Rafael Câmara: Ferrari junior, F2 leader and Haas F1 driver for 2027
Rafael Câmara will be a Formula 1 driver in 2027. Haas confirmed the 21-year-old Brazilian on 15 October as Esteban Ocon’s replacement, on a multi-year contract. He arrives as the reigning Formula 3 champion and, in his rookie season, the leader of the Formula 2 championship.
“I’m very happy to be joining TGR Haas F1 Team as a Formula 1 driver,” Câmara said when Haas announced the deal.
Rafael Câmara: Fast Facts
- Name: Rafael Câmara
- Date of birth: 5 May 2005
- Nationality: Brazilian
- Junior programme: Ferrari Driver Academy, since 2022
- 2026: FIA Formula 2, Invicta Racing, car number 1
- 2027: Race driver for Haas in Formula 1
- Titles: Formula Regional European Championship 2024, FIA Formula 3 2025
From karting in America to Ferrari’s academy
Câmara started karting before he was ten and raced in the SKUSA Super Master Series in the United States from 2016. In 2021 he won the WSK Champions Cup and the WSK Super Master Cup at Adria. That same year Ferrari picked him at its Scouting World Finals, and he joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2022, the same route Oliver Bearman took.
His first full car season, in 2022, was with Prema in Formula 4. He won nine races across the UAE, Italian and German championships and finished second in the UAE and third in Italy.
Three titles in a row is the target
The results since then explain why Haas moved. With Prema he won the 2024 Formula Regional European Championship, taking eight wins and five poles and clinching the title with a round to spare. A year later he won the FIA Formula 3 title with Trident. According to Formula 1, he set the record for most poles in a single F3 season, with five, and equalled Arvid Lindblad’s record for the highest win percentage in F3 history.
In 2026 he stepped up to Formula 2 with Invicta Racing. As a rookie he leads the standings on 207 points, seven ahead of Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov, with two rounds left. He has three Feature Race wins, including Barcelona, and four further podiums. He also lost a likely win in Monaco through his own mistake while leading.
That puts him on the same path as his compatriot Gabriel Bortoleto, who also won the F3 title before reaching Formula 1.
The Portimão test that decided the seat
Haas did not pick Câmara on paper alone. In August he drove the team’s 2025 car in a two-day test at Portimão. Formula 1 described that test as essentially a shoot-out with Leonardo Fornaroli, the 2025 F2 champion and McLaren reserve, and the Haas reserve drivers Jack Doohan and Ryo Hirakawa.
Team principal Ayao Komatsu had said in Baku what he was looking for in a new driver: “You cannot teach them speed.” Câmara got the seat. Fornaroli will race for McLaren’s Hypercar team in the WEC instead.
Taking over from Ocon
Câmara replaces Esteban Ocon, who confirmed on 30 September that he leaves Haas at the end of 2026. Ocon has not announced a new team. Oliver Bearman, another Ferrari junior, drives the other Haas this season.
How the move came together, from the first reports in July: Rafael Câmara to Haas in 2027.
Haas races next at the United States Grand Prix in Austin: start times and how to watch.
Our read
Haas is buying speed and a track record of winning in every category, not experience. A driver who has been champion in FRECA and F3 and leads F2 as a rookie has shown he learns a new car quickly, which matters more than anything at a small team. The risk is the jump itself: Câmara will have one F2 season behind him when he lines up on an F1 grid, and Haas rarely has the car to hide a rookie’s mistakes.
First, the F2 title
Before any of that, Câmara has two Formula 2 rounds left to turn his seven-point lead into a title. The latest table is on our Formula 2 standings 2026 page.
Sources: Formula 1, FIA Formula 2, Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy.
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