Waiting in the wings
LAT
The Formula 1 grid currently features three Britons, but James Calado may soon be joining them. David Tremayne reports on our bright new hope The cut and thrust of the battle in Valencia was so precise that you could have been watching Lewis Hamilton defending against Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, as the leading driver was always scrupulous in his tactics and choice of racing line but hard enough to resist the insistent attack of his challenger. But it wasn’t Hamilton. It was 23-year-old James Calado doing everything he could on fading tyres to keep fellow title contender Luis Razia at bay in the GP2 sprint race. In the end those tyres, older than the Brazilian’s, consigned Calado to second place, but the fight that he demonstrated, allied to his results since he graduated to GP2, are why he is so widely regarded as the next British driver who will race in Formula 1. He has the same aggressive passion, speed and acumen that Hamilton showed in his title-winning GP2 season six years ago. Calado’s pedigree is impressive. He won the British Cadet Kart Championship in 2001 and was second to Daniel Rowbottom in the Super 1 Cadets, after a measure of controversy that was not of his making, just 13 points adrift. He was second to Nicholas Risitano in the 2003
European Championship, beating Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari, who went on to race in F1 for Toro Rosso. Two years later he won that title, ahead of current Toro Rosso incumbent, the highly rated Jean-Eric Vergne. Graduation to cars bought further success, in Formula Renault and then in the 2010 British F3 Championship where he finished second to Vergne after five wins; in 2011 his GP3 campaign saw him win in Valencia and amass sufficient podiums to take the runner-up slot behind champion Valtteri Bottas. Calado had been cheated out of victory in the feature race that weekend in Valencia when Lotus GP made a poor call on the mandatory pit stop as he was leading when the safety car was deployed. But he had already proved himself to be a winner in the series. He staked his claim to F1 attention when he won his second-only GP2 race; after finishing eighth on his debut in the feature race in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2011, he won the sprint race in style and earned his spurs by keeping his head despite serious pressure from experienced racer Marcus Ericsson. He could have been forgiven if he Victories in Kuala Lumpar, Valencia had overdriven, but he didn’t.
and Hockenheim are why Calado is regarded as the next British driver who will race in Formula 1
36 www.msauk.org Winter 2012
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31/10/2012 14:02