Câmara calls home qualifying debut "positive" despite late crash
Rafael Câmara's first Formula One qualifying session ended with his Haas in the barrier at Junção, the last corner of Interlagos, in front of his home crowd. The Brazilian was classified 13th after a wet and chaotic Saturday that gave him a sharp introduction to the sport.
Câmara, from Recife, was drafted in by Haas for his home race to replace Esteban Ocon and is set to take the seat permanently next season. His session was eventful from the start. He hit a barrier on the back straight early in Q1 but recovered to progress, then took his place in Q2 on a track that was drying unevenly.
With 43 seconds left in that segment he locked up at Junção and slid across the grass into the wall. The red flag ended Q2 there and then, which also stopped Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri from making a final attempt to improve.
Câmara was unhurt. “That was a tricky one,” he said. “I’m okay. It was just a bit unlucky, I think, in the last corner, getting the lock-up, and then after trying to release to make the corner, it was really not possible.”
He did not play down the mistakes. “I’ve been, in a way, a bit disappointed with the mistakes. I know for the team it’s not what they want, but overall I think it was a positive session.”
Sunday brings his Grand Prix debut at home, with more tricky conditions expected. His target is modest and deliberate. “One thing, we don’t want to crash tomorrow,” Câmara said. “I think we just try to have a clean race.”
Most of his preparation will happen away from the track. “The approach is just prepare as much as we can today, going to the data, going to the engineers, and see what we can do best for tomorrow, and make sure that we are ready for all the scenarios,” he said. He accepts the race will ask a lot of him. “There’s a lot of things to do in the race, but just try to be as much ready as we can, so we can do a good race.”
Finishing without a trip to the barrier is a small ambition for a home debut, and a sensible one on a wet Interlagos.
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