“I was just trying to keep it cool” - Inside Rafa Câmara’s stunning recovery to Monaco F2 pole
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
“I probably don't want to experience that again,” said Invicta Racing’s Rafa Câmara after securing a maiden F2 pole in Monaco. “It was too stressful during the quali (F2 qualifying in Monaco)”.
Câmara knows a thing or two about taking pole position. Perhaps, on this day, it may have been the last thing on his mind, when he struck the barrier at Anthony Noghes corner and saw his efforts evaporate as his Invicta machine crabbed along to the finish line.
Several drivers struck the walls as they looked for every millisecond around the streets of Monaco on this day, but few struck the wall harder than the Brazilian at the very final corner of the circuit.
As he hobbled back to the pits with a damaged suspension on his Invicta Racing car, Câmara may have had to kiss goodbye to his entire Monaco weekend. With qualifying an even more defining factor around the streets of the Principality, a long weekend beckoned in store.
With group qualifying setting a driver back two positions on the grid rather than one, he may have been consigned to a back-of-the-grid start. It’s never an easy job to repair a broken suspension, let alone with less than 10 minutes to go in an already-shortened, fast-paced Monaco qualifying session.
But as they say, you’re never far away from the barriers in Monaco. In the words of PREMA Racing’s Sebastián Montoya during a pre-weekend media interaction, “It’s never over until it’s over.” On this day, the racing gods in Monaco held out a candle of hope for Câmara. With three minutes and 51 seconds to go, Trident’s John Bennett careered into the barrier at Turn 1, bringing out the first red flag interruption of the day.
While this was a big opportunity for the reigning F3 champion, even he didn’t expect a lifeline to be handed on this day. Opportunities such as these come by rarely in F2, and as for the Invicta man, he wouldn’t have known if his day was over, or if he’d still be in the race for the dream Monaco pole.
“It was a bit tricky to know exactly what we were going to do,” Câmara reflected to DIVEBOMB, looking back to the critical moments. “Once it was a red flag, we were just speaking about the procedures and the warm-up, what we were going to do, and make sure that everything was very clear for me to just focus on the driving,” he said, speaking on the way Invicta approached this final stage of Group B qualifying.
Qualifying in Monaco is always daunting, no matter the car or championship taking to the streets of the Principality. But through this challenge, the fiercest are the ones who brave this challenge and rise to the fore.
On a day when drivers were looking at multiple laps to warm their tyres and bring them to the right temperature, Câmara would have only a single lap to warm his tyres and bring them up to speed. Invicta Racing went for two flying laps right at the end, in a bid to give themselves the best chance of a result.
Perhaps you could argue that they also had the best track position. Being at the end of Monaco’s pit lane meant the team in yellow were able to send their cars out before anyone else, and benefit from a clear track ahead.
And while the first lap was only a banker lap. At a 1:24.269, it was over 2.3 seconds off provisional group topper Dino Beganovic’s time. Yet, it was this advantage of having a clear track that saw Câmara cross the line for his final lap, with only 34 seconds left on the clock.
“On my side, I was just trying to keep it cool,” Câmara mentioned. “I knew it’s not going to be easy, especially in Monaco. We just tried to maximise the last lap and be up there at the front.”
Pulling a stellar lap right out of the bag has been the Brazilian’s speciality in all his racing career.
His qualifying finishes in 2026 read: Sixth, second, second (before a penalty in Canada demoted him to fifth). You’d feel it was only a matter of time before the eventual big result came through.
A five-time pole-sitter in his championship-winning F3 season last year, Câmara certainly knows a thing or two about putting it at the front of the field over a single lap.
Throughout his single-seater exploits, the Brazilian driver has been a strong qualifier, arguably the strongest across junior racing categories. Câmara’s seven poles stood as a hallmark in a title-winning FRECA campaign only two years prior. One look at his racing record of taking at least a single pole in all single-seater series bar one, and it certainly points to an area of strength.
Even still, there was an air of nervousness as the Invicta racer set off on his final run in a 16-minute group qualifying session in Monaco. This was one venue he hadn’t conquered during his rampaging F3 campaign last year. The bragging rights on that day went to his good friend Nikola Tsolov, who will join him on the front row for Sunday’s Feature Race.
On a day when drivers were taking chunks of time by riding ever close and even going into the barriers, Câmara threw everything into his final lap. Two personal best sectors put him 59 milliseconds ahead of Tsolov’s teammate Noel León, who had briefly held the quickest time. But as has been the case with great Monaco pole laps, the biggest differentiator has been the final sector.
The Invicta man hustled his way around the Swimming Pool chicane and Rascasse, with slight moments of oversteer along the way. Despite another brief moment into the Anthony Noghes corner - the very one that he hadn’t nailed earlier on - he would set himself up for a clean run down to the line.
Stopping the clocks at a 1:20.923, Câmara had stormed to the top of the standings. It was a tenth of a second too much for anyone in his group to close down, as Alex Dunne, Beganovic and Gabriele Minì all fell short at the end. By the time all 22 drivers had completed their Monaco qualifying runs, the Brazilian driver would be the only one to set a lap time in the 1:20s, truly capping off that comeback drive.
Despite having to wait through Group A’s qualifying to see if he would start on pole or on the front row, the Brazilian driver appeared less nervous in the garage than on his qualifying lap.
“I think, to be honest, it's quite nice,” he expressed, delighted to sit back and watch his peers face the challenge of Monaco. “I don't think you need to worry much. What you can do is just, at that time, and in that moment, what you can control. And after that, you just wait for what's going to happen.”
It was indeed a long wait, but he would eventually be able to celebrate. Monaco is a track that rewards the brave and those willing to risk it all for the biggest award on the day. And for Câmara, who had been to this circuit way back in 2023 as a Ferrari junior, he could finally relish the happiness of a pole in the Principality.
Yet, despite the joys of a famous comeback, he too knows the job is only half done. With the pole-sitter not winning the last two Feature Races in Monaco due to incidents and late safety cars, you’d be less likely equating pole to a race win in F2’s races in the Principality.
“Nothing is secured until Sunday evening. So let's see what happens,” Câmara reiterated, avoiding jumping to any early conclusions.
The Principality is known for its fabled stories dotting every nook and corner of its famed street circuit, and perhaps, another Brazilian may be writing his destiny on the streets once again.
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