Roberto Faria: My greatest influences

Growing up in Brazil there were plenty of famous names in racing for Roberto Faria to admire, as well as those off the track that have continued to shape him and his career so far.

Talking us through those who have inspired and supported him, the PHM Racing by Charouz driver looks back on his journey en route to the Formula 3 grid, including the sacrifices and lessons he’s learnt along the way.

HIS DAD

“He’s always an inspiration for me. He always does the best in everything he does, and that’s what I learned to do in life and in my driving as well. Every time that I go out on track, I just try to do my best in everything.

“I was the first one in my family to start in motorsport, but he always supported me. The first time that we went to the closest track to my home, which was an hour and a half away, after that he asked me ‘are you sure you want to continue?’ I said yes and then he would be bringing me to the track every day, always driving me up there and waking up at 6AM to go there.

“The best piece of advice he gave me was that in everything you do, do your best. It doesn’t matter what it is, but if you do your best, you know that people are going to support you. When people are inspired to do their best, it’s just a good environment to be in.”

BRAZILIAN RACING LEGENDS

“Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello, they were the drivers that were in F1 when I young watching it and they were where I wanted to be. For all the Brazilians, I think Senna is always the biggest inspiration, but then there’s also Nelson Piquet and Emerson Fittipaldi – they're all really good drivers. When I was younger, I was supporting Massa because he was the best Brazilian at the time.

“It’s really nice having them to look up to. It’s also not just in F1, but Brazilian drivers are everywhere – in endurance, in Formula 2 at the time there was Sérgio Sette Câmara and Felipe Drugovich, who won last year. I was supporting him as well; I was at the Silverstone round with him and he’s really good.

READ MORE: Growing up Down Under: Christian Mansell on his hometown

“With your driving style, for each car that you drive, you need to drive it a bit differently so it’s really hard to use a certain driving style from a particular driver for all the cars. For example, Senna was quite aggressive, and I like to be quite aggressive as well, but also try not to crash that much. I would say that for each driver they have a specific type of driving style that was best for that time, but I just try to develop my own and do my best in the car at that time.”

HIS KARTING TEAM MANAGER & FIRST MECHANIC

“Firstly, there was the team manager of my go-karting team in Brazil and then he met my first mechanic who from Rio de Janeiro, and he was from São Paulo. They were both really good inspirations for me, they were always supporting me, and I learned a lot from them. They also inspired me to be a racing driver.

“I started working with my first mechanic when I was 10 years old and with my karting team manager when I was 11, so I was really young. I worked with them for five to six years and to this day, they are good friends of mine, they always message me and ask how it’s going.

READ MORE: In Profile: Dino Beganovic

"They taught me most of the stuff I know because I didn’t know anything when I started and then after five years, I was already starting in Formula 4. I learnt all the basics – how to drive, everything about karting and even about the kart, they taught me a lot, basically everything I know.

“One thing they taught me was that every time you go out on track, you have to have a feel for the car and just focus on what you could change to make it a bit better for you. If the car is perfect then okay, but what you think could be even better if it was changed. That was a good thing that they taught me in karting that applies also for cars now.”