BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Formula 1 Goals And The Parallels Between Race Car Driving And Entrepreneurship

This article is more than 4 years old.

Formula 2

Since the age of nine while growing up in Colombia, Tatiana Calderón has known she wanted to race cars. She and her family would go to the races on a regular basis, and kart racing became her favorite hobby. Today, the 26-year-old is the test driver for the Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team and races for BWT Arden in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, making her a potential competitor to one day race in Formula 1.

In 2014, the now-retired Scottish racer Susie Wolff was the first woman to participate in a Formula 1 race weekend in 22 years. The last woman to race in the pinnacle motorsport competition was Italian driver Leila Lombardi, and the first was Italian racer Maria Teresa Filippis.

Training for a sport in which she believes men and women can compete on equal terms, unlike other disciplines, is no small feat. In addition to Tatiana's daily training at the gym for two to four hours, she sees a sport psychologist one or two times a week.

While sitting next to her at dinner the night before the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco and hearing her story, I was struck by how many parallels there are between being a race car driver and building a business. Here are a few.

Building Self-Confidence And Trusting Time 

"I have learned so much with sports," says Tatiana. "The dedication, the passion, the patience. I feel like, in the world, we are running against time. We are so busy. We want everything right now. But I think some things take a little more time. Sometimes when you have an obstacle, it makes you be better, and you need it for later in your life. I definitely gained a lot of patience. You need to find what works for you, not because somebody else had this result. So I think it is also about what works specifically for you. You need to have that self-confidence that your time will come and that you can achieve anything." 

Doing It For Love And For The Challenge

While Tatiana hopes women keep raising the bar in sports, her goals go beyond gender. Going after the big win comes with its own set of potential drawbacks.

"I have definitely had a few doubts," she shares. "Particularly when the results aren’t coming, and as a woman, people will tell me that I will never be physically good enough. You can’t just focus on the results. I am doing this because I love the speed and I love the adrenaline. I love being in a race car. I can never imagine my life without racing. Whenever I was thinking of quitting, I felt that there was nowhere I’d rather be than in a race car. It is tough, but I love challenges." 

Using What The Naysayers Say As Motivation 

When asked how she responds to people who tell her women don't belong in a race car, she said: "Firstly, I feel like asking them what do they know because it is mostly guys who say that. How do they know how we think or how we act or how our bodies are? It obviously pisses me off that people think this way and they try to put limits on your performance. But it motivates me even more because I want to prove them wrong—to prove that I am capable of competing at the highest level. I have always taken those comments as an extra motivation. In a way, it has made me a better driver and a better understanding of myself." 

Resetting For The Next Corner 

At the end of our interview, I asked Tatiana how she maintains focus.

"I am living in the moment," she says. "I don’t care what just happened because I need to reset for the next corner. And the next lap is totally different because maybe the wind changed, so I need to adapt, and if you want to adapt, you cannot have a plan. Once you are racing, you need to forget everything else and focus on what you are doing.  You are also racing against other guys and have a clear picture on what is happening. It is a bit of combining both depending on the skill you need at a certain time. You need to try to focus on your own thing, and that is like living in the present, but you cannot anticipate what is going to happen. Once you are in the race you will naturally know what to do."

Tatiana is staying in Formula 2 for the rest of 2019. If there are no upcoming chances to join Formula 1, she'll seek a sponsor so she can drive in Formula 2 for another year.

"My goal is to 100% get to Formula 1," she shares. "I know I can do it. It is just about putting everything together in the right moment."