Rafael Camara is the 2025 Formula 3 champion. A win in today’s Feature Race at the Hungaroring means that the 20 year old Brazilian Scuderia Ferrari Driver student’s points total of 156 cannot be beaten, with one round still to come in Monza. Camara secured pole position and then finished eighth in the Sprint Race, before winning the Feature Race in very tricky conditions on a wet track. He stamped his authority on the race, leading from start to finish, perfectly managing the situation.
 
Delight. “I’m very happy, it’s been a very long season,” commented Camara. “This weekend hasn’t been easy, but I managed to win the title. Now that I’ve done it I can say I’m very, very happy. It took a lot of work to get here, months spent working with the Trident team and at the Academy in Maranello. This result is payback for all the inevitable difficulties that go with changing your life: I left Brazil to follow my dream and it was worth it. It takes a long time to become a racing driver and you grow thanks to the difficult moments. I learned you must never give up and today I think that paid off. I’ll enjoy the summer break, but I’ll be ready for the final round in Monza where I really want to do well.”
 
Rookie champion. Camara won the title in his first year in Formula 3, twelve months on from doing the same in the European Formula Regional championship. He started off winning the Feature Race in Melbourne, going on to do the same in Bahrain, Spain and now Hungary. He also secured five pole positions from the nine rounds to date. This has been a strong weekend for the SFDA with Tuukka Taponen finishing third in the Feature Race. The 18 year old Finn had been chasing a podium finish for a while now and it came in difficult conditions thanks to perfect race management. Taponen now moves up to eighth in the standings on 67 points.
 
Qualifying. Camara laid the groundwork for his strong weekend by clinching his fifth pole position of the season in the closing moments of the qualifying session. “I realised how important this moment was’” he said. “But on my out lap I had traffic and so I decided to come through pit lane, much to the surprise of my team, but at the time it seemed the right thing to do.” He thus was able to find a clear track for his final flying lap. Taponen also did well in qualifying, on his very last lap securing third place, the perfect comeback after disappointment last weekend in Spa-Francorchamps.
 
Sprint Race. For the first race of the weekend, Taponen and Camara started from 10^th and 12^th places respectively. After an initial phase behind the Safety Car, the race was linear until lap 10 when Taponen lost two places to Noel Leon and Camara. Rafael then passed Xie on lap 12 three laps before the Safety Car came out again, at which point Camara was eighth and Taponen 11^th. One lap prior to the chequered flag, the race resumed with the pair keeping these positions to the finish line.
 
Feature Race. There was a rolling start with all cars on rain tyres as the track was wet from rain that fell earlier. Camara managed the start very well immediately gapping second placed Mari Boya by over a second. On lap 4 the Safety Car was out once again following an accident and stayed out for a further seven laps after which there were no changes to the podium positions. Camara had great pace while managing tyre degradation very well despite pressure from Boya, who was never given an opportunity to pass. Rafael took the chequered flag two seconds ahead of ther field, while Taponen fought to the very last corner, to finish on the podium after a few difficult weekends.
 
The second Brazilian. Rafael is the second Brazilian to win the Formula 3 championship since it began in 2019, the other being Gabriel Bortoleto. Camara is also the second Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy student to take the title following on from Robert Shwartzman’s victory in the first year.