Born into a family of car dealers, Calderón began racing go-karts at the age of nine, and was the first woman to win national karting championships in either Colombia or the United States.

[2][3] Alberto is the first cousin of Juan Manuel Santos, a former President of Colombia, and María is the daughter of Rodrigo Noguera Laborde, the co-founder of the Sergio Arboleda University.

[5][10] Calderón played football, tennis, field hockey, golf, and tried horse riding before settling on motor racing at the age of nine.

[12] Calderón was four years old when she had her first experience of driving in the streets of Bogotá sitting on her father's lap and holding the steering wheel of the family car.

[8] She persuaded her father greatly to purchase a green go-kart[3][10] and a 50cc motorcycle for use on a personal basis on her family's farm and he educated her on racing's mechanical aspects.

[9][15] Calderón's mother tried to sway her away from racing because she believed it was too dangerous,[9] though she later supported her daughter's career choice on the condition she maintained good grades in school.

[6][8] As she began winning races, Calderón was regularly rammed by her male rivals, forcing her to retaliate in response to demonstrate that she was undeterred by them.

[19] After winning the Snap-On-Stars of Karting Divisional Championship-JICA Eastern Championship, she told her parents of her decision to focus on racing and not enroll at university.

[8] Calderón had more success in 2009 when she made her sports car debut, coming second in the Radical European Master Series – SR5 with one victory and ten podium finishes, accruing 240 points for the PoleVision team.

[29] Calderón entered the final three rounds of the 2011 European F3 Open Championship for Team West-Tec in October, scoring three points by finishing eighth in the second Circuit de Catalunya race, placing 21st in the drivers' standings.

[31] She entered into discussions to compete in Indy Lights for the 2012 season but she declined due to her and her father's dislike of oval tracks.

She scored no points in the European series, in part because of tyre issues, and Double R Racing's inexperience competing in the championship.

[39] She made a guest appearance for EmiliodeVillota Motorsport in the season-ending European F3 Open Championship round at the Circuit de Catalunya but was ineligible to score points.

[21] Not long after, Calderón returned to Europe and entered the EuroFormula Open Winter series round at Circuit Paul Ricard, finishing fourth for EmiliodeVillota Motorsport.

[42] She had originally signed for Signature Team days before the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship began; a lack of testing time and the misgivings of her being noncompetitive due to the car's under-powered engine led her to join Jo Zeller Racing.

[53][54] She had tested a World Series Formula V8 3.5 car with Pons Racing at Ciudad del Motor de Aragón in November 2015 before choosing GP3 two months later because it was faster.

[59] She had a best result of seventh at the Monza feature race and was eighth at the Circuito de Jerez to finish 18th in the drivers' championship with seven points.

[55] Calderón drove in the series-ending round of the World Series Formula V8 3.5 at Bahrain International Circuit in place of Damiano Fioravanti at RP Motorsport.

[62] A month later, Sauber made Calderón its test driver, spending time in the team's simulator and engineers coached her at its headquarters and race circuits.

[55] After Calderón expressed her hope of testing for Sauber before the year was over,[65] she drove the team's C37 in a promotional day at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on 30 October, becoming the first Latin American woman to drive a Formula One car.

[73] Poor qualifying results from a lack of tyre preparation led her to employ different strategies to gain position in a feature race.

[55] Late in the year, she obtained sponsorship that allowed her to enter the season-ending Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez double header round of the Porsche Supercup in Team Project 1's No.

[75][76] Following the purchase of Arden's Formula 2 entry for the 2020 season by HWA Racelab and the signing of drivers Giuliano Alesi and Artem Markelov, Calderón left the team and sought a career in either American or endurance racing.

11 A. J. Foyt Enterprises Dallara-Chevrolet vehicle,[85] originally for each of the 12 street and road course rounds of the 2022 IndyCar Series;[86] she was replaced by J. R. Hildebrand for the oval track races.

[90] In August, Calderón joined Charouz Racing System, replacing Cem Bölükbaşı for the concluding four rounds of the 2022 Formula 2 Championship with financing from pop singer Karol G.[86][91] She injured her right hand in an accident with Olli Caldwell in the Monza sprint race and she spent the following two months recuperating with the help of therapy to regain her strength in her arm and injured hand.

[93] Calderón entered the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona (part of the IMSA SportsCar Championship) alongside Rahel Frey, Katherine Legge and Christina Nielsen in the No.

[c][95][94] Calderón prepared for the race by increasing her fitness regime and sleeping less in case she was told to drive early in the morning.

66 Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 for the five-round North American Endurance Cup in the GTD category of the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship, joined by Stevan McAleer for the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona.