James Calado describes practice outing with Force India as 'Amazing'

James Calado

James Calado described his first practice outing with Force India as an ‘amazing’ experience and hopes that it is just the beginning in the process of being a Formula 1 race drive.The British driver took part in the first Free Practice Session at Monza and ended up 17th fastest – 5 tenths off regular runner Paul di Resta.

Earlier this month, Force India announced Calado as their third driver following an impressive performance at the Young Drivers Test in Silverstone. Apart from his F1 duties, he also drives for ART Grand Prix in GP2 series where he currently lies 5th in the Championship with two race victories.“Amazing – that’s the only word I can use to describe the day.” said an elated James Calado following FP1.

“It took a while to get used to the car again, but once I was familiar with everything I was able to drive consistently and set some reasonable lap times. The balance felt good and everything ran smoothly during the session. I learned a lot and hopefully got some good data for the team.”

“I want to say a big ‘thank you’ to Sahara Force India for the opportunity and I’m already looking forward to getting back in the car later in the year.”

But Calado is not getting carried over by his first outing and is instead focusing on his future.

“That’s the dream, but I don’t have any future plans,” he said. “I can only do my best now both in GP2 and the F1 practice. We’ll see what happens.

“The ambition is obviously to be a race driver; that’s what I’ve always dreamed of. I’ll do my very, very best to try and get there.”