How a two-day Haas test helped Camara earn his 2027 F1 seat

The two-day Haas shoot-out helped Rafael Camara earn his 2027 Formula 1 seat. He described it as “an intense two days”: the track and team were new, and he had not met everyone at Haas.

Haas boss Ayao Komatsu was evaluating four young drivers as he considered a replacement for Esteban Ocon. Camara said he had just two days to get comfortable and deliver; he worried he might feel “a bit tight” and not be himself. He wanted to enjoy the test because, he said, it was an opportunity he did not expect to have again.

His lap times in tricky conditions caught Komatsu and the engineers’ attention. They were impressed by how quickly he extracted performance, adapted to different conditions and kept mistakes to a minimum. The test strengthened his chance to step up to F1.

After Komatsu gave him the good news, Camara told his parents: “I’ll be driving next year.” He said his father was more emotional when they hugged. Camara said he had worked his whole life for the moment and called joining Haas “really crazy to achieve this.”

When the interview appeared on October 15, reigning F3 champion Camara led F2 by seven points over Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov with two rounds remaining. He said he wanted to finish the F2 campaign strongly before turning his attention to Haas; an end-of-season young-driver test with the team was planned.