Câmara: rookie F3 title was "a big surprise"

Written by Morgan Holiday

Credit: Formula 3

FIA Formula 3 has its seventh champion: rookie driver Rafael Câmara.

This past weekend in Hungary, Câmara became the first driver since the series’ inception in 2019 to secure the title before the final round of the season, taking his crown in the Feature Race at the Hungaroring.

F3 is a challenging category and can be a big step for drivers coming from the lower feeder series. Performance in F3, especially as a rookie, is never a given.

Speaking after securing his title, Câmara admitted that he wasn’t expecting to do so well his rookie season.

“Obviously no,” he answered. “I mean it was a big surprise. I think after all the preparation we did obviously you always want to win, you always go into a Championship thinking that you can win the Championship, thinking that you’re going to fight for what you can. 

“But I was never expecting to start how we started in Australia. It was almost a perfect weekend, apart from the Sprint Races, but I think like I said after Australia I knew we were in a good place, and I just needed to keep myself always in a good spot with the team. 

“With myself as well, I had to understand what I needed to do each weekend. Making sure I’m always consistent, as a rookie I think it was a very good year, and I will try to focus now for Monza and finish on a high.”

Câmara’s F3 career could almost not have started better. While he retired from the very first Sprint Race of the year, he had qualified on pole position on Friday and took the Feature Race win from first place on Sunday.

Credit: Formula 3

In Round 2 in Bahrain he took his second pole position and another Feature Race win, cementing himself as the firm leader of the championship.

Throughout the season so far (with one race still to go) Câmara has taken an unprecedented five pole positions in nine rounds. That’s two more poles than any other FIA F3 driver has managed before, breaking Oscar Piastri’s (another rookie F3 champion) record.

Câmara cited a lack of track time before the race as a benefit in his case. F3 drivers get very little track time compared to other series, with just one 45 minute practice session before they have to be ready for qualifying.

For drivers who can quickly find the limit, like Câmara, this disadvantage to the other drivers turns into a massive advantage for them.

“The only thing that is a bit different in Formula 3 compared to the other categories is that you are very limited in lap time,” Câmara said.

“Sometimes you are not even fully on the limit in quali, especially in some races where we had a different compound from FP to quali where you don’t even know where the grip is. But understanding where the limit is and being fast straight away is a strong point on my side, as every time on the first runs we already had good pace and when you start already with good pace, it is much easier to set up what the car needs to improve. 

“I also feel as the driver, it’s just more simple for what you need to do each run, and I think that’s why quali has been so strong.”

Even though Câmara has been sitting at the top of the F3 standings since the beginning of the year, he knew there was no guarantee of winning the championship until he officially secured the title.  

“Everything can change so quickly, so you never relax,” he said. “You know you are first but as you see on the Standings, sometimes I was fighting with one driver, sometimes it was another driver, every time it was changing. 

“I always try to keep it clean, do a good job, don’t get involved in any crashes and be consistent. Even with that, sometimes we were further than P2, sometimes we were very close. We had a bit of luck, for example Austria unfortunately Nikola Tsolov got a disqualification, otherwise it would be much tighter. 

“In Spa we got a bit unlucky that we couldn’t race, as it was a race I could have scored many points. It’s how it goes. A Championship is always very tricky, everything can change very quickly, you just have to make sure you are always in the right mindset.”

There's still one round left in the championship after the final break, which will take place at Autodromo Nazionale Monza. While the other drivers will be fighting for the highest possible finishing position, Câmara can relax for one round knowing that the F3 title is his.