiana Calderon

*As part of a new regular column in the aftermath of each round, one of motorsport’s future stars will take you beyond the paddock and delve into their race weekend. One good point, one bad point and everything in between.

Tatiana Calderon of BWT Arden is up first. The Colombian dives into the improvements that her team made in Budapest, which she hopes will pay dividends when racing returns. The Alfa Romeo linked racer also discusses her pride at welcoming Supersport 300 World Champion, Ana Carrasco onto the grid, who joined her as a guest in Round 8. *

One Good Point – Confidence gained

In terms of results, it doesn’t really look as positive as this weekend actually was. I think that we have been struggling a lot - both in qualifying and in the races - in the last couple of rounds to find the grip and I was just not confident when driving. It definitely changed this weekend and I think that with the team, we have found a way to make those tyres work a bit better for us and I was definitely feeling much more confident.

We had good race pace in both races, so I think that is encouraging looking ahead to Spa and Monza in a few weeks’ time, which are two of my favourite circuits. I hope that we have found that way to improve this weekend and that we can show and perform from now on.

Another positive as well - although the final result didn’t show it - was my first experience of driving a Formula 2 car in the rain in Qualifying. I think that we were looking quite okay in the first part of the session, but then I struggled a little bit more in the second half. I think that it is a positive experience though and should really help in places like Spa, where you rarely have a weekend without rain. Monza too in September, where we have had a lot of storms in the past - particularly in the last couple of years. So, this experience could be really helpful for the future.

One Bad Point – Qualifying

Qualifying was frustrating because I think that we actually went onto the second set of tyres a little bit late. We made a few changes in between that didn't really quite work out for us, so I was not really able to improve on the end of qualifying, when the track was at its best.

I made a couple of mistakes as well on my side, so I was a bit disappointed after Qualifying for that reason. Obviously, I was also disappointed to end the second race early because of my crash with Arjun Maini, because I think that we definitely had more pace.

We will need more laps and more experience to get used to what we have found this weekend and hopefully we can have clean weekends from now on.

You may have missed - Welcome, Ana Carrasco

I welcomed Ana Carrasco as a guest this weekend. She is a Supersport 300 World Champion in motorcycle racing. She is the first woman to achieve a world championship in motorbike racing, so it was really special to discuss a few things with her and find out how she approaches a race weekend. It is quite different to everyone in Formula 2 in that sense. We also talked about what she had to go through to gain respect both on-and-off the track. It was really interesting to have her here and to show her our world.

Now, I am really looking forward to hopefully being able to go and support her in the near future. I am excited to see and understand the other side, in the two-wheeled world. That was one of the highlights of the weekend for me, to have time to spend and discuss things with her.

The summer break – Stay tuned!

Now we are into the summer break and I’ve got a couple of weeks of doing mixed things. Obviously, you want to recharge the batteries for the second half of the season and I will continue training as well. This is a good time to get back that fitness so that I can go all the way to the end of the year. I hope that I will be able to enjoy some valuable family time a little bit as well.

I also have some interesting things coming up during the break. I hope that you keep following what I am doing because I think that it is going to be very exciting.

Stay tuned!

*Nos vemos pronto,

Tatiana Calderon*