Is Rafaela Ferreira Brazil’s Next Superstar?
Backed by Racing Bulls and competing across the world in 2026 for the F1 Academy championship, is Rafaela Ferreira on the rise?
For as long as motorsport has existed, Brazil has given the world numerous noteworthy and outstanding racing drivers over the years. Emerson Fittipaldi. Ayrton Senna. Rubens Barrichello. Gabriel Bortoleto. The list goes on.
Could Rafaela Ferreira be another name to add to this list in the future?
Growing up in Brazil, Rafaela Ferreira had a motorsport role model that she looked up to - Bia Figueiredo. A former Brazilian racing driver herself, she competed in the Formula 3 South American Series for a full season in 2006, finishing in fifth overall in the Championship. That year, Figueiredo stood on the podium four times, including three second-place finishes, the last of which came in São Paulo. Bia also drove for Formula Renault in Brazil for three years and became the first woman ever to win in Formula Renault.
Figueiredo went on to compete in Indy Lights (the precursor to Indy NXT) where she won twice and was on the podium a further six times before competing across four seasons at the top of American single seater racing in IndyCar.
So when she began on her motorsport journey, Rafaela already had what many young women and girls don’t have yet - someone to aspire towards that shows them their dream is possible.
Like many motorsport drivers, Rafaela Ferreira’s career began in karting. From the start, the Brazilian was destined to leave a mark as she became the first woman to score a pole position in the history of the Copa Brasil de Kart Championship back in 2022. Rafaela would go on to finish fourth in the championship that year.
Ferreira then competed in Brazilian Formula 4 in both 2023 and 2024. Here too, she made history - this time by becoming the first woman to stand on the podium in the series, with a third-place finish at Interlagos in the penultimate round of the season.
The Brazilian driver then racked up 10 podiums across 2024, finishing P3 in the first race at the Autódromo Velo Città. Her podium tally also included three wins, one also at the Autódromo Velo Città and another at the Autódromo Oscar y Juan Galvez. Rafaela’s final victory came at Interlagos.
Early in 2025, Rafaela Ferreira competed in the Formula Winter Series for a few rounds, alongside a number of drivers that would join her on the next leg of her motorsport journey as she joined F1 Academy.
F1 Academy Debut
Competing with Campos Racing and supported by the Racing Bulls Formula 1 Team, Rafaela started her foray into F1 Academy with a bang - just not the kind she would have wanted. An incident with Lia Block in the very first practice session of the season in China heavily compromised Ferreira’s qualifying there. But the Brazilian driver immediately went to work to demonstrate what she was capable of when put on the back foot. Starting down in P13 for both races that weekend, Ferreira calmly and methodically made her way through the field and survived the chaos around her in both races, finishing in an impressive P5 in the first race of the year and in P8 in the second.
The second round in Jeddah didn’t quite go to plan either. P13 was as high as Ferreira could get in both races there. But the Brazilian bounced back in a rain-laden Miami, where she was able to finish in eighth place in the sole race that took place there. In what looked like the formation of an unwelcome pattern, the next round in Canada was another weekend where Ferreira would be subjected to character-building races. A DSQ, a DNF and a P12 across the three races did nothing to help her kickstart her season. But the series of unfortunate events did give Rafaela the perfect springboard from which to launch herself back onto the scene after the summer break.
In motorsport, the importance of building and carrying forward positive momentum is often a topic of discussion - but the same can be true of negative momentum. When drivers and teams are attempting to get away from this, a break from proceedings can work wonders and for Ferreira, this was the case in the second half of her debut F1 Academy season.
In Zandvoort, Ferreira qualified just outside the top ten. But she was able to rise as high as P8 by the end of the second race after a P11 result just outside the points in the opening race of the weekend. In Singapore, it looked like her bad luck may have returned as she DNFd in the first of the two races. But what followed in the final race, and then the final round of the season in Las Vegas, were her strongest showings of the year. Back-to-back P9, P8 and P9 finishes across the two venues would be how Ferreira rounded out her season. She finished in P12 overall, just ahead of fellow Brazilian and second season driver Aurelia Nobels.
F1 Academy in 2026
Returning to F1 Academy in 2026, again with Campos Racing and supported by the Racing Bulls Formula 1 Team, Rafaela has already put everything she learned in her first year to good use. Immediately in China, Rafaela achieved her best result in the series so far when she finished in fourth place. In the second race of the opening round, she backed this up with another solid performance, finishing in sixth place.
Canada would be the location for the second round of the season and would once again be a three-race weekend. Here, Rafeala would equal her best result of fourth straight out of the gates. A P8 and P10 followed, meaning that heading into the third round of the season in Silverstone, Ferreira was one of only two drivers to score points in every race of the year. However, that streak was not to continue due to a P11 result and a DNF across the British Grand Prix weekend.
Outside of F1 Academy
Alongside her F1 Academy duties in 2025, Rafaela also competed for a single round of the Spanish Formula 4 Championship, held in Jerez on that occasion. While the results weren’t particularly notable, the weekend was an excellent way for Rafaela to get more seat time and experience in single-seater machinery.
It’s something that she’s repeated already this year by taking part in the third round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship with Cram Motorsport - sporting a brilliant green livery on both her car and her overalls.
Like in Jerez, the weekend didn’t go to plan with two twenty-third position results and a DNF from the three races she contested in that weekend. But also like Jerez, it was another chance for Rafaela to get more time in the car and hone her craft - especially in such a stacked field such as Italian Formula 4. The results matter less at times like this as each extra race under her belt, gives her more information to work with when attacking the next race on her calendar.
Carrying the Brazilian Torch
Alongside developing her career in single-seater racing, Ferreira’s also been spending time with Daniel Ricciardo as part of her collaboration with Enchante. Not only is it helping to raise her profile off track, but it also gives Rafaela access to someone in Riccardo who knows what it takes to make it in the world of Formula 1 – and how to operate successfully outside of it. In a time when managing yourself off track is at least equally important to your performance on track, learning from one of the best is sure to help Ferreira.
In time, Rafaela can build herself into a similar position that Bia Figueiredo had for her when she was growing up - and hopefully surpass it. With so many other male Brazilian drivers on the rise in motorsport at the moment, it’s important for the young girls and women in the country to see that it’s possible for them too - and that’s the audience that Rafaela is catering towards.
Blazing the Trail for Brazilian Motorsport
Since competing outside of Brazil, it can be argued that it’s been a tough time for Rafaela Ferreira on track. But as Charles Leclerc so handily reminded everyone following his victory at the British Grand Prix, tough times don’t last but tough people do. Ferreira is developing a lot of resilience which is crucial when attempting to build a career of longevity in a sport as brutal as motorsport. Three rounds remain in this season of F1 Academy and her future in the series and outside of it beyond that final round in Las Vegas is currently unknown. At twenty-one years of age, there’s still plenty of time for Ferreira to make her way further up the motorsport ladder, be that in Europe or over in the United States like her childhood role model. Either way, each step she takes continues Figueiredo’s legacy while also helping to establish Ferreira’s own and reaffirms the commitment and talent Brazil has when it comes to producing racing drivers. We can’t wait to see what’s next.