GP2 driver James Calado is eyeing up a reserve or test role with the Sahara Force India team after impressing them over the three day Silverstone Young Driver Test.
The Brit has been vocal about being in talks with the team over more driving duties during race weekends, a situation that Max Chilton was in last season when he was drafted in towards the end of the year as Marussia's reserve driver.
Calado is managed by Nicolas Todt, son of FIA president, who's other clients include Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado. The Englishman joined Todt's All Road Management in April and is building a good relationship with the Force India team.
He drove on all three days of the Silverstone Young Driver Test for the midfield runners, setting an overall best time just seven tenths shy of Adrian Sutil. It was his first circuit test in a Formula 1 car and the team were rightfully impressed.
Speaking as a guest on the F1 Show on Sky Sports F1 last Friday, Calado confirmed that talks were ongoing: "Doing the Force India test was fantastic. It was amazing to get in a Formula 1 car. I was getting evaluated by the team and I'd like to say I did a fantastic job. I got to grips with it quicker than I expected actually and was able to give good feedback."
He added: "I can't hide that we're having discussions with Force India, my manager Nicolas Todt is talking to them now, and it's hopefully likely that things will happen in the near future."
Force India are a team renowned for introducing young drivers to Formula 1 and preparing them for race seats by positioning them in the 'reserve driver' role for a season, giving them runs during first practice and then promoting them at the end of the season - Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg are two examples.
Calado is a highly respected young driver with a number of titles under his belt including the British Formula Renault Winter Series title. He has also narrowly missed out on titles in the British Formula Renault and GP3 series and was top rookie last year in GP2.
This season, he had a difficult start with ART struggling in the early stages. He soon started to gain good results and took a third place finish in the British Grand Prix Sprint race and two second place finishes over the German Grand Prix weekend, alongside consistent points scoring races in Hungary.
The 24-year-old admitted that there was a fair amount of pressure on his shoulders during the Young Driver Test, saying: "There was a lot of pressure: there's this fine line between impressing the team and then crashing, especially as a young driver in your first time [in an F1 car]."
He added: "But driving away from the track at Silverstone, I was confident. I was pretty happy and then within a few days the team were ringing me up for more information, maybe a sim [ulator] work and things like that."
Calado revealed that he is starting to build a strong relationship up with the team now, continuing to say: "Hopefully we can do some more [work with Force India] going forward."
He will need a strong end to his season in GP2 to continue to impress the Formula 1 paddock - which he is doing - but he definitely deserves and has the speed for a drive in F1. Whether Force India will have a race drive vacancy in the near future is unclear, but with Di Resta looking for a step up there could well be one soon. Watch this space.
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| (c) Sahara Force India F1 Team |
Calado is managed by Nicolas Todt, son of FIA president, who's other clients include Felipe Massa and Pastor Maldonado. The Englishman joined Todt's All Road Management in April and is building a good relationship with the Force India team.
He drove on all three days of the Silverstone Young Driver Test for the midfield runners, setting an overall best time just seven tenths shy of Adrian Sutil. It was his first circuit test in a Formula 1 car and the team were rightfully impressed.
Speaking as a guest on the F1 Show on Sky Sports F1 last Friday, Calado confirmed that talks were ongoing: "Doing the Force India test was fantastic. It was amazing to get in a Formula 1 car. I was getting evaluated by the team and I'd like to say I did a fantastic job. I got to grips with it quicker than I expected actually and was able to give good feedback."
He added: "I can't hide that we're having discussions with Force India, my manager Nicolas Todt is talking to them now, and it's hopefully likely that things will happen in the near future."
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| (c) Sahara Force India F1 Team |
Calado is a highly respected young driver with a number of titles under his belt including the British Formula Renault Winter Series title. He has also narrowly missed out on titles in the British Formula Renault and GP3 series and was top rookie last year in GP2.
This season, he had a difficult start with ART struggling in the early stages. He soon started to gain good results and took a third place finish in the British Grand Prix Sprint race and two second place finishes over the German Grand Prix weekend, alongside consistent points scoring races in Hungary.
The 24-year-old admitted that there was a fair amount of pressure on his shoulders during the Young Driver Test, saying: "There was a lot of pressure: there's this fine line between impressing the team and then crashing, especially as a young driver in your first time [in an F1 car]."
He added: "But driving away from the track at Silverstone, I was confident. I was pretty happy and then within a few days the team were ringing me up for more information, maybe a sim [ulator] work and things like that."
Calado revealed that he is starting to build a strong relationship up with the team now, continuing to say: "Hopefully we can do some more [work with Force India] going forward."
He will need a strong end to his season in GP2 to continue to impress the Formula 1 paddock - which he is doing - but he definitely deserves and has the speed for a drive in F1. Whether Force India will have a race drive vacancy in the near future is unclear, but with Di Resta looking for a step up there could well be one soon. Watch this space.
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