Tatiana Calderon didn't have the best of weekends in Monza, as she was injured during the Sprint race on Saturday and couldn't compete the day after. The Colombian is now focused on recovering in time for the season finale in Abu Dhabi in two months' time.
After a double DNF in Zandvoort, Tatiana Calderon was ready to race in Monza, a track where she had always performed well, for her third weekend in Formula 2 after her return to the series. Little did she know that during the Sprint race she would unluckily break her bones in her right hand. But before jumping to that, here's how her weekend went.
Calderon was really hyped about racing in Monza: "It will be totally different from Zandvoort: it's a unique track and I really enjoy driving there." - she said before the event. "My goal is to improve more there and, maybe with a bit of luck, reach my goals for this season."
On Friday, the Colombian used all the free practice time to adapt to the track, while tons of Tifosi watched her from the grandstands. During qualifying, she managed to stay out of trouble - not so easy in a tricky track like Monza, as everyone looks for the right slipstream - and set the 22nd fastest time, improving her lap times every run.
Tons of fans remained for the F2 sessions in what was the highest attended Italian GP - a great glance for one of the most iconic and historic circuits on the calendar, as Tatiana received lots of support.
SPRINT RACE
There was a lot at stake in Monza's first race: Felipe Drugovich (MP Motorsport), championship leader at the time, had the chance to win the title if he crossed the finish line ahead of his contender, Theo Pourchaire (Art Grand Prix). At lights out, poleman Frederik Vesti (Art Grand Prix) immediately tried to open a gap as the famous Monza first chicane is a known spot for accidents at the start.
As a matter of fact, while the first half of the grid cruised by untroubled, Olli Caldwell (Campos Racing) collided with Tatiana Calderon, who had made a very good start.
The British driver opened the steering angle towards Calderon, who could do nothing beside braking. Caldwell wasn't injured, but Tatiana unluckily broke bones in her right hand following the impact with the Campos car.
A really promising weekend for Calderon came to a premature end - as everything can happen at the Temple of Speed. At the same time, the unlucky streak resulted in her third DNF in a row. We wish Tatiana a speedy recovery.
But Caldwell and Calderon were not the only drivers to collide, as Drugovich made contact with Amaury Cordeel and broke his right suspension, also retiring from the race. Pourchaire had to take advantage from this situation in order to collect as many points as possible to keep his championship chances alice, but also had contact with Liam Lawson (Carlin), went wide in the gravel at the first chicane, before rejoining the track at the tail end of the pack.
Felipe Drugovich was crowned champion while watching the race from the pit-wall, with three races still to go. The first race was won by Jüri Vips (Hitech GP), who managed to overtake Vesti immediately after the Safety Car restart and was joined on the podium - after some great battles that Monza never fails to provide - by Frederik Vesti and Jehan Daruvala (Prema Powerteam).
FEATURE RACE
Tatiana Calderon wasn't cleared by the medical delegate to start in the Feature race, as she had her hand casted due to the injury. The rest of the pack was busy battling for important points in the championship: in what seemed like an endurance race, only 13 drivers managed to take the checkered flag.
Right during the first lap, Ralph Boschung (Campos Racing) was forced to take the run off area at the first chicane and, while rejoining the track, he collected Theo Pourchaire - definitely in one of his unluckiest weekends - his teammate Olli Caldwell and Luca Ghiotto (DAMS). A couple of corners later, Jack Doohan, pushed wide by Daruvala, collected and took out Logan Sargeant (Carlin).
After the race resumed from a neutralization, Calan Williams found the wall while battling with David Beckmann: another safety car was deployed. Jehan Daruvala was the first to see the chequered flag, claiming his first victory of the season thanks to Team Prema's strategy, followed by Frederik Vesti and a later disqualified Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS), who handed his third place trophy to Tatiana's teammate Enzo Fittipaldi.
We're absolutely gutted for how Tatiana's weekend unfolded, as she did have a lot of potential in Monza, but we're sure she'll come back even stronger in Abu Dhabi for the season finale in November.
"My first fracture arrived...nothing I could have done different, he didn't see me and opened up his corner. I'm already thinking about Abu Dhabi, hoping to recover as fast as I can."