The FIA Formula 3 Championship has a new champion — and his name is Rafael Câmara. In the wet conditions at the Hungaroring, the Brazilian delivered a dominant performance. He took his fourth win this season and secured the title early. He also became the first driver since Russell to clinch the F3 crown before the final race weekend.
Safety Car Start
A wet track greeted the drivers after a morning of persistent rain in Hungary. All drivers started on wet tyres with a formation lap behind a safety car followed by a rolling start. That was ideal for Câmara starting on pole.
Voisin tapped Del Pino during the early laps, spinning him off track and briefly triggering yellow flags. Fortunately, both cars were able to continue.
A few laps later, another incident emerged when Bilinski attempted to overtake Benavides, only to misjudge his braking and rear-end him. Both cars spun, but Benavides ended up in the wall and was out of the race. Bilinski continued, but fell to the back of the grid and under FIA’s investigation.
The safety car was deployed, helping Câmara maintain his lead from pole and fend off the pressure from Boya.
Battle for Third
The green flag conditins were short-lived as Ugochukwu and Xie battled for third. Ugochukwu pulled off a hearty move on the outside, but was forced wide into the runoff area. Xie touched him during the move and both cars spun out off track. The retirement of both cars brought out another safety car.
The chaos played into Trident’s hands: Wurz moved up to fourth, while Strømsted and Tsolov fought for the final points positions. Tsolov and Zagazeta were both noted for safety car infringements, potentially jeopardizing Campos’ progress.
Meanwhile, disaster continued for AIX Racing. After Benavides’ retirement, Hedley was spun by León and fell to last place. Marinangeli, who already started last, fell to the back of the grid once again, only followed by Hedley. León received a 10-second penalty for the contact.
Câmara Wins the Race and the Championship
The laps turned to time tickling down. Boya briefly entered DRS range of Câmara, but the Brazilian was firm. He timed even his final safety car restart to perfection. Campos’ drivers made solid gains: Tsolov climbed to eighth, while Intraphuvasak jumped to 11th. Strømsted, on the other hand, began to fade, falling to 13th.
With just over 10 minutes remaining, Stenshorne, Del Pino, and Domingues came to the pits. Stenshorne opted for slicks in hopes of gaining positions at the end of the race. The track, however, proved to be too wet still. Del Pino and Marinangeli spun and brought up brief yellow flags. The risk didn’t bring any gains for Stenshorne who struggled for grip and fell to the last place.
Up front, none of that mattered. Câmara was untouchable in the wet, crossing the line with two seconds lead over Boya. With his fourth win of the season, he secured the Formula 3 title early. The dominance of his campaign — with multiple wins, pole positions, and an early title clinch — stands in stark contrast to recent champions like Fornaroli (no race wins), Piastri and Martins (no poles).
In his interview after getting out of the car, he mentioned his impending move to F2 for the next season. With the link to Ferrari, it would be no surprise. The team representants including Clear, d’Ambrosio or Gené were all present to congratulate the new champion.
On the podium, the new champion was followed by Boya who had to bow down to Brazilian’s defence, and another Ferrari junior, Taponen in third.
What’s Next?
The F3 championship has a summer break to look forward to now, only returning in 7 weeks for Italian GP at Monza. While Câmara sealed the championship, for the constructor’s we can look forward to a battle between Trident Racing and Campos Racing.