Jacquet and Calderon: Influencing HERstory
The 16-year-old racing driver Jade Jacquet etched her name into the history books last weekend by being the first woman to win a race in the French F4 Championship…
From entering the weekend as a guest driver in the series, Jacquet converted her pole position to the grand prize of first place in the 2nd race of the 5th round of the Championship. The French F4 Championship has a similar layout to F1 Academy where there is a reverse grid race, and in this instance with Jacquet qualifying 10th out of 30 drivers who took part in qualifying, therefore placing her in pole position.
Despite the yellow flags being introduced due to Bouzar’s crash, Jacquet continued to shine at the front of the field, being able to pull away from Championship contender Thibaut Ramaekers collecting the fastest lap of the race. Jacquet also dominated in the 2nd race for the female drivers, collecting another trophy on a successful Saturday. Jacquet’s success didn’t stop on Saturday either. The Frenchwoman also dominated in the final race in the women’s category, further improving on an impressive weekend…
Jacquet is also known for competing in her first season in F1 Academy. From making her karting debut in 2023, Jacquet now races for Williams in the F1 Academy series after impressing with the seventh fastest time in rookie testing. As she only competed as a guest driver in the French F4 Championship, her results won’t contribute to the standings, however her weekend dominance, along with her appearances in F1 Academy doesn’t take away from the numerous achievements she has gained so far in her career and also may foreshadow many more to come!
Jacquet wasn’t the only driver to make history over the weekend…
Tatiana Calderon also inspired over the weekend by becoming the first woman to win in Nascar Brazil. The Colombian driver shone in an impressive weekend by finishing fourth in Race 1 and storming to victory in Race 2 with a gap of 0.527 seconds to runner up Felipe Malinowski. Calderon joins race winners Hailie Deegan, Gracie Trotter, Manami Kobayashi and Shawna Robinson in being the few women who have won in a Nascar series.
Calderon also has a wealth of experience in other motorsports. From competing in Indycar Formula 2 and three and the 24 Hours Le Mans, the thirty-three-year-old driver has built an impressive career, evening being named as a development and test driver for Sauber Formula One Team from 2018 to 2021.
The driver also adds to her successful international campaign where Calderon won the GT Challenge of the Americas race in Guyana. The historic moment of last weekend was essential ensuring her position to battle for the championship as the series enters it’s final two rounds…
Written by Ceri Norris
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