Photo: Race Pictures

Ferrari make their next move with rising star and Formula 3 champion

17:55, 28 Oct

Updated: 19:38, 28 Oct

byOlly Darcy

Ferrari junior driver and Formula 3 world champion Rafael Camara will step up to Formula 2 next season for Invicta Racing.

"After an amazing season in F3 this year, I feel ready for the next challenge, and I can’t wait to get started with the team.”

- Rafael Camara

The Brazilian took the 2025 title in the junior series with one round to spare at the Hungarian Grand Prix, finishing the season on 166 points with four wins, five podiums and five pole positions to his name, backing up his Formula Regional European Championship title in 2024.

Now, the 20-year-old will get behind the wheel for Invicta for the 2026 Formula 2 season, as GPblog reported recently, with a post-season test at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix also taking place to prepare for next season.

“I’m very proud to be joining Invicta Racing for my first season in Formula 2," Câmara said in Ferrari's press release announcing the move.

Rafael Câmara celebrating after winning the Formula 3 championship - Photo: Race Pictures

"Over the past few years, this team has become the top target for any driver who wants to race in F2 and has shown time and again that it knows how to develop young drivers.

"To follow Gabriel [Bortoleto] and Leonardo [Fornaroli] in making this step as Formula 3 Champion is a huge honour.

"After an amazing season in F3 this year, I feel ready for the next challenge, and I can’t wait to get started with the team.”

Camara following in the footsteps of champions

Invicta will be looking to make it back-to-back world championships in F2, with championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli 19 points clear at the top of the standings with two races remaining, hoping to emulate the success of 2024 champion and now Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto.

Now, as the Brazilian makes the move from F3 to F2, the guidance of Ferrari will be vital once again as he hopes to bring yet more silverware back home.

"We do quite a lot of meetings to prepare for the race weekend. Before the race, we have 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," Camara explained about working with Ferrari in an exclusive interview with GPblog.

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