Rafael Câmara conquered the 2025 F3 crown with a round to spare, scoring four wins and a record-breaking five pole positions to beat his nearest rival by 42 points. During the season finale, the Brazilian spoke to Feeder Series about his past, present and future in the racing world.

By Daniele Spadi

The 20-year-old, who has been a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy since 2022, set the pace from the very beginning this season. He took pole position on his F3 debut at Albert Park before winning a rain-soaked feature race that was ultimately suspended with two laps to go.

Another perfect Sunday came during round two in Bahrain, where the Trident driver yet again took home victory after starting from pole and setting the fastest lap in the process.

One of the Brazilian’s biggest strengths this season was the ability to bounce back after the few far-from-ideal performances he had. After two consecutive retirements in the feature race in Monaco and the sprint in Barcelona, a third feature race victory in Spain helped him grow his championship lead to 26 points.

Five further points finishes in the following six races helped him create a healthy gap to his rivals before he ultimately took home the title with a round to spare in Hungary.

“We as a team were very proud to achieve that before the end of the championship,” the Brazilian told Feeder Series. “It gave us a calmer weekend in Monza, where everything is very chaotic.”

In recent times, Monza has become known for producing tense qualifying sessions and frenetic races, and this year was no different. A track limits violation left Câmara in last after qualifying, but a near-historic recovery drive propelled him to fifth and helped him finish off the year in style.

But it was qualifying the round before in Budapest – where he vaulted to pole despite heavy traffic and high stress – that Câmara classed as the defining moment of his season. The result then led him to take home both the feature race win and the title two days later.

“It was the most intense one because it was the last run [in qualifying],” Câmara said. “Normally, you do your warm-up lap and then you push straight away, but I had to go through the pit lane [before my final run], and the tyres were not anymore in the perfect window…

“I was not extracting the best of the tyres, because I had four laps of warm-up just cruising around the track. To deliver in that last lap, that was the key to finish how we finished, because otherwise the weekend could be much different and we could have been in a different scenario.”

Prior to 2024, Câmara had finished five of his six single-seater campaigns in the top three, but none amounted to a title. That year, however, he decided to stay for a second year in FRegional Europe – and it proved an inspired choice. He waltzed his way to the drivers’ crown, collecting seven wins and as many pole positions in 20 races.

“Once you win a championship, it’s something very useful, because I think you learn a lot how to manage a championship in general,” the 20-year-old told Feeder Series. “There are weekends where you can’t do mistakes and weekends where you can be a bit more calm.

“Especially through the races, where sometimes it’s a bit tough and you get frustrated, sometimes it’s better to finish a bit behind than risk too much and cause some big damage for the championship.”

For Câmara, fighting for titles – not just winning them – helped him develop a better sense of perspective as a driver.

“This also helped me to keep it more calm, especially in the end [of the season],” he added. “When you’re [trying] to win your first championship, you’re always a bit more tense. After you [win] the first one, then you have learned this. I think this is the thing that I’ve used the most this year, the things that I’ve learned in the difficulties last year.”

Until that point, Câmara had raced with Prema and their affiliated teams throughout his entire single-seater journey. To gun for a second straight drivers’ title, however, he changed teams to Trident, which guided Gabriel Bortoleto and Leonardo Fornaroli to drivers’ titles in the previous two seasons.

“When I joined, it’s a new car, so [with] the things that I needed to learn, they were very clear and they basically just showed me the way that you need to drive the car,” he said.

“Every driver has to adapt to what the car needs and they’ve helped me to find that, all the preparation we did for every weekend. And also to start the championship, they did a very good job to set the car in a good window and ready to go in Melbourne.”

Their partnership bore fruit for the six months they raced together. Câmara took a record-breaking five pole positions in a single season of modern F3 while also scoring four feature race victories.

Regardless, he is leaving Trident after just one season together – “we’ll still be together next year in the same paddock,” he says – and moving to F2 with Invicta. In doing so, he follows in the direct footsteps of previous champions Bortoleto and Fornaroli by moving from Trident to the British team. The former won the title in 2024 and the latter is in prime position to do so in 2025, but does Câmara aspire to similar accolades? 

“Every year, whatever the category, you’re always racing to win. Next year, it will be the same goal; I’ll just focus on the things that are under my control and then we see where we’re going to end up,” he said.

“I will prepare as much as I can to make sure that I will arrive in a good shape and try some good battles next year, and maybe – who knows? – fight for the championship.”

It is not uncommon for F3 graduates to partake in the final rounds of the F2 season to gear up for their future commitments. This year, Laurens van Hoepen and Martinius Stenshorne have already done so with Trident, while a third is expected to replace Pepe Martí at Campos for at least the season finale as a result of the Spaniard’s Formula E commitments. Could the Ferrari junior driver also make such a move in the near future?

“We will see,” he answered. “I don’t know yet what I’m going to do during this break. There’s a lot of things that I will know after, to also organise my life and what I’m going to do in this break.”

While Câmara now primarily bases himself near Ferrari’s headquarters in Maranello, he maintains strong ties to his native Brazil as well as its racing culture. The 20-year-old recently joined the Octagon Latam marketing agency created by football legend Ronaldo Nazário, who was also in Imola last May to follow Câmara’s progress prior to signing him in August.

“At the beginning of the year, I met him in Brazil, and then we started these conversations,” Câmara said. “In August we joined the marketing [team] to take care of the things a bit more in Brazil, where basically some people don’t see much as we are basically very far away. To get these things in Brazil helps to build a relationship together with them.”

Interview by Michael McClure

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency