Formula 4. Camara wins, Wharton on the podium

The Ferrari Driver Academy’s Sergio Camara made a great debut in the category, winning one race and taking two further second places. James Wharton also picked up a third place finish. Maya Weug had a tough weekend.

After making his Formula 4 debut in the UAE series earlier in the year, Rafael Camara had a great start to his European campaign, in the opening round of the ADAC series at Spa-Francorchamps. The 16 year old Brazilian came away with one win and two second places, worth 61 points in total. He was the best rookie and is only one point behind series leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli. 

Brilliant. In the two qualifying sessions, Camara was second and fourth, proving that he adapted quickly to the demanding Belgian circuit. He then came home second in the first two races, but the highlight was Race 3, in which he started from seventh on the grid. By lap 6, Rafael was up to second and three laps later he passed Kacper Sztuka to take the lead, which he kept to the chequered flag. “I think it was a great weekend, in which we were always front runners and I think I learned a lot,” commented the Brazilian. “The team did a great job, we are moving in the right direction and we will continue working to be even strong at the next round.”

Highs and lows. James Wharton also had a positive weekend. He was fifth and eighth in the two qualifying sessions, but the 15 year old Australian had to retire from the first race following a collision. He made up for it in the second one, taking the chequered flag in third place. Wharton then rounded off his Belgian outing finishing ninth in the final race. “That’s my first weekend racing in Europe and I leave Spa having made it to the podium but more importantly having learned so much about various aspects of a race weekend and now we will continue to work on the coming races.” 

Not so easy. Maya Weug had a rather tough weekend. In the closely contested first race, the 17 year old Dutch girl finished 16th, while in the second one, a collision at turn 5 ended in retirement. In the final race, Weug was 18th. “The first round of the season proved to be difficult for me and for the team,” said Maya. “Starting from the back after a difficult qualifying complicated matters and the collision in Race 2 didn’t help either. But with the team, we worked hard all weekend long to improve. We made some progress in the last race which I hope is a good sign for the next rounds.”