Female Racer in F1 Takes One Step Closer With Calderon F2 Deal

[UMC 22]

25 years old and three seasons in F3 so far? I'm sorry, but to me that says "not good enough for F1". When you're seeing 18-20 year old class champions coming into F1, I simply can't see a team giving a chance to someone who is hanging around the mid-field. I think it would be great to see women in F1, but I don't think this young lady is going to be one of them.

Sure, she could become a pay driver perhaps, but in my opinion that would hurt women in motorsport more then help. If she jumps into F1 because of money rather than merit, and ends up outclassed at the back of the grid, it'll just give all the nay-sayers the fuel they need to claim that women can't race as well as men. What motorsport really needs is a female Hamilton or Verstappen, who needs no money or special treatment to advance, so show the world that gender means nothing in racing.

 

[BrunoBæ]

I have no problems if some special female biased support and sponsors get Calderon into F1 because if she does anything else than being the mandatory sternlight the first year then her career step will probably help other female drivers.
As example the driver Christina Nielsen who would probebly allready be knocking on the door to F1 if it was only the racing results that did matter.

 

[Deleted member 113561]

I will stay skeptical, ever since Hamilton was breathing heavily in the GP of Barcelona.

Women have somewhere around 10 - 30% physical disadvantage (WR in sprint, marathon, weight lifting) in physical based sports, which Formula 1 is nowadays. These drivers do not only have to endure the heavy g-Forces for up to 2 hours straight, they still need to be extremely concentrated, partially taking care of strategy and manage successful battles. Women would also need to cope with menstruation which will overlap with GP weekends which has a significant impact on their performance. Women also have a disadvantage when it comes to intelligence as statistically women are more common in the middle, but less at both (ps. above 115) intelligent and retarded, which makes men outnumber them by nature when the task prefers higher IQ (which motorsports does).

Additionally as a result of that there are many reservations to start with so women are already uncommon in beginner tiers and this makes it very very very unlikely that women these days do make it to Formula 1.

TL;DR It is very unlikely that women will make it into Formula 1, but I could imagine that 1 will make it again one day.
Personally I wouldn't mind, as long as Formula 1 will always about the best of the best and not people that are there because they paid money or got in because of political reasons.

 

[paracletus]

tl;dr. Don't care.
If they are good enough, and have the backing - race. End of.

 

[BrunoBæ]

Women also have a disadvantage when it comes to intelligence as statistically women are more common in the middle, but less at both intelligent and retarded, which makes men outnumber them by nature when the task prefers higher IQ (which motorsports does).

Im more or less speechless.
Either your post are 100% a joke or you are yourself.
Even if you were right about womens intelligence (which you obviously are not) I could name more than a few successfull F1 drivers (both from today and from the past) that sounds and behave close to retarded in interviews.
So...

 

[Constantin Grimminger]

You have a point, and I won't judge her until she has a proper chance to succeed, though I do believe she has been beaten by all her single seater team mates? Please correct me if I'm wrong of course

Yeah, ever since she moved to European racing she's only beaten Sean Gelael in 2013 in the British F3 (who was beating her in the European Champ though), Sandro Zeller in 2014 (which isn't really a challenge tbh) and Bruno Baptista in 2017. Just counting in the full-time team mates.

 

[HazelR]

NASA researched the gender differences in ability to handle high G forces in the early 50's for the astronaut program and the results were not as expected. It was only the decision that all astronauts had to be combat pilots which ruled out the female applicants.

Seems to me that astronaut and F1 driver are pretty similar roles:
High G forces,
intense concentration,
high likelihood of 'rapid unscheduled disassembly' - Boom! in layman's terms,
very technical.

 

[Jonny Austin]

25 years old and three seasons in F3 so far? I'm sorry, but to me that says "not good enough for F1". When you're seeing 18-20 year old class champions coming into F1, I simply can't see a team giving a chance to someone who is hanging around the mid-field. I think it would be great to see women in F1, but I don't think this young lady is going to be one of them.

Sure, she could become a pay driver perhaps, but in my opinion that would hurt women in motorsport more then help. If she jumps into F1 because of money rather than merit, and ends up outclassed at the back of the grid, it'll just give all the nay-sayers the fuel they need to claim that women can't race as well as men. What motorsport really needs is a female Hamilton or Verstappen, who needs no money or special treatment to advance, so show the world that gender means nothing in racing.

I think this is purely a commercial decision by F1,Alfa Romeo & marketing people who are trying to make it more "inclusive" & appealling to a larger audience.
The true test would only come if something bad happened to Raikonnen or Giovanazzi.
They would be replaced by Brendon Hartley or one of the other Ferrari test drivers not Calderon.

 

[Neil Farren]

RD still the sewer of the sim racing community I see

 

[BrunoBæ]

Yeah, ever since she moved to European racing she's only beaten Sean Gelael in 2013 in the British F3 (who was beating her in the European Champ though), Sandro Zeller in 2014 (which isn't really a challenge tbh) and Bruno Baptista in 2017. Just counting in the full-time team mates.

OK if that is right then its probably pretty good that she is only allowed into F2.
But even in F2 a lot of team manager eyes will will check out if she is any good.
Because to the contrary of a lot of male F1 wannabes it would probably be a lot easier for her to find sponsors for a possible next step in her racing career.
Because sponsoring a GOOD female F1 driver would give the sponsor a lot af goodwill.

 

[Ghoults]

Her racing records are pretty much the same as carmen jorda. Maybe the people hiring her think her being a female brings them more sponsorship money. They are certainly getting good amount of publicity out of this so they are not exactly wrong either. She'll probably get her 15th in the championship and the team gets paid well as well. F2 gets more focus as well. Financially this makes perfect sense.

 

[Sim Strata]

If they can widen the appeal and make money, then the girl has her place. I am fundamentally opposed to affirmative action, but I can also see that increasing the visibility of women must help make more women consider such a career, and the more that do, the more talent will be available for the benefit of everybody. The problem is separating out the practical use of such affirmative action from the brainless ideology that seems to have gripped society.

 

[Richard Dastardly]

"If they're talented enough and determined enough they'll make it on merit" - Leena Gade from a discussion about Formula W, so I may be misrepresenting, it's been a long time. Was definitely one of the current women in a top motorsport position. In addition to get into F1 now you need backing cash, but that's also the same for everyone else. This might be newsworthy if she actually had a seat.

There's been women in F1 testing recently, hasn't there?

Ed: should note that there are a lot of drivers doing top level GT because they want to, not because they can't get into F1. Not everyone wants to do F1 - did anyone ask Christina Nielsen if she wanted a single seat career?

 

[TTupsi]

Calderon is far from the worst driver to have ever driven in Formula 2 - she is not even the worst driver next season so she absolutely deserves her seat. She has beaten many good and promising drivers in her career already (e.g. Gustavo Menezes, Niko Kari, Max Fewtrell, Sean Gelael) and her career results have in my opinion been better overall than the aforementioned Indonesian's were before enterin GP2. And you know, Gelael has got the chance to drive Toro Rosso in a GP weekend.

If you watched the GP3 races towards the end of last season, she was right on pace with the other drivers. Certainly not at winning pace but could race head to head with her teammate Juan Manuel Correa who also graduated to F2 - why is there no discussion about whether he deserves his seat despite being at level pace with Calderon?

And comparisons to Carmen Jordá are not on point IMO. With all due respect to Carmen Jordá, but Calderon is a lot better driver than her. Calderon was a rather consistent points scorer in GP3 last season whereas Jordá had trouble qualifying for the races at times when she was racing in GP3.

I'm 100% sure Calderon will score points next season and that should be enough to deserve a place in a series. Not everyone can be a winner and why should we expect a female driver to be one in order to justify her place in a series?

 

[BrunoBæ]

Not everyone wants to do F1 - did anyone ask Christina Nielsen if she wanted a single seat career?

The problem with such a question to someone who have a good career in a professionel team that does not have any F1/openwheeler department is that if as example Christina Nielsen does answer that she has allways wanted to get into F1/openwheeler - then her team(and probably sponsors) will say WHAT WHAT?
Is her job now only 2nd choice or only a stepping stone.

Proof of this can be seen from both Alonzo and latest Kevin Magnussen where Alonzo waited to announce that he was looking elsewhere than F1 until he allready had shown to his team that he was fed up by McLarens F1 effort.
Conserning Magnussen then he actually wants to try out endurance racing (LM24H) and Nascar - but again and again he has convinced both his team and the press that it will be some time in a distant future(like Alonzo).
So no I dont think we can get the pretty succesfull Christina Nielsen to speak openly about what she think about a possible F1 career alternative.
Hehe she is not that naive.

 

[Ghoults]

Christina Nielsen did a season int he all women imsa series back in the 1990s

Calderon is far from the worst driver to have ever driven in Formula 2 - she is not even the worst driver next season so she absolutely deserves her seat. She has beaten many good and promising drivers in her career already (e.g. Gustavo Menezes, Niko Kari, Max Fewtrell, Sean Gelael) and her career results have in my opinion been better overall than the aforementioned Indonesian's were before enterin GP2. And you know, Gelael has got the chance to drive Toro Rosso in a GP weekend.

If you watched the GP3 races towards the end of last season, she was right on pace with the other drivers. Certainly not at winning pace but could race head to head with her teammate Juan Manuel Correa who also graduated to F2 - why is there no discussion about whether he deserves his seat despite being at level pace with Calderon?

And comparisons to Carmen Jordá are not on point IMO. With all due respect to Carmen Jordá, but Calderon is a lot better driver than her. Calderon was a rather consistent points scorer in GP3 last season whereas Jordá had trouble qualifying for the races at times when she was racing in GP3.

I'm 100% sure Calderon will score points next season and that should be enough to deserve a place in a series. Not everyone can be a winner and why should we expect a female driver to be one in order to justify her place in a series?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_GP3_Series
I don't see her beating any of those drivers. Menezes beat her on least 3 seasons. Kari scores 6 points and calderon scored 11 despite kari driving 4 races less on that season while also having 6 dnfs compared to calderon's 3.

Calderon was not a consistant points scorer either in gp3. She scored her first points finish after the mid season (10th) and after that had 6 more points finishes. Out of 18 races she scored points in 7 races by being the last driver to score points, 10th in first race or 8th in second race.

As for sean gelael: "Sean Gelael's father Ricardo runs the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise for Indonesia". So that's why he drives. He bought the seat with money. But she did in fact beat him by one single point when sean had 1 more retirement. She did it! She was only the second worst driver out of 8 drivers on that season: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_British_Formula_3_International_Series

You can cherry pick all you want.

 

[serya]

I am not seeing this as political anymore as much as good sports business. It is a big advantage racing has over most other sports right now - women can compete alongside men, creates interest. Many male drivers bring sponsors with them and that is why they get rides, that's racing business. Yes, I only want the best drivers, but it is skewed already. More female drivers means girls see women driving and will want to try racing, more women entering means better driving ability to choose from, it will be good for everyone. I'm in my 50s and welcome cultural change to racing; was already a fan of Katherine and Christina, my favorite team right now is the Acura GT3.

 

[TTupsi]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_GP3_Series
I don't see her beating any of those drivers. Menezes beat her on least 3 seasons. Kari scores 6 points and calderon scored 11 despite kari driving 4 races less on that season while also having 6 dnfs compared to calderon's 3.

Calderon was not a consistant points scorer either in gp3. She scored her first points finish after the mid season (10th) and after that had 6 more points finishes. Out of 18 races she scored points in 7 races by being the last driver to score points, 10th in first race or 8th in second race.

As for sean gelael: "Sean Gelael's father Ricardo runs the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise for Indonesia". So that's why he drives. He bought the seat with money. But she did in fact beat him by one single point when sean had 1 more retirement. She did it! She was only the second worst driver out of 8 drivers on that season: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_British_Formula_3_International_Series

You can cherry pick all you want.

I don't really understand what you mean by cherry picking. I just provided examples of her racing career and I'm at loss at what else I should be doing? I am under no illusion that Calderon is in F2 purely on merit, I know there are plenty of more talented drivers than her on the planet. But I also know that there are and have been less talented drivers than her in F2.

Regarding Kari, look at the link you provided and you can see that when deducted the races Kari didn't race from Calderon's total, she scored four points more at same time frame, effectively beating him in the championship.

I also didn't claim Calderon to be a consistent points scorer, I said rather consistent. The meaning might have gotten lost in translation but for me it makes a huge difference. She scored points in ~22% of the races she started with a clear trend of scoring more on the second half of her seasons for one reason or another. I would call her results rather consistent. She for sure was not a fish out of water in GP3.

I am well aware how and why Gelael is driving the cars he drives. What I meant with that comparison is that he has been able to improve during his years in F2. Sure he is not the most talented driver and shouldn't get into F1 with his current results but imo he is good enough for F2. And what I've seen from Gelael and Calderon I personally think Calderon is the more talented driver of the two. That makes Calderon good enough for F2 but I don't think she is ready for F1, not even for a F1 test. And sometimes you can't predict how a driver fares in particular series. The absolute top drivers are able to drive any car fast and win races right from the off but that doesn't mean we shouldn't give chances to those who haven't done so. If Gelael can score a podium in F2, so can Calderon.

I agree, she was the second worst driver of that season's regular drivers! But you know, Fernando Alonso was once the worst driver in F1! You only get so far by looking at old results because people have this weird ability that they improve when they get more experience. Calderon has the experience of beating talented drivers in the past, she has experience of being absolutely useless in a specific series. But what's important is that she has enough experience to take the next step up to Formula 2, because she has proven she can compete against drivers who have also graduated to F2. What more should be expected of her? She isn't necessarily taking anyone's seat either at the moment when many drivers are choosing F3 or Euro Masters willingly.

 

[Ghoults]

I agree, she was the second worst driver of that season's regular drivers! But you know, Fernando Alonso was once the worst driver in F1!

Ok, we agree to disagree massively on this matter.

 

[Deleted member 113561]

Im more or less speechless.
Either your post are 100% a joke or you are yourself.
Even if you were right about womens intelligence (which you obviously are not) I could name more than a few successfull F1 drivers (both from today and from the past) that sounds and behave close to retarded in interviews.
So...

Obviously you have no counterarguments, you only can resent to shitposting / twisting because your little dream / ideology just got shattered.

Yes I am right about womens intelligence, that is a scientific fact. On average men and women are on the same level, but if you look on the intelligent side (>115) and on the stupid side (<85) there are significantly more men and this has significant impact. That doesn't mean there are no women in higher intelligence, just significantly less.

Being able to handle PR and being able to be a good racer is not the same. One requires social skill which is something you learn and way less IQ dependent.