With Ferrari as a guide: How this top talent crowned himself champion

16:40, 26 Aug

Updated: 16:46, 26 Aug

byLudo van Denderen

After the race weekend in Hungary, the title was secured already: Rafael Camara was crowned champion in Formula 3. A bright future lies ahead, perhaps even with Ferrari - where the Brazilian is one of the junior drivers.

Not a single meter had been driven in the current F3 season when all eyes were already focused on Rafael Camara from Pernambuco, Brazil. At the time, nineteen years old, a relatively late bloomer for his debut in F3, but as Camara is a driver from the Ferrari training program and so, expectations are naturally high.

Camara under scrutiny

During the season, interest increased even more when it became apparent that Camara was emerging as the leading driver in one of the feeder series to Formula 1. “It's true, but I think in the end it's a good thing,” Camara says about being constantly in the spotlight.

In an exclusive interview with GPblog, on the lower floor of Ferrari's F1 hospitality suite, he explains: "If they are looking, if you have this more attention on you, it means that you are certainly doing well. And I think on my side it doesn't add any more pressure. I do the job that I need to do, and I just enjoy it."

Rafael Camara has already secured his title in F3

A lot of help from Ferrari

Ultimately, Camara certainly did what he needed to do, securing the championship one weekend before the end of the season. Thanks to Ferrari, albeit the racing for Trident. The Scuderia has closely guided Camara throughout the season, on his path to the top of his class.

"We do quite a lot of meetings to prepare for the race weekend. Before the race we do some meetings to see the weather, to see what happened in the past few years, how the performance runs [are looking], how to prepare the engineering [side of things], many things. So, we make sure that we don't leave anything on the table. We know exactly what to do," says Camara about working with Ferrari.

Camara also works on his personal development, in order to appear as mentally strong as possible at the start of races. He considers being older than many of his competitors an advantage. "Growing older you mature more, so you start to be more aware of things and you know more about how to deal with yourself as well."

Rafael Camara dreams of Formula 1

“And also in the middle of the FRECA season in 2023 I started seeing a psychologist. This helped me a lot to manage the weekends. Also to know better about myself. And I think it's something that paid off because last year I was already much better at dealing with myself and controlling my emotions and this year is even better."

Following in the footsteps of Felipe Massa?

Eventually - Camara says - his greatest dream is to reach Formula 1, perhaps following in the footsteps of Felipe Massa, who the last Brazilian who competed for Ferrari. His performance in his home country in F3 is definitely not going unnoticed, the champion saw.

He can still just walk on the streets, but the attention is increasing: "It's quite big, the support, and I think it's a nice thing [to have] as well," says Camara, aware that his fellow Brazilians; passion will grow even larger if he manages to break into Ferrari's F1 team. “For every driver, to go to Ferrari is a dream. When you look at Formula 1, of course there are a lot of big teams. But Ferrari is a unique team."