Podcast 380: Futuro de Verstappen, integração com Red Bull, Bortoleto, segurança da F1 e mais | Rafaela Ferreira

·49 min·3 clips

Rafaela Ferreira reveals how her F1 Academy car is run by Campos while she represents Red Bull and Visa.

1. Motorsport.com Brasil podcast episode 380 interviews Rafaela Ferreira, a Brazilian F1 Academy driver in her second season with the Red Bull/Visa team. 2. Rafaela Ferreira is from Içara, Santa Catarina, and splits her time between Brazil, England, and Spain while competing in the F1 Academy. 3. The episode's core question is how a young Brazilian female driver navigates the structural, financial, and political barriers between junior categories and Formula 1. 4. Ferreira describes her first F1 Academy season in 2025 as entirely a learning year, noting she came from Brazilian Formula 4 where she knew every track by heart, and the Academy's street circuits and Pirelli tyres required a completely different approach. 5. Her best result came in the 2026 China opener — fourth place — with less than a tenth of a second separating her from second place in qualifying. 6. Ferreira explains the F1 Academy's dual operational structure: Campos Engineering runs the car, mechanics, and engineers on race weekends, while Red Bull handles media obligations, physical training, diet, and simulator access. 7. She confirms Red Bull has three simulator tiers at Milton Keynes: one for Formula 4/Academy, one prioritised for Formula 2 and 3 drivers, and a completely secret Formula 1 simulator that Academy drivers have never been allowed to see. 8. Ferreira says she did 120 flights in her first Academy season and that all travel costs are covered by personal sponsors — primarily GRI Brazil and her Visa/Cash App ambassador arrangement — not by the team. 9. When asked directly about Formula 1, Ferreira gives a candid answer: 'You have to ride well, arrive at the right time, with sponsorship, and even politically speaking, people stay a long time in Formula 1' — acknowledging that available seats are scarce. 10. She says Brazilian touring car racing is a genuine career aspiration, not just a fallback, describing her goal as being a professional racing driver in any category rather than Formula 1 specifically. 11. Ferreira describes learning to love racing in the rain after her father showed her Ayrton Senna footage of a race where Senna started last and won, telling her the wet is the one context where 'arm' matters more than equipment. 12. She calls Max Verstappen her favourite current F1 driver, praising his sincerity in interviews and total focus on racing rather than celebrity, and says she has been a fan long before joining the Red Bull structure. 13. On the 2026 F1 regulations, Ferreira says the power-reduction scenes in the 130R corner at Japan were concerning from a safety standpoint, noting the speed differential between drivers contributed to the Bearman-Colapinto incident. 14. She says she watched the Japan GP while in China for the F1 Academy round and found out about the Jeddah cancellation at the same time as the public — 'We don't get information first.' 15. Ferreira mentions she will race some Italian Formula 4 rounds for additional track time during the Academy's calendar gaps, and is already learning circuits via home simulator sessions coached by Luiz Tavares, an F1 simulator world champion. 16. She notes that the F1 Academy moved to Pirelli tyres from Hankook, requiring drivers to learn to extract peak performance within one or two laps before the tyre falls off — a different skill from what she trained on in Brazil. 17. The episode also covers Porsche Cup results from Velotita and a MotoGP segment analysing Jorge Martín's title battle with Pecco Bagnaia, with commentary from Fausto Macieira. 18. The tone is warm and conversational, with hosts Guilherme and Eric clearly positioned as fans of Ferreira's journey, asking supportive questions while probing realistic career constraints. 19. This episode is best suited to fans of Brazilian motorsport talent, F1 Academy followers, and anyone interested in the inner workings of a junior Red Bull driver programme. 20. Listeners seeking expert technical analysis or race-result commentary will find the episode more biographical and structural in focus.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Motorsport.com Brasil