Photo: Dutch Photo Agency
The gaze of the world’s motor-racing media will be on Rafael Camara when he makes his Formula 1 debut for Haas at Interlagos this weekend. But Formula Scout has been following the journey of the quietly-spoken star from Recife on the eastern tip of Brazil since before he even made his single-seater debut.
For much of his early career, Camara’s path was closely interwoven with that of another rising star, Andrea Kimi Antonelli. For the junior formula cognoscenti, great things were expected from the teenager from Bologna from day one and, at times, Camara appeared slightly mesmerised by the brightness of Antonelli’s angelic halo.
The speed was there but wins were hard to come by as Antonelli steamrollered his way to titles in Italian and ADAC German Formula 4 in 2022 followed by Formula Regional Europe in 2023.
Camara had begun karting when he was six. “Actually, my brother started to race but he didn’t like it,” he explains. “I was five when he stopped. Then I said to my dad I wanted to drive. I wanted to race but at five it was not possible, so I had to wait like five months and then start to race. And when I started to race, I didn’t stop. Every time tried to go even better and better.”
His rivalry with Antonelli had started when they were both children, the two then progressing through the karting ranks together (“I think we raced together in mini karts so it’s quite a long time that we race together,” he told Formula Scout in 2022).
Camara came out second-best to Antonelli in the CIK-FIA European Championships in 2021 (in a star-studded field that also included Arvid Lindblad and Nikola Tsolov). But Camara turned the tables to beat Antonelli in the WSK Super Master Series and the Champions Cup as the two enjoyed numerous battles across Europe.
His car racing debut came in late January in the UAE, taking six wins in 13 races, and easily seeing off Antonelli in the one event where they met on track. Expectations were therefore high when the European season got underway.
Though Camara started with a win on his Italian F4 debut he was helped by a gearbox problem which sidelined race leader Antonelli. He would score just one more win in Italy (plus one in Germany) as his Italian rival blasted his way to 22 in total to claim both Italian and ADAC titles.
Camara leads Antonelli at Spa in 2022 – Photo: ACI Sport
As Formula Scout observed (with some prescience) in our 2022 Italian F4 season review
Camara was unable to build on his Imola win. The pace was there, evidenced by four pole positions, but frustratingly he often seemed to lose out in wheel-to-wheel combat with the exception of his aggressive but fair move on Antonelli at Misano. The rivalry between the more introverted Camara and the effervescent Antonelli will continue for many years, not least in Formula Regional European Championship in 2023.
There was no disgrace in being beaten by the more-experienced Antonelli who had made an early start in cars in 2021 as soon as he as possible after his 15th birthday. The two remained friends as well as rivals, pushing each other to new heights. In 2022, he told Formula Scout that “It’s always nice to have some rival who is really fast so you can work more and prove [more]. I really enjoy to drive like this. Someone who can push more, it’s really good.”
Antonelli and Camara were obviously two stars in the same galaxy.
Camara had been signed by the Ferrari Driver Academy at the end of 2021, coincidentally on the same day that his team-mate this weekend Oliver Bearman also joined the Scuderia, although the deal had been on the cards for some time.
Antonelli, of course, had been signed by Mercedes-AMG F1 in his karting days, beginning the strong bond that led to this year’s F1 World Championship title for the Silver Arrows.
Both programmes focus on the long-term development of their drivers rather than a hire ’em and fire ’em approach employed elsehwere. The talents are there to be nurtured and protected. At the same time, while Antonelli was clearly the ‘chosen one’ at Mercedes from a very early stage, Camara was one of a bunch of talents competing at similar levels. Cared for, sure, but not favoured.
What the pair also share is their adoration for Ayrton Senna. Antonelli famously adopted Senna’s 1988 World Championship-winning number 12 in his junior career before picking it again in F1. For Camara, “Senna for me was the best. Senna is probably the idol for all Brazilians. I didn’t watch him race but I watched some of the documentaries and stories about him.”
During the season, Formula Scout sat down with Camara to talk about his background and his career to date in our Scout Report format. The family environment within the Prema junior squad, overseen by Angelo Rosin and Grazia Troncon, clearly suited him.
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Scout Report: Rafael Camara
Listing him as one of the drivers to watch for 2023, Formula Scout commented positively on his rookie F4 season:
It’s easy to look at their results side-by-side and say one was overshadowed by the other, but the reality is Camara adapted brilliantly to F4 (arguably better than almost any other single-seater newcomer last year) and was on the podium more often than he was off it which is rare for a rookie to achieve.
For 2023, he would again line up against Antonelli as both graduated to FREC with Prema. The pair topped the times in pre-season testing, prompting Formula Scout to opine that “with Prema looking to have maintained its performance advantage over the winter, the second instalment of the duel between Antonelli and Camara would be worth the price of an entrance ticket on its own.”
In reality, Camara was once again overshadowed by Antonelli who swept to the title and promotion straight to Formula 2 as Mercedes looked to fast track him to F1. Camara took three poles and two wins, and was unlucky at Monza when the race was red flagged just after he had swept past his team-mate for the lead, meaing results were declared as at the previous lap.
Photo: Dutch Photo Agency
In Formula Scout’s half-term report, he admitted that “sometimes we are missing a bit. You need to be really focused on the quali because otherwise it’s a bit difficult to gain the positions back in the race, because the category itself is a bit difficult to pass.”
Nevertheless, he said, “we were always doing some good progress, even if we were losing; we always had something to take from the weekend”.
As Antonelli moved up, Camara stayed for a second season in FREC, and dominated the championship, beginning his run of successive titles as he moved up to the top of the ladder. The decision to repeat at that level was contorversial at the time, but as then team principal at Prema, Rene Rosin, told Formula Scout: “For the first time in his career, he’s repeating his season because it’s something that we discussed quite a lot with Ferrari. We need to make sure that he’s capable of winning, that we know that the experience will help him in the future.”
And how right he was! Camara dominated the championship, taking seven wins on the way. He seemed to have become a different, more relaxed person without losing his speed. Importantly, he seemed to have cracked qualifying, something which has become his strongest suit in F3 and F2 subsequently.
In addition to one-lap pace, he had been working on becoming more consistent in his race performances, something that clearly paid off.
“I was working very hard for that. I really wanted to do a good job. Prema did an amazing job all year. The car was every time really good. We never had any issue, only the Red Bull Ring was not very good but the rest we managed pretty well. I was just giving my best on track, doing what I love to do and enjoying it.”
In Formula Scout’s Top 50 driver rankings (where Camara placed eighth, two places higher than Antonelli), we noted that “Camara’s ability to judge traffic and conditions to pull out a fast qualifying lap – he was the only driver never to qualify outside of the first four rows – will serve him well in the time-pressured sessions of FIA F3, as he leaves Prema after three years with them for Italian rivals Trident.”
Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
His departure from Prema after three seasons was an emotional moment. “It has been a long journey. Three years together. I learned a lot with them. I think when I arrived at Prema I was maybe a little lazy but I have been improving. Working with very good professionals, very good persons, that made me grow up as a person not only on track but outside as well, and to do the things properly. I will miss them,” he said at the time.
Trident had become the team to beat in FIA F3, having won the title with Gabriel Bortoleto in 2023 and Leonardo Formaroli in 2024. He may have had the best-prepared car, at least at the start of the year before other teams caught up, but he made good use of it.
Camara was the quickest driver over both a single lap and on rolling race pace in FIA F3. As a result of his dominant performance, he jumped to third in Formula Scout’s annual Top 50 ranking in 2025 (with Antonelli, of course, no longer eligible).
For this year, he followed what was now becoming a well-worn path from Trident to Invicta Racing in Formula 2.
Though five pole positions from 12 weekends are again testament to his ability to drag out a perfect single lap, even under extreme pressure, as evidenced in Monaco, for example (“the craziest lap of my life”), he has been involved in a number of unnecessary midfield incidents. In the cut-and-thrust of modern F2 such things are inevitable, and Camara is far from a wild driver.
His mistake with warming the tyres after his pit stop in Monaco cost him a win in the Principality, something that hurts him still when he looks back. But he has again demonstrated consistency alongside his qualifying pace.
Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
At the time of writing, Camara heads the F2 points standings from former karting rival Tsolov. Whether he goes on to win the title, and thus become only the second driver after Oscar Piastri to win consecutive championships in a junior category, F3 and F2, depends on many factors besides scoring the necessary points: will F2 race as scheduled in Qatar and Abu Dhabi? And will he stay with Haas until the end of the F1 season and thus miss any F2 races that are actually held?
But what sealed the Haas drive, even more than his F2 performances, were the TPC (“Testing of Previous Cars”) outing with Ferrari and then in the summer with Haas itself at Portimao.
Camara was thrilled with both experiences, commenting after his maiden F1 outing in a 2025 Ferrari at the Hungaroring that “it was a very special moment for me. 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. 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.”
When Formula Scout caught up with him at Monza, he was tight-lipped on the Haas test and what it might mean for the future but confessed that ‘it was amazing to drive. From a driving point of view, you just really enjoy it a lot, because it’s so fast, gives more adrenaline, and I think that’s what makes it so nice to drive. It’s what you always dreamed about. Obviously, the dream is to be there [in F1] racing full time, but it’s good to have a taste and to drive an F1 car.”
On Sunday, he will do that in a Grand Prix for the first time. And alongside Kimi Antonelli.
Photo: ACI Sport
When Formula Scout asked him about racing with Antonelli in 2024, he admitted that he missed his friend and rival.
“[Antonelli] was very good for me because when we started, he was already very quick, so I think I managed to improve myself, to be faster. He is a very nice guy, so to work with him is always nice. We always had a good relationship but also on the track we always respected each other, fighting every time.
“So, yes, I miss him and hopefully we find [ourselves] together in Formula 1!” he smiled.
This weekend at Interlagos, they will finally be reunited on the main stage: the F1 debutant and the newly-crowned World Champion.