‘We couldn’t wait for this moment’ – Julianne Cerasoli on the excitement around Rafael Câmara’s F1 promotion

Rafael Câmara’s 2027 plans have been announced with the current Invicta Racing driver set to graduate to Formula 1 next year with the Haas Formula 1 Team.

As someone who has covered Câmara’s career since the very start, Brazilian F1 Journalist Julianne Cerasoli recently sat down with us to discuss his rise to the top tier, and also what this means to her and the whole of Brazil.

“We couldn't wait for this moment,” she said. “We've been following his career since karting and he's one of those drivers that we always heard one day he's going to Formula 1.

“They always said that it's impossible that he doesn't because he's so talented. So the wait is over and everybody's hugely excited about him.

“He's always been quick, but there were a lot of obstacles along the way, because his personality is a bit shy. So he had to move to Europe and go through all the stuff that the Brazilian drivers have to go through that maybe the Europeans do not.

“I think maybe that slowed down his career a little bit. So there were a few years of unknowns when he had to face Kimi Antonelli and he wasn't as strong against Kimi and then his path was a bit slowed down.

“So there was a lot of pressure on him in the last three years. But he had to win FREC, he had to win F3 and then he had to try to win F2 in his first shot. So the fact that he has managed to pull it off, it's really, really impressive and it just shows his resilience.”

Câmara’s announcement came just a few weeks after he took the lead of the Formula 2 Drivers’ Championship in Baku – helped by a victory in Feature Race 2.

Looking at his season in total, Cerasoli explains how Câmara’s 2026 campaign perfectly sums up his time in single seaters.

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“I think it's the same as his career,” she said on his season so far. “He started as one of the favourites and then some things didn't go as he was planning.

“That race in Monaco, that's going to hurt him forever, and some things were not really clicking, but he kept his head down and he kept on working.

“He was always saying, ‘I'm just going to focus on what I can control’. He has been working on it and he has been growing in the championship. That race in Belgium, that was absolutely fantastic.

“That was the race of a champion and he is on the up, on the rise at the right moment in the championship. I feel he can do it.”

Câmara is set to be the second Brazilian in the last three years to graduate from Formula 2 to F1, following Gabriel Bortoleto’s rise in 2024.

Cerasoli believes a huge part of the renaissance of motorsport in the country actually started with Felipe Drugovich’s F2 title in 2022.

“It's amazing because not long ago, we didn't have any drivers in F1,” she said on having Bortoleto and Câmara in F1. “10 years ago they were saying that F1 is not going to be on free-to-air TV anymore, that there would be no race at Interlagos, and that Formula 1 would die in Brazil.

“Then it all started with Felipe winning the championship. I think the Brazilian drivers started to understand the changes that motorsport had gone through.

“They understood, ‘Okay, I need backing from a very early age’. I need to leave Brazil and do karting in Europe from a very, very early age. Now we're seeing the fruits of this work because all these drivers that won those championships, they arrived in these championships really well prepared, well backed with their careers in a very good place.

“They were able to show their talents. We are immensely proud and also hopeful for the future. I think what we're starting to see it in surfing, we have a lot of Brazilian world champions.

“That started, I'm not going to say out of the blue, but it all came together and it became known as the Brazilian storm. Now we are having the Brazilian storm in motor racing as well.”

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On whether Formula 2 and Formula 3 have also rapidly grown in recent years, she responded: “Yes, it's grown immensely. The resilience of the drivers moving to Europe, with everything they have to go through is also the resilience of the fans.

“They have to wake up at 5am to watch the Brazilian drivers, and they love doing so, especially young people who can relate to them. They say ‘They're my age and they're doing wonderful things’.

“I think everybody will be watching F3 for Pedro Clerot mainly, but also all the drivers that are going to be in F2, F3, and maybe we will have another champion.

“Pedro used to race with them, with Gabi and mainly with Rafa, and they're very good friends. This trio, they work with the same coach, so it's like the same breed.”

When asked what Formula 1 fans should know about Câmara ahead of the 2027 season, Cerasoli says they might be taken aback by him and his talent.

“Well, with Rafa, he's got this soft way of speaking and you don't think he's aggressive, but he is,” she said. “When he puts the helmet on, it's almost as if he's a different person.

“He's so calm and collected, but at the same time, so, so quick. I think you're going to be surprised by him.”