Rafael Câmara departed the Red Bull Ring with another solid points haul, yet the Trident rookie acknowledges that the 2025 Spielberg F3 Round at the Austrian GP fell short of his high standards. Nevertheless, he immediately sought to extract positives before arriving at Silverstone, adamant that his team would rebound swiftly.
An unexpectedly difficult weekend at the Red Bull Ring
Initially, Câmara maximised a seventh‑place grid slot on Sunday at the 2025 Spielberg F3 Round at the Austrian GP with an explosive getaway that vaulted him to fourth by the opening sequence of corners. Furthermore, he dispatched Noah Stromsted and Ugo Ugochukwu in quick succession, climbing to second behind early leader Nikola Tsolov by Lap 7 of 26.
Câmara then held that position deep into the race. However, on Lap 19 Martinius Stenshorne swept past, and in rapid order Tim Tramnitz, Mari Boya, and the recovering Ugochukwu also found a way through. Consequently, the Ferrari Driver Academy member slipped to sixth at the chequered flag. Tsolov’s post‑race disqualification subsequently promoted him to fifth and secured his second points finish of the weekend, having earlier claimed ninth in the Sprint.
Afterwards, Câmara reflected on his race weekend, saying, “It was not the weekend we expected. In the Sprint Race, from my side it was not very good, but I was able to reset well and do a good race today.”
“Unfortunately, we don’t really understand what exactly the problem was, we had this massive drop at the end. Even for myself, I was not pushing that much. We will understand it for Silverstone, learn the mistakes from the weekend and come back stronger.”
“We need to understand what happened, quickly and then move on. There’s no logic in staying sad about today, we have plenty of races to go, so we can still go back for what we can do and have some good results.”
A compromised second run in Qualifying
Turning to Friday’s 2025 Spielberg F3 Round Qualifying session at the Austrian GP, Câmara registered his second‑lowest starting slot of 2025—seventh—after completing only one meaningful push lap on his second set of tyres.
He detailed the circumstances in typically frank fashion: “I did the first push, and then I did a small mistake in T1. So I decided to abort it and then after I went on the sausage kerb, and I started to feel like the rear left was an issue. But also from my side, I didn’t position myself well for the last push, so I started very close to another car.”
“The lap I did was not bad, I was just alone, so we were missing the tow. For me, I finished quali quite calm with the result, because here is a track where you can do plenty of overtakes. I just think we need to understand the race pace.”
Câmara focusing on things in his control
Although the Brazilian’s 12‑point return at the 2025 Spielberg F3 Round at the Austrian GP represented his second‑lowest of the campaign—only Monte Carlo yielded fewer—Câmara emphasised that the weekend still supplied valuable insights. Indeed, his championship advantage initially shrank to a single point before Tsolov’s exclusion restored a 24‑point cushion.
Consequently, Câmara chose to dwell on progress rather than potential setbacks: “There’s always some positive things. Without this maybe we wouldn’t have seen certain things to learn, but we are always working hard to see what we can do better and for sure there are positives.”
“From my side, I was quite happy with the race we did today, so we can be strong going forward. Also, in quali, it was just details, and some stuff that I can do better from my side, and with the team, we can see that and be strong for Silverstone.”
Focusing on process as the Championship fight continues
Despite leading the standings, Câmara refuses to obsess over points tables. Instead, he continues to concentrate on controllable factors.
“There are still eight races, four rounds, and plenty of points to play for. I think we have been strong, I think we just need to focus on our job and see where we can end up. I think I just need to focus on things that are in my control. I’ll try to go with the team and look what we can do better. I think if you are starting to think about the Championship, you get to overthinking, so I just focus on the moment.”
“I think we are going to be strong for Silverstone, we have always been strong, so learn from the things we did this weekend and move on.”
Ultimately, Spielberg served as a timely reminder that even the frontrunners can experience turbulent weekends. Nevertheless, Câmara’s strong opening laps, resilient mindset, and clear developmental direction illustrate why he remains the benchmark in the 2025 F3 campaign. Accordingly, Silverstone offers the ideal venue for Trident and its championship leader to translate lessons learned into renewed dominance.
