Câmara calls Monza Feature best race of ‘my life’ after comeback drive to P5

Rafael Câmara was on the charge this weekend as after qualifying last in Monza, the TRIDENT driver battled through the field on Sunday, finishing fifth in the Feature Race.

The 2025 Champion had looked set to top the leaderboard of Group A in Friday’s pole-position shootout, but had his lap deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 5.

This dropped Câmara to the back of the field, leaving him with an uphill task to score points in both races, as TRIDENT went for the Teams’ Championship.

READ MORE: Bilinski praises ‘fantastic’ Rodin after stellar final round in Monza

The Brazilian showed what he was capable of doing in the Sprint, gaining 18 places in as many laps, only for a post-race penalty to drop him down to P25 in the final classification.

But on Sunday, Câmara was in formidable form, as he charged his way through the field to P5, and was at one stage well within DRS range of the podium places. He could not manage it though, but speaking afterwards, he felt that was the best he could do.

“It's probably one of the best races of my life,” Câmara stated. “Since the beginning we had the pace, the car was feeling very good, and I was moving towards the front.

“Sometimes the Safety Car was good and other times it did not help but we always managed at the restart to gain positions. But today, that was the maximum I could have done.

“Once I arrived in the first-place group, I thought maybe I had a chance to win, but I had a big drop the last three or four laps, the rears were basically gone.

“Then after that I just tried to keep my position, score points for the Teams' Championship, which was close, Noah also did a good job, unfortunately Charlie was out in the first lap but was a good way to finish the season.

A one-two and a maiden Teams’ Championship: Adrián Campos Jr’s Title Debrief

“I’m a bit sad it's the last race with TRIDENT. It was something very special this year, not only because of the result but also the way we worked together, it is a bit emotional to finish the year.”

Talking even more about his game plan to charge through the field, Câmara revealed there was not much time for saving, as he spent the majority of the 22 laps pushing the car to the limit.

“It was very difficult to keep the tyres alive till the end of the race,” he recalled. “When you're in the back of the grid, you need to push, so it's not like you can wait.

“At the front, you can manage the pace and when to push. To be honest, I was pushing all race, sometimes I managed to save a bit, but I knew I was pushing very hard.

“From the moment I knew I had a big drop, I just started to calm down and maintained position. It was something that already from Qualifying, when I knew, I was going to start at the back, me and my engineer were talking a lot, to understand how we were going to come back, and I think we managed the situation very well.”

Recapping the year in totality, the Brazilian ends the 2025 season not only as Champion but also with the most Pole Positions in Formula 3 history, with five, and tying Arvid Lindblad for the highest win percentage in the Championship, which is 20%.

FEATURE RACE: Inthraphuvasak wins ahead of Tsolov as Campos take Teams’ title in epic Monza finale

“It was a good surprise this year,” he reflected. “Of course, you always want to win, but we didn't know we were going to win like this. I think now, it's a bit unfortunate we could not get the Teams’ title.

“But still very proud of the team and of myself this year, and now it is going to calm down a bit. I still need to work a lot, them, and me as well, because for them, they will be pushing to be even stronger next year and also for myself to prepare as much as I can to be ready for Formula 2.

“I need to be ready for the tests and to have another strong year. It's true that it was a very good year, but if you don't push, you will not do well in F2. It's nice to win F3, but you also have to win F2, so I will prepare to try to do another good year.”