Rafael Câmara
Background
Rafael Câmara is a Brazilian racing driver in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with Invicta Racing. He arrived in F2 as the reigning FIA Formula 3 champion, and in his rookie season he has been one of the fastest drivers on the grid, winning at Barcelona and Spa-Francorchamps and running third in the championship.
Câmara was born in Recife, Brazil, in 2005, and came up through the European junior ladder: Italian Formula 4, then Formula Regional, then FIA Formula 3. He is a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, the junior programme that has carried drivers like Charles Leclerc to the top level, and his junior record has made him one of Brazil's strongest single-seater prospects.
Junior career
Karting to Formula 4
Câmara's first single-seater seasons followed the classic European route out of karting, through Formula 4, racing against the generation of drivers now spread across Formula 2 and the F1 junior programmes.
2024 — Formula Regional champion
His breakthrough title came in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine with Prema Racing, which he won. That championship is the standard stepping stone into FIA Formula 3, and it earned him the move up.
2025 — Formula 3 champion at the first attempt
Câmara needed only one season in FIA Formula 3. Driving for Trident, he won the drivers' championship as a rookie, clinching it at Budapest. The year became a season-long duel with Nikola Tsolov: Câmara took the title, while Tsolov finished runner-up with the all-time F3 wins record. The pair traded blows all season, and Tsolov beat him to pole and the win in Monaco, but Câmara's consistency decided it.
That fight is the rivalry that carried straight into Formula 2, with both drivers stepping up as rookies in 2026.
2026 — the rookie season
Câmara's first F2 win came at Barcelona. His second was the standout: at Spa-Francorchamps he took pole, the win and the fastest lap in a chaotic, red-flagged Feature race, a fourth straight Spa Feature win for Invicta across two seasons. A podium at Budapest followed, keeping him third in the standings behind Tsolov and Gabriele Minì at the summer break.
The Tsolov rivalry has stayed close on track, too. At Spa the two went side by side into La Source at a restart, with Tsolov ending up through the gravel and race control taking no action — the kind of hard racing that defined their F3 title fight.
Career record
| Year | Series | Team | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Formula Regional European (FRECA) | Prema Racing | Champion |
| 2025 | FIA Formula 3 | Trident | Champion |
| 2026 | FIA Formula 2 | Invicta Racing | P3* |
Honours & records
- 2025 FIA Formula 3 champion, as a rookie, at the first attempt
- 2024 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine champion
- F2 race winner as a rookie: Barcelona and Spa-Francorchamps, 2026
- Pole, win and fastest lap in the 2026 Spa Feature race
- Ferrari Driver Academy member
Common questions
Who is Rafael Câmara?
A Brazilian racing driver with Invicta Racing in FIA Formula 2. He won the 2025 Formula 3 title and has taken multiple wins in his rookie F2 season.
What is his rivalry with Nikola Tsolov?
The two fought for the 2025 F3 championship. Câmara took the title, Tsolov the all-time wins record, and both moved up to F2 in 2026, where the fight has continued at the front of the standings.
Could he reach Formula 1?
An F3 title and rookie F2 wins put him firmly on the radar, and Ferrari Driver Academy membership ties him to a team with a record of promoting its juniors. A strong end to 2026 would make the question hard to ignore.
Nikola Tsolov
The driver Câmara beat to the 2025 F3 title — and the championship leader he is chasing in 2026.