Rafael Camara received a reprimand for causing a “dangerous” incident with Charles Leclerc in FP2 in Brazil.
Brazilian rookie Rafael Camara impeded Charles Leclerc in Free Practice 2 on Friday at his first race weekend as a Formula 1 driver. Camara, who was brought into Haas to replace Esteban Ocon after his sudden departure from the team in Mexico, received a reprimand for the incident.
After investigating the incident, the stewards called the incident “clearly dangerous”, as Camara had blocked Leclerc in one of the fastest sections of the track whilst the Ferrari driver was on a push lap.
“Car 51 [Camara] was warned multiple times that car 16 [Leclerc] was arriving on a fast lap. Yet, Car 51 was weaving and moving well into the racing line,” the stewards explained.
“Car 16 had to take evasive action to avoid a collision by moving to the right, with a significant amount of the car off the track. The situation that was created was clearly dangerous and car 51 should have taken more care to avoid impeding car 16.
“While the typical penalty for impeding in a free practice session is a warning, in this instance, we are of the view that a reprimand is warranted.”
Camara “learning a lot and improving” after first day in the Haas
Despite the clash with Leclerc, Camara had a positive outlook on Friday’s running.
“It’s been a really nice weekend so far, really special,” he said. “Going into FP1 was getting a bit more emotional, with the intensity of the crowd in front of you and fans getting excited.
“Once you get into the car, and you start driving, it goes back to the normal thing that you’ve been doing your whole life. There’s a lot going on, but so far it’s been a good two sessions, learning a lot and improving throughout the day.
“Tonight, I’ll work with the team and put more in place for tomorrow.”
Haas’ head of car engineering, Hoagy Nidd, revealed that the team was pleased with Camara’s performance thus far.
“Obviously a massive learning curve today, it’s pretty intimidating, but he did brilliantly.
“He built up steadily through FP1. He was sort of almost a bit reticent to give too much feedback from FP1 and obviously for FP2 he was improving all the time and building with his feedback and his driving, so a pretty strong day I would say.
“Working on procedures, you probably saw us go out, do a few starts, things like that, just the normal bread and butter things that we almost take for granted with most drivers, so we’re very pleased with him I think.”
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