Câmara happy with TRIDENT’s promising speed ahead of Melbourne Qualifying

14 March 2025

Rafael Câmara started his 2025 season with a positive first outing with TRIDENT, winding up quickest of all around Albert Park in Free Practice.

The Brazilian was able to build into the session and saved his best effort for last, well into the 45-minute outing when others had long since set their personal bests.

While track conditions may well have played a role, Câmara says that he and the team made good adjustments as Practice went on, culminating in a trouble-free and confidence-building P1 laptime.

“I think it was a decent start to the Championship,” he said after stepping out of the car. “Of course, it’s not very relevant where we are in FP, but of course it gives us some confidence for Qualifying.

“I think the improvement was a bit of everything, from my driving and putting some more pace into the laps to improve in some places. Also, I think we made some changes to the car, and those helped me a bit. Then from there it was good to build up my run and to get some good, clean laps in.

“I’m happy about the start we’ve made, now we need to do keep working hard and looking at the details"

“I’m happy about the start we’ve made, now we need to do keep working hard and looking at the details of where we can improve for Qualifying.”

Albert Park represents a brand-new circuit for the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member, though he showed no signs of inexperience during the first session of the weekend.

The TRIDENT driver said that he has enjoyed his experience in Melbourne so far, and that pre-race simulator work has paid off.

He added that the team will now review all of the data gained from the session, but will not be taking their early Friday pace for granted going into the all-important Qualifying session later on.

The TRIDENT driver set his best lap later than many and it came after some setup adjustments that worked

“It felt pretty nice, I really like the track. We have done a lot of sim work ahead of coming here and the track didn’t feel too different from that let’s say, so I felt quite comfortable.

“I think we are in the right place already and we just need to keep it like this and focus forward ahead to Qualifying. We will be checking everything over, and I think we can never relax. The level is high so if you relax, you’re not going to be there at the top.

“I think what we have done already is positive and we just need to check everything we could have done and then wait and see in Qualifying. I’ll be calm, relax and then enjoy it.”

One factor that he and all of the drivers will need to contend with is the possibility of Red Flags. With Albert Park being a street circuit, any on-track stoppage or incident has a high probability of generating a Red Flag, which could turn the tide of a driver’s session.

Câmara says he will take that into account when he gets back into the car later on, with the Brazilian eager to ensure he has a representative laptime on the board each time he crosses the start/finish line.

From there, he says he and the team can begin to ramp things up, and he can push to find the very edge of the limit to secure the first Pole Position of the 2025 season.

“I think when the Championship is like this, it’s so easy to have a Red Flag, so you always need to have a clean lap. So it will be about putting a lap in even if it’s not the best lap of your life, you just need to set a good lap time and from there, we can begin to risk a bit more. So that will be my plan for Qualifying.”