Consistency was the key for Calderon during the Spanish GP, as she kept improving and finished P13 once again.
Starting 13th on the grid after yesterday's race 1, Calderon had a good getaway and gained three places as her teammate Hubert went into the lead with a remarkable launch and squeezed through the middle of poleman Callum Ilott and Jordan King. De Vries followed the Frenchman like a shadow and took second at turn one.
Once again the Safety Car had to be deployed at the end of the first lap, this time after a huge fire that involved the Carlin car of Nobuharu Matsushita, who escaped unharmed.
The AMG Safety Car came out in front of the race leader just as Mick Schumacher was attempting a pass on Calderon, and thus he had to back off temporarily.
As the race resumed on lap 5, Schumacher did manage to prevail on the Colombian for the top 10, with a move on the inside of turn 1.
Tatiana seemed struggling to take the performance boost out of new tyres, as she came under pressure from Boschung as well. The Swiss got past as soon as DRS was enabled one lap later.
By lap 10 Calderon's pace turned competitive again, as she posted her personal best of 1:34.2, then further improved on lap 15 to 1:34.1.
In this phase of the race most of the drivers in the midfield were lapping on very similar pace, with Calderon trying to re-catch Boschung in front and with some pressure from a charging Mazepin in 13th.
On lap 16, Calderon clocked a 1:33.986 as she tried to get within DRS range of the Trident in front. At the same time, Mazepin's deteriorated pace due to tyre wear allowed Deletraz to pass the Russian for P13.
Tatiana once again managed not to suffer from excessive tyre degradation and kept lapping very consistently, but with 5 laps to go Deletraz made his way up to 12th, demoting the BWT Arden of Calderon.
At the front, Ilott who previously had passed Hubert for P2, was overtaken by Ghiotto, who once again had a poor start at the beginning.
Nyck De Vries took the checkered flag to claim his first victory this season, with Ghiotto and Ilott completing the podium.
After a race spent for the majority of time in 12th position, Tatiana Calderon crossed the line for the fourth time this year in P13: another solid result in the midfield for the young driver, who is coming closer and closer to a top 10 finish.
FIA Formula 2 racing will resume in just under two weeks time, on the glorious streets of Monaco.
In her words:
“Step by step getting closer to where we want to be. Happy with the progress made this weekend. ”
Ph credits: F2 Media