Who is Rafael Camara? Meet new Haas driver for F1 2027 season

Rafael Camara will join the Formula 1 grid for the F1 2027 season, replacing Esteban Ocon at Haas. Here’s all you need to know about the rookie driver.

Camara is the first rookie confirmed on the F1 2027 roster.

Rafael Camara: Background and Karting career

Camara is a Brazilian 21-year-old who hails from Recife, in the northeast corner of Brazil.

While his mother and father have no motor racing pedigree, his maternal grandmother, Niége Rossiter, is an exception, having taken part in various competitions in the 1960s, both solo and alongside her father.

Camara enjoyed a solid career in karting, but there was little to mark him out as a future star in the first five years of his eight years on that particular ladder.

Racing initially in Brazil, Camara moved, as is almost a requirement for drivers with higher ambitions, to the European and World stages.

In 2019, his breakthrough came as he finished second in the CIK-FIA World Championship in the OK-J category – a class for drivers aged between 12 and 14.

The following year, he graduated to the OK category for drivers aged 14 and over, and littered among a series of, again, solid but not spectacular results, was a third place in the Champions of the Future event.

But 2021 saw him really make a mark, with a dominant season, as he claimed the WSK Champions Cup, the WSK Super Masters Series, and the Champions of the Future titles, whilst also finishing second in the CIK-FIA European Championship.

Rafael Camara: Kimi Antonelli rivalry emerges

Moving into cars in 2022, Camara’s class began to really shine through, finishing second in the F4 UAE Championship, and third in both the Italian and ADAC [German] F4 championships.

In the latter two competitions that year, the titles were claimed by current F1 champion-elect Kimi Antonelli.

This rivalry would continue into 2023 as Antonelli took titles in both competitions in which Camara competed – Formula Regional Middle East and Formula Regional European.

Finishing third and fifth while scoring two wins, both on the European tour, this was where the pair diverged paths as Antonelli was pushed into F2 by Mercedes and Camara repeated these competitions for another year.

Rafael Camara: Ferrari backing

F1 teams have gradually begun signing drivers at increasingly younger ages into their academy programmes, and Ferrari is no exception to the rule.

Camara was taken in by Ferrari in 2021, aged only 16, as he began his progression into cars.

As Ferrari has a long history with Prema Racing, a team which largely competes in junior categories, this was the team with which he spent the first two years of his European career.

His second season in Formula Regional proved more fruitful. Now with experience of the cars, he finished third in the Middle East – racing with the Mumbai Falcons outfit – and won the European title with Prema, taking a combined nine wins.

The F1 support bill was next up and Camara made an instant impact, taking the title at the first attempt with four wins and five pole positions.

This year, he currently leads the F2 standings by seven points over Red Bull Junior Nikola Tsolov with two rounds remaining.

Prior to his confirmation as an F1 driver for the 2027 season, Camara has completed no FP1 running, instead gaining valuable mileage in TPC [testing of previous cars] outings.

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