James Calado

James Calado
Nationality	British
Born	(1989-06-13) 13 June 1989 Cropthorne, United Kingdom
GP2 Series career
Debut season	2012
Current team	ART Grand Prix
Car number	3
Starts	44
Wins	3
Poles	2
Fastest laps	3
Best finish	3rd in 2013
Previous series
2011 2010 2009 2008–09 2008 2008 2008	GP3 Series British Formula Three Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault 2.0 UK FR2.0 Portugal Winter Series FR2.0 UK Winter Series Formula Renault 2.0 NEC
Championship titles
2008 2008	FR2.0 Portugal Winter Series FR2.0 UK Winter Series

James John Calado (born 13 June 1989 in Cropthorne, Worcestershire) is a British racing driver from England, currently competing in the GP2 Series. His career has been funded by the Racing Steps Foundation.

Career

Karting

Calado had an extensive karting career, starting out at Cadets level in 1999. After being a member of the 2000 championship-winning England Inter-Nations Cadet Team, Calado won the British Cadet Championship in 2001, and also finished runner-up to Daniel Rowbottom in the Super 1 Cadet series, losing out by thirteen points. In 2002, Calado stepped up to TKM Juniors, finishing fifth in the Super 1 championship. 2003 saw Calado contest pan-European series for the first time, driving a Gillard Parilla kart for the PDB Racing Team in the ICA Junior class. He finished runner-up to Nicholas Risitano in the European Championship, beating future Formula One drivers Sébastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari.

He moved to Tony Kart for the 2004 season, and once again finished in the top three of the European Championship; this time finishing third behind Stefano Coletti and Jules Bianchi. He also finished fifth in the Andrea Margutti Trophy, and ninth in the Italian Open Masters. He moved up to the ICA class in 2005, and won the European Championship ahead of his future team-mate Jean-Éric Vergne, and also finished runner-up to Armando Parente in the Italian Open Masters. He returned to the UK to contest the Renault Elite League in the Super Libre class, finishing seventh in the championship.

Calado moved into the top class of international karting in 2006, moving into the Formula A class. Sixth in the Italian Open Masters, Calado went to Macau for the International Kart Grand Prix, where he finished as runner-up to Michael Christensen. His final season of karting, in 2007, saw his fourth top-five placing in the European Championship, as well as a third place finish in the Margutti Trophy. He also placed ninth in the South Garda Winter Cup.

Formula Renault

Calado competing during the 2008 Formula Renault UK season at Oulton Park.

Calado moved into the British Formula Renault Championship for the 2008 season, driving for Fortec Motorsport. With no prior single-seater experience, Calado was placed into the Graduate Cup for first-year drivers. Calado finished runner-up to Dean Stoneman in that championship, and he finished seventh in the overall championship. He took two pole positions at Snetterton and Oulton Park, with one victory coming at Snetterton from that pole. He also earned three other podium placings throughout the season. Calado also contested two rounds of the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup at Zolder and Spa-Francorchamps. He earned two top-five finishes en route to finishing 25th in the overall championship standings, amassing 38 points. At the conclusion of the season, Calado enter the Winter Series of both the British and Portuguese Formula Renault championships. Over the two championships' eight total races, Calado took five pole positions, six fastest laps and five victories en route to both championships; holding Henry Surtees off by just three points in the British Winter Series.

Calado competing during the 2009 Formula Renault UK season at Oulton Park.

Calado continued in the British series for the 2009 season, staying with Fortec for his sophomore campaign. Calado and Alpine Motorsport's Stoneman, both in their second season and boasting victories in their début season in the series, with pre-season testing further backing media predictions that the championship would most likely be decided between the pair. Calado was the most successful driver in the series, taking a total of eight victories, winning races at seven of the championship's ten meetings during the season. He also earned ten pole positions, and set the fastest lap of the race on seven occasions. However, retirements at Thruxton, Oulton Park and Croft took the title out of the hands of Calado and into the hands of Dean Smith, who joined the series at the second round of the championship. Calado ultimately finished as runner-up behind Smith, 34 points behind the Wolverhampton driver. Calado also contested three rounds of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 for Fortec, competing in Barcelona, Spa and Le Mans. He finished seventeenth in the championship, amassing ten points from a fifth in Barcelona and seventh at Spa. He lost a podium finish at Barcelona due to a puncture with two laps remaining, which could have ultimately turned into a win after the post-race disqualification of winner Albert Costa.

Formula Three (2010)

Calado moved into the British Formula Three Championship for the 2010 season, as part of a six-car title challenge by Carlin. He was the second RSF-funded driver to drive for the team, after Oliver Turvey finished runner-up in the 2008 championship. He took five victories to finish second in the championship, behind runaway leader Jean-Éric Vergne.

GP3 Series (2011)

Calado moved up to the GP3 Series for 2011, driving for the Lotus ART team alongside Pedro Nunes, Richie Stanaway and Valtteri Bottas. In a successful season for ART, Bottas won the championship whilst Calado backed him up with second in the drivers' standings, taking a single win at Valencia and five further podium finishes. ART also won the teams' championship.

GP2 Series (2011-present)

Calado winning the Belgium 2013 GP2 Grand Prix

Calado made his GP2 Series début by driving for ART in the non-championship race at Yas Marina which concluded the 2011 season. He had a victorious race in the sprint race, the second race of the weekend. He joined the Lotus-branded team full-time for the 2012 season, alongside second-year driver Esteban Gutiérrez. He continued his form from the non-championship race by winning the sprint race of the first round of the season in Malaysia. After taking pole positions for the Spanish rounds at Catalunya and Valencia, but not being able to convert them into victories, he won his second race of the season at Hockenheim. At this stage of the championship, he was third in the drivers' standings, but a poor run in the final four races—after crashing in practice at Monza and suffering from food poisoning in Singapore saw him overhauled by team-mate Gutiérrez and compatriot Max Chilton. Nevertheless, his fifth place in the championship meant that he finished the season as the series' most successful rookie driver, ahead of Felipe Nasr in tenth position. Autosport magazine rated Calado as the GP2 season's best driver, due to his inexperience compared to the drivers who finished ahead of him in the championship.

Formula One

Force India (2013- present)

Partway through the 2013 season, Formula One team Force India selected him for the Young Driver's test in July, held at Silverstone. He had a successful test, setting the fourth fastest time on the first day. As a result of this, and his good GP2 form, Force India announced that they had selected Calado as their third driver for the Italian Grand Prix on 2 September 2013, and that he would run in the first practice session.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2008	British Formula Renault 2.0	Fortec Motorsport	20	1	2	0	4	292	7th
	Formula Renault 2.0 NEC		3	0	0	0	0	38	25th
	British Formula Renault 2.0 Winter Series		4	2	3	4	3	116	1st
	Portuguese Formula Renault 2.0 Winter Series		4	3	2	2	4	60	1st
2009	British Formula Renault 2.0	Fortec Motorsport	20	8	10	7	12	457	2nd
	Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup		6	0	0	1	0	10	17th
2010	British Formula Three Championship	Carlin	30	5	2	4	12	293	2nd
2011	GP3 Series	Lotus ART	16	1	1	2	6	55	2nd
	GP2 Final		2	1	0	0	1	7	5th
2012	GP2 Series	Lotus GP	24	2	2	1	7	160	5th
2013	GP2 Series	ART Grand Prix	22	2	0	2	7	157	3rd

Complete GP3 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Points
2011	Lotus ART	TUR FEA 27	TUR SPR 13	ESP FEA 2	ESP SPR 21	VAL FEA 8	VAL SPR 1	GBR FEA 6	GBR SPR 5	GER FEA 4	GER SPR 6	HUN FEA 25	HUN SPR 3	BEL FEA 2	BEL SPR 2	ITA FEA 2	ITA SPR 14	2nd	55

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	DC	Points
2012	Lotus GP	MYS FEA 8	MYS SPR 1	BHR1 FEA 5	BHR1 SPR 3	BHR2 FEA 16	BHR2 SPR 12	ESP FEA 2	ESP SPR 4	MON FEA 7	MON SPR Ret	VAL FEA 8	VAL SPR 2	GBR FEA Ret	GBR SPR 20	GER FEA 8	GER SPR 1	HUN FEA 4	HUN SPR 6	BEL FEA 2	BEL SPR 3	ITA FEA 12	ITA SPR 14	SIN FEA Ret	SIN SPR 10	5th	160
2013	ART Grand Prix	MYS FEA 2	MYS SPR Ret	BHR FEA 12	BHR SPR 5	ESP FEA Ret	ESP SPR 11	MON FEA 5	MON SPR 5	GBR FEA 9	GBR SPR 3	GER FEA 2	GER SPR 2	HUN FEA 9	HUN SPR 6	BEL FEA 8	BEL SPR 1	ITA FEA 6	ITA SPR 26	SIN FEA 3	SIN SPR 19	ABU FEA 6	ABU SPR 1			3rd	157

Complete Formula One participations

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicates fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
2013	Sahara Force India F1 Team	Force India VJM06	Mercedes FO 108Z 2.4 V8	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA TD	SIN	KOR TD	JPN	IND TD	ABU TD	USA	BRA	-	-

External links

• Official website
• James Calado on X
• James Calado career summary at DriverDB.com