Camara surprised be early Haas call-up, downplays home race pressure

Rafael Camara admits he was surprised to get the call from Haas to race in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix this week, but doesn’t expect to feel extra pressure making his Formula 1 debut at his home race.

Haas dropped Esteban Ocon during the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend, with reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa replacing the Frenchman on that occasion. However, with Hirakawa racing in the World Endurance Championship at Monza this weekend and Haas confirming Ocon will not return, Ayao Komatsu turned to his 2027 rookie, current Formula 2 championship leader Camara, to make his first start earlier than planned.

“I was very surprised,” Camara said. “Definitely not a place where I would expect to do a debut in Formula 1. But I’m just very happy for the opportunity, very grateful as well for the team to put trust in me this week. So, I’m just trying to enjoy the home race and have some fun out there.

“In the end, I still did some simulator [preparations] with Ferrari, because I was supposed to have FP1, so it was good to have some laps on the sim some days before coming to Brazil. I never drove here, but with these sim sessions, I think we should be all right. We have three sessions, and then definitely we can build from these.”

The weather forecast for Interlagos suggests heavy rain could be seen across Saturday and Sunday, and Camara admits it would have been preferable to have consistent dry running having never driven a 2026 F1 car before.

“I think to be more clean would be something easier, to have a clean one and always in the dry,” he said. “I think also to build up would be easier, but in the end, it will be in the same condition for everyone. So I think I will just try to prepare in the best way and just learn.

“I think it will be very good to have Ollie [Oliver Bearman alongside him]. I mean, Ollie had a fast year and he has always been doing a good job, so it will be someone that would be good to learn from and to see what he’s doing so I can also extract for myself and try to put [foundations] in place.”

Camara says the fact he will be making his debut at his home race in Brazil is not something that should overly impact him, as he feels confident in the way he handles external pressure.

“I think I always have been [good at] whatever people are speaking about or what’s happening outside, it’s never really been a problem. So I think it should be no problem,” he said. “I always try to just focus on my side, focus on things that I can control and whatever is happening outside is not really under my control. So I just really try to go out there and do what I know to do.”