What you need to know about F1's likely new driver
"I've never met a driver who is so naturally talented as he is."
If you speak to anyone who has worked with likely 2027 Formula 1 driver Rafael Camara, you'll get a similar response to the above.
Humble and softly-spoken out of the car, Camara can be ruthlessly fast inside the cockpit, delivering qualifying laps that blow his rivals out of the water, but with the racecraft of a rough diamond.
The Race spoke to Ferrari protege Camara in Baku - a weekend where he emerged as the favourite to take Esteban Ocon's Haas seat next year and where he reclaimed the Formula 2 points lead - as well as his F2 team boss James Robinson, to review his season so far and find out whether Camara feels ready to step up to F1 if given the opportunity.
'Incredible' raw speed
The chief characteristic that has fundamentally made Camara an F2 title contender this year and explains why he's impressed Haas enough to consider signing him is that he's fast.
Just look at the qualifying average from F2 this season and rookie Camara's advantage is clear, with only second-year driver Alex Dunne coming close.
F2 qualifying averages
1 Rafael Camara 2.54
2 Alex Dunne 3.77
3 Nikola Tsolov 5.77
4 Martinius Stenshorne 7.54
5 Noel Leon 8.31
6 Joshua Duerksen 8.38
7 Kush Maini 8.85
8 Dino Beganovic 9.23
9 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak 10.38
10 Gabriele Mini 10.92
You have to go back to 2021 F2 champion Oscar Piastri to find a driver pick up so many poles (five) in F2 as a rookie and for a driver with a better average qualifying record.
It was that searing raw speed that was also the bedrock of his 2025 Formula 3 title campaign, too, as he was on pole for four of the first five feature races.
"The speed is just incredible. I've never met a driver who is so naturally talented as he is. He has a feeling for the tyres I've never seen before. It's so natural," Camara's Invicta F2 team boss Robinson told The Race.
"As soon as he stepped in the car, you could see that this guy had something, had a natural speed and feel that we hadn't seen before."
That's strong praise from an Invicta team that has run Audi F1 driver Gabriel Bortoleto and McLaren reserve (and fellow 2027 Haas F1 seat contender) Leonardo Fornaroli to F2 titles in 2024 and 2025.
Invicta had plenty of drivers offering their services for 2026, but Camara's raw speed had been so impressive even before F3, he'd long been on the team's radar.
Rough edges
Camara is by no means the finished article. Much like the last Ferrari junior to graduate to F1, Ollie Bearman (ironically Camara's likely 2027 team-mate), alongside the insane raw speed there are still rough edges to his racecraft, by his own admission.
His speed in F2 has been present since pre-season testing, but his early season was blighted by major errors in Montreal and Monaco.
In Montreal, he spun himself out by diving down the inside of fellow Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic into Turn 2 when the door was already closed.
And then in Monaco, Camara lost a near-certain win by struggling to fire up his tyres on the outlap after his pitstop and then locking up and going down the escape road at Turn 1 while under pressure from title rival Nikola Tsolov.
"We can be quite happy with what we have done this year, but for sure there were some moments that could be easily avoided," Camara told The Race.
"Some mistakes that I think maybe cost us a bit too much points. There was Montreal that I think was a really stupid move.
"Then Monaco, in a way, we had everything so under control. This year the outlap was very tricky. By being a bit more on the safe side, I snowballed. Then after it was a big problem.
"We know that Monaco is impossible to overtake, so I didn't want to lose the race. Then I ended up in a much worse place than just being P2.
"But overall I think it has been a very good season, because I think every time that we had done a mistake, or something that was not the ideal thing or the right thing, we've always been able to learn and to grow.
"This is how I really see this season, I think I really grew as a driver, also with the team, getting more comfortable with everyone."
Camara hasn't been able to completely cut out the errors - despite following up that rough early patch with inspired wins at Barcelona and Spa.
The Madring feature race perfectly summed up the duality of his racecraft, as having pulled off a remarkably bold move on his title rival Tsolov, Camara followed it up by going a step too far with a bolder move that sent Oliver Goethe into the wall and earned Camara a 10-second time penalty.
"He's generally a very calm head in the car and doesn't often make mistakes," Robinson said.
"He has made a couple this year. I think the downfall, if you compare it to, say, Leonardo [Fornaroli, 2025 F2 champion] last season, the big difference between those two years, Leo didn't make any big mistakes at all. That was the recipe for him winning the championship with a round to spare.
"Rafa has a speed that is undeniable. He's worked hard this year. All he needed to do really was just cut out those silly mistakes that cost him in Montreal and Monaco, for example, and get off the line well.
"If he can do those things, then he's pretty good at winning races."
Baku was another example, as after his sprint race was ruined by picking up a 10-second time penalty for locking up and running into the back of Aston Martin junior Mari Boya, Camara rebounded brilliantly on Saturday to win the second feature race and jump back into the points lead.
Box office team radio
Camara's conversations with his Invicta race engineer Pau Rivera, who has engineered the likes of Bortoleto and Zhou Guanyu on their way to F1, have been popular additions to F2's highlight reels this year.
In Montreal, Rivera told Camara: "That's not the way, mate, that's not the way, so now you need to keep it cool and reset" and after Camara lost the Monaco win, he remarkably asked Camara over the radio: "What was the issue on this lap? Why the f*** did you go so slow? We had a massive margin! What the f*** happened there?"
Those conversations drew plenty of attention on social media, but for Camara it's simply evidence of an honest relationship between driver and race engineer.
"Since the beginning we always had a very nice relationship, we've always been very transparent to each other," Camara explained.
"In the races and the sessions, we're both more excited, and I think sometimes if we don't do the perfect job or if we don't maximise, for sure we're going to be a bit upset.
"Probably in those moments we can discuss a bit more. But it's still nothing really personal. It's just us trying to always maximise and do the best of what we can do together."
Ready for F1?
Asked if Camara was ready for F1, Robinson replied: "100%. I'd be very, very surprised if he doesn't race in Formula 1".
Camara is yet to partake in an F1 practice session, but he has been clocking plenty of laps for both Ferrari and Haas as part of their Testing of Previous Cars programmes - teams are allowed to test pre-2026 cars on up to 20 days this year, with race drivers limited to 1000km total mileage.
It was Camara's speed he showed Haas, which also tried out Jack Doohan, Fornaroli and reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa, in the TPC tests that has been a huge factor in him becoming the favourite to replace Ocon.
Camara said of his TPC running: "The tests we did with the TPCs have been always positive.
"I was able always to learn and to grow up during these tests…I'm pleased with what I did.
"Also, it was very nice to get this amount of tests [in] F1, so also in a way for us to be more prepared and in a good shape."
So would Camara be ready for F1 if he was given a race seat for 2027?
He replies: "Yes, I don't see why not. I think at the end of the day you're [still] driving fast cars in a circuit [in F1]. So I've been doing this for quite a while.
"It's a very different place. There's a lot more things going on. But I think that it's more really outside of the car.
"In the car, you just do your job and try to always maximise what you can. I think it's the thing that I enjoy the most. It will be always a pleasure to be driving.
"If I'm there it's also a dream, because you're working your whole life for that.
"Obviously it's always nice to get TPCs, but you don't want to just get the taste and not be there the whole time.
"It will be something nice and I think I'm ready."
