Cadillac tracking Rafael Camara as 2027 F1 target

Cadillac is closely monitoring Rafael Camara over a potential move to the team for the 2027 Formula 1 season.

The news comes as something of a surprise given the team has consistently emphasised its long-term commitment to its current drivers Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas.

However, several signs suggest that at least one of its seats could change hands ahead of the 2027 season. The team's interest has been fuelled by Camara's recent performances in Formula 2, where the Ferrari junior has claimed four pole positions and two victories – both in feature races – across the last five rounds.

Cadillac is supporting Colton Herta's F2 campaign and like Camara, the US driver is a rookie in the category, but the two come from very different backgrounds and are at different stages of their careers.

The American, born in 2000, is five years older than the Brazilian, while Herta's debut season has proven challenging so far, with his best result a fifth-place finish and he currently sits 16th in the championship. This is significant because it is outside of the top 10 positions that award the FIA superlicence points that he needs.

At present, Herta still requires six additional superlicence points and if he fails to earn them through the final F2 standings, his only remaining option would be to collect them by participating in Friday FP1 sessions in F1, each of which awards one point. The issue is that he would need six FP1 appearances; so the four sessions that Perez and Bottas are required by regulation to hand over to rookie drivers during the season would not be enough.

Colton Herta (Photo by: Kym Illman / Getty Images)

Beyond the regulatory considerations – which could potentially be resolved – the bigger issue within Cadillac appears to be confidence. Herta's struggles have raised doubts about whether he is truly ready to make the step up to F1. That assessment is understandable, especially considering that Hitech, despite an inconsistent 2025 campaign, still finished second in the teams' championship last season.

It is against this backdrop that Cadillac's growing interest in Camara should be viewed. The Brazilian currently sits third in the championship, but much of the gap to the leaders stems from the costly mistake he made in Monte Carlo and without it he would now be just three points off the championship lead.

Regardless of the standings, his overall performance has arguably been the most impressive among this season's frontrunners. In recent weeks, he also made his F1 debut during a Ferrari-organised Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) session, attracting the attention of Haas in the process.

The American team is weighing up its own driver options for 2027 with Esteban Ocon under pressure, and team principal Ayao Komatsu has publicly expressed his interest in Camara. At the same time, Haas has already given Leonardo Fornaroli his first TPC outing at Jerez and, according to reports from recent weeks, Fornaroli and Camara are set to go head-to-head in another test scheduled for the end of August at Portimao.

Haas already has one Ferrari Driver Academy graduate in its line-up in Oliver Bearman, while for Cadillac signing Camara would represent a first significant link with Maranello, potentially paving the way for a closer technical and sporting relationship with Ferrari in the future.