Photo: Ferrari Driver Academy
Rafael Camara has made a strong start to his debut Formula 2 campaign and his performances were recently recognised by Ferrari, which handed him his first Formula 1 test.
Having made the step up to F2 with Invicta Racing this year following a dominant campaign in FIA Formula 3 with Trident, Camara sits second in the standings – 21 points behind championship leader Gabriele Mini – after three rounds.
Prior to the last round in Montreal, the Ferrari academy driver was given the chance to get behind the wheel of the Scuderia’s 2025 F1 car, the SF-25, in a two-day test at the Hungaroring.
“It was a very special moment for me,” said Camara ahead of this weekend’s fourth F2 round in Monaco. “The main goal was just to get laps and understand how it works and just to get a feeling so I have an understanding of an F1 car.”
“It was a very good time, I did some performance and some long runs so I think for me as a driver it was a very good learning opportunity, working with a lot of different people and learning their way of work. You’ve got so many different people in different areas; in F2 and F3 you only have your engineers so it’s a different way to work.”
“I’ve learnt a lot of things and, yeah very happy with how it went and happy with to be working with an F1 team too.”
Now in his fifth year as a Ferrari academy driver, the highly-rated Brazilian has also been linked with the Haas team with speculation that he could even join the team midway through the 2026 season.
While the 21-year-old remains tight lipped about his future, he remains confident that if the opportunity arises he would be ready to jump in.
“I just focus on my job,” said Camara. “Even if I win or we get top three or two we’ll still see, so we just focus on getting the best results this year with no regrets.
“At the end of the day if you’re a good driver you’re ready for anything, there is nothing really different in the way you drive. There’s still a long way to go, we don’t really know what will happen in the future. I’m not scared of anything; whatever happens will happen.”
The logical next step for Camara would be a free practice appearance with either Haas or Ferrari and he admits that could a possibility. “Maybe,” Camara said when asked. “I would get to know this later on, maybe closer to Austria, then I’ll have a clearer idea.”