BUDAPEST ANALYSIS: How Câmara overcame the odds in Qualifying for crucial pole

5 August 2025

The weekend ended with the Brazilian being crowned Champion but the makings of Rafael Câmara’s 2025 triumph were set into motion on Friday afternoon.

The TRIDENT driver secured a fifth pole position of the campaign, extending his record for most poles in a single F3 season, and with it took a big step towards claiming the crown.

Here is how the team and driver maximised on a day where the margins were so fine, with the front and back of the grid separated by just over a single second.

OVER THE LINE

Câmara had led the way in Practice and looked like a strong contender for the top spot in Qualifying heading into the all-important half hour session.

His speed over a single lap this season has been a strong suit, and things looked no different around the Hungaroring based on how he had started the Budapest weekend.

However, his first laptime of the Qualifying session did not bring him to the top of the times, as he wound up P5 on his first attempt. Replays then proved he’d exceeded track limits at Turn 4, riding over the exit kerb and going four wheels over the white line, leaving him without a lap at the end of the first runs.

His title rivals over at Campos Racing meanwhile opted to run in the gap, with everyone else back in the pit lane. Mari Boya led the Spanish outfit’s charge, going quickest on a 1:33.013, with Nikola Tsolov fourth after his first attempt.

That shifted the pressure over to the Championship leader as ventured back out onto circuit without a valid laptime and prepared for his next attempt.

Camara had to contend with traffic on all three of his Qualifying attempts

RUN TWO

As he rounded the final corners to prepare his second lap, Câmara looked to have the right gap to the car ahead to avoid dirty air spoiling any attempt.

However, entering the 14th and final corner, he was overtaken by the Rodin Motorsport car of Roman Bilinski, leaving him without optimum track position for his flying lap.

With the preparation lap baulked, Câmara continued to push despite that and delivered a 1:32.847, slotting him into second place with others improving ahead of and behind him.

As the remainder of the second laps filtered through, it dropped the TRIDENT driver to fifth place with just over 10 minutes of the session to go.

Campos then took to the circuit to deliver their next attempts, and once more, the trio found improvements with a clear track to play with.

Boya re-took provisional pole and lowered the benchmark effort down to a 1:32.653. The Aston Martin Development Driver was now emerging as the driver to beat in the Qualifying session, making the most of the team’s alternative strategy.

PLAN C

Into the final 10 minutes and everyone was back out onto circuit for the last laps of the Qualifying session.

The Campos plan looked even better by the minute, as those running the conventional strategy fought hard to gain preferrable track position for their last laps, ultimately interfering with other drivers’ tyre preparation and car placement.

Câmara once again looked to have the clear piece of track he needed but was shuffled to the right of the circuit exiting Turn 13. With so many cars between the final two corners, he was left with nowhere to go but the pit lane entry, and much to TRIDENT’s surprise, he entered the pit lane with five minutes to go while everyone else started their laps.

With two laps of tyre preparation already on his Medium Pirelli tyres, TRIDENT quickly had to improvise, and they converted their driver onto the Campos run plan of running in the gap.

This was far from ideal, as the Brazilian had already put heat into his tyres for a flying lap, and now had to avoid impeding anyone else as he fired his aging tyres back up.

Now on the alternative run plan, the Championship leader was in a direct fight with his title rivals Boya and Tsolov to deliver a crucial pole position.

The TRIDENT driver would not be denied and claimed his fifth pole of 2025

NO PRESSURE

Tuukka Taponen was able to deliver a provisionally quicker time than Boya by just 0.001s with two minutes to go and attentions turned to the four drivers running one final attempt.

First to 26th position was separated by just 0.510s after the ART Grand Prix driver’s lap, meaning any mistake would have had huge consequences for grid position and the remainder of the weekend.

Across the line to start his final lap, Câmara was 10th and had Boya behind him, the Campos driver potentially with the best of the track conditions also.

A purple sector one from the Spaniard and personal best in Sector 2 left Boya up by 0.050s entering the final sector of the lap versus Câmara. But across the line, the Brazilian driver found the fraction of a second he needed to reach P1 with a 1:32.510. Seconds later, Boya improved but went 0.008s behind his foe to bring a titanic Qualifying battle to a close.

Câmara was joyous on the radio afterwards, while Boya was left to rue a less than perfect final corner that took the top spot away from him.

From there, Câmara could not be stopped, as he became the third-consecutive TRIDENT driver to secure the Drivers’ Championship in Formula 3.