Tatiana Calderón goes into this weekend’s fourth GP3 Series round at Silverstone feeling confident despite being robbed of the chance to score points last weekend in Austria.
The Alfa Romeo Sauber Formula 1 test driver ran competitively in the top eight in Sunday’s second race at the Red Bull Ring before late engine trouble dropping her down the field.
Tatiana also suffered misfortune in Friday evening’s qualifying session, which was red-flagged with less than two minutes on the clock – denying the Colombian a chance to complete her hot lap and consigning her to 17th on the grid for Saturday’s opening race.
Her lowly grid slot at least allowed Tatiana to demonstrate her overtaking prowess, as she managed to steer her Jenzer Motorsport car up to 12th place and give herself a more favourable starting position for Sunday.
Expertly negotiating a chaotic opening lap, Tatiana had climbed to eighth and remained well in the mix to score her first points of the season in the closing stages before an overheating engine forced her to back off and cost her considerable time. She again finished 12th.
Despite that setback, a pair of competitive races at the Austrian Grand Prix venue leave Tatiana optimistic ahead of this weekend’s races at the historic Silverstone circuit in the UK.
Tatiana Calderón: “Overall it was a positive weekend. Free practice was a bit difficult because of the weather, so we couldn’t use the soft compound, and to anticipate the shift in balance for qualifying. It caught us a little bit by surprise how much it changed with the soft compound in qualifying, it was a bit difficult from thereon. But Austria is a track where you can come through the field, and in Race 1 it was good to come through the field. In Race 2 we were fighting in the top eight, but with two laps to go I got a tear-off in one of the radiators so the oil temperature was too high, I had an alarm for half the race but then a safe mode came in for more than half a lap. We’ll see what the hard compound at Silverstone does and what the weather does, but I’m feeling good for this weekend.”
SILVERSTONE SCHEDULE
(all times CET and subject to change)
Friday 6 July
Practice – 0935
Qualifying – 1805
Saturday 7 July
Race 1 – 1025
Sunday 8 July
Race 2 – 0905
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