What made Ferrari F1 protege Rafael Camara the “clear choice” for Haas

Rafael Camara’s performance in his Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) outing with Haas was key to securing a Formula 1 drive with the team next season.

The 21-year-old Brazilian and current Formula 2 championship leader will make his F1 debut with the US-based Haas team in 2027 having been selected to replace the outgoing Esteban Ocon. 

Camara was picked over the reigning F2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli and Haas reserve drivers Jack Doohan and Ryo Hirakawa after coming out on top during a shootout assessment in previous F1 machinery at Portugal’s Portimao circuit in August.

Speaking to media including Crash.net shortly after the announcement, Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu revealed he was blown away by Camara’s performance.

Natural speed and feeling

“He was the quickest. That was a very simple answer. Definitely, yeah. He was impressive,” Komatsu said on Thursday. 

“I always said we were going to choose a driver by performance, and then through those evaluations, it was Rafa just showed incredible speed and feel. So that was the fully overriding factor above everything else. 

"We have a good relationship with Ferrari, as you all know, but that just means that that gave us access to the FDA drivers. So like when we had Ollie in the Mexico FP1, that was largely because of that, then we were really impressed. So we got him to do six FP1s in the following year, then had a chance to sign him for '25 this year. 

"Rafa was the same. We were watching his progress. Qualifying like Monaco and Montreal, what he's done this year was very impressive. So having that relationship with Ferrari gave us the chance to have access to Rafa. 

“Then in the Portimao TPC test, he was just simply outstanding. So I really don't have huge concerns. Of course, there's risks involved in everything, whatever decision you take. But for me, we really wanted to go for someone who's got this natural speed and feeling, because that's something you cannot teach. 

“If you look at some of the F2 races, sometimes he races very well, good tyre management, but sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes his race craft can be improved, but those things I believe we can work together to improve. But we cannot teach feelings, right? Feelings he's got. 

“That was very, very clear in Portimao testing because track condition was always changing. Track temperature, wind condition, on top of that we had some issue with tyre vibration as well. 

“All those variations and difficulties thrown at him and he really judged it very, very well in a very calm manner, professional manner. So overall, that was a clear choice for us.” 

Two drivers with 'equally exciting' potential 

Camara is set to partner Briton Ollie Bearman, who is expected to continue with Haas for a third season in 2027. Both Bearman and Camara are members of the Ferrari driver academy. 

Komatsu said Haas can see “equally exciting” parallels compared to when Bearman was testing for the team, with Camara’s raw speed and adaptability emerging as standout factors. 

“In terms of potential we see, I’d say equally exciting. Very, very similar,” Komatsu explained. “But in the details, I think it's different because what impressed me most with Ollie was how he understood the overall situation, how he understood his role, how he executed in the FP1 in Mexico, first time in an F1 car. 

“That's a very different scenario to what Rafa had in Portimao, which was a clear shootout. The first time he's jumping in our car. So speed, honestly, excitement about the speed. 

“But in terms of how we were impressed with Rafa is really that judging those conditions, because you've got to have a very, very good feel to the car about the grip, to be able to judge those ever-so-changing conditions. 

“The condition was changing like every minute, every lap. No two laps were the same. So that was impressive. But also knowing it's a shootout, he created his environment so that he can focus on what he needs to do, and how he wasn't fixated about the outcome. 

“He focused on what he needed to do to be himself, to get his best performance, to then understand what's the mechanism for him to do that, and then execute was very impressive. 

"It's just the potential, how we can grow together, how we can nurture his talent, how we can flourish his potential. So that is the common exciting factor.”