Feature
WEEKEND ANALYSIS: The different strategy calls that helped Câmara win in Barcelona
Rafael Câmara became the 66th different winner in Formula 2 this weekend when claiming victory in the Barcelona Feature Race.
The Invicta Racing driver was in irresistible form in Spain but so was his team, as they made some bold strategy calls that helped him come out on top.
So, let’s look back at those big decisions…
HOLDING BACK IN QUALIFYING
When the light turned green to start Qualifying only 11 drivers went out immediately. Invicta chose to keep Câmara back and to send out Joshua Duerksen.
This was a plan that only Invicta, Campos Racing and AIX Racing followed, with most teams either sending both or none of their drivers out at the green light.
There are different reasons for this call. On the one hand, you keep your drivers behind to go out on a better track, it also gives them clean air and a chance to have a better warmup.
On the other hand, there are risks, as yellow or red flags can curtail qualifying hopes, as seen this weekend when Ritomo Miyata’s off late on hurt a lot of the grid’s chances of improving.
That’s why Câmara’s first – and only – lap of a 1:24.810 was so good and important. He came out later than everybody else with about 20 minutes left and was 0.412s quicker than the rest.
A few drivers improved on their second attempts but most others, including Câmara, were not given that chance after Miyata’s Red Flag curtailed their laps.
Had Câmara not set that first time, it is likely he would not have had the chance to improve on his second attempt, at least not fight for pole.
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THE FEATURE RACE STRATEGY
Starting on pole in Barcelona is almost a cheat code, especially if you can get to Turn 1 ahead. It gives you clean air, which is needed as the track is naturally hard on tyres, and degradation would have been worse this weekend because of the high temperatures.
Unfortunately for Câmara he did not get to Turn 1 in the lead, with Alexander Dunne getting ahead at the start.
But the Invicta rookie had tremendous pace, and even as he managed his tyres, he was able to stay well within DRS range of his rival.
Câmara eventually made the overtake on Dunne, who in the end opted to pit on Lap 13 for the Hard tyre.
This was around the time the Pirelli Soft tyres were expected to last, especially as 2025 Feature Race winner Arvid Lindblad pitted for the Hards on Lap 12.
Dunne then came back out in traffic but managed to make his way through the field and was consistently lapping quicker than Câmara.
But the Brazilian and his engineer never wavered, as while many thought he would come in to cover off the Rodin driver, they decided to go long.
Câmara revealed afterwards that they had decided on this strategy before the race. But they maybe went longer than expected as on Lap 18, his engineer called on him to stay out if he could maintain his current pace before pitting on Lap 22.
Somehow, the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member had managed to consistently lap within that 1:32s on aging Softs. While this was slower than Dunne and Nikola Tsolov – the lead the driver to start on the Hards – it was still competitive.
From Lap 14 to 21, Dunne only took 3.1s out of Câmara, and in the same period Tsolov closed the gap to the Invicta driver by just two seconds.
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This meant when Câmara pitted, he had limited the damage, and while he had lost time to Dunne, who he’d been fighting with early on, he was still only just 4.6s behind and on new Hards.
It also meant that Tsolov was over 10 seconds behind on new Softs, but their tyres were of a similar age, with the Campos driver having pitted on Lap 23.
By opting to run long and create a tyre offset with Dunne, it protected him from Tsolov on the alternative strategy, who’s late stop gained him a tyre advantage against those now running on the Hard tyres.
Had Camara pitted along with Dunne and covered off the Rodin strategy early on, it would have put the Invicta driver out in traffic, placed greater stress on his tyres and, in all likelihood, would have lost him the race to the Bulgarian.
Instead keeping him out to match Tsolov’s strategy and pace was a great call by Invicta, but it would have been nothing without Câmara’s execution and tyre management ability.
It is always a team effort in Formula 2, and maybe not weekend showed it more than this past one.