FIA Formula 3 champions: Who are they and where are they now?

Winning Formula 3 is just the beginning, but what happens after, and how did they even get there? Here’s what you need to know about the last 3 champions.

(Image credit to FIA Formula 3)

In this series, we will look back on the past junior series champions and see where their careers have taken them since their title-winning season, from the pinnacle of Motorsport to other racing categories across the world.

With the FIA Formula 3 2026 season having just begun, new faces appearing while others disappear from the grid, now would be a good time to look back. What happens after the trophies have been awarded? Where are the past FIA Formula 3 champions over the last 3 years now? Who has gone on to find success in F1 and who took a different path? In this article, we’ll take a closer look at all of these questions so that you can be fully ready for the 2026 FIA Formula 3 season.

2025 Champion

Rafael Câmara, also known as Rafa Câmara, was born in Recife, Brazil, on May 5, 2005. At the age of six, in 2011, he started competitively karting, a pursuit he continued until 2022, when he moved up to single-seaters. After competing in the FDA World Scouting Finals in 2021, he joined Ferrari’s Driver Academy alongside now Formula One Driver, Oliver Bearman. 

In 2022, he competed in the Italian F4 Championship, the ADAC Formula 4 Germany Championship, and the Formula 4 UAE Championship, finishing third in Italian F4, third in ADAC F4 Germany Championship, and second in the F4 UAE Championship.  

In 2023 - still under Ferrari’s wings - he competed in the Formula Regional European Championship (FRECA) and Formula Regional Middle East Championship, finishing fifth in FRECA and third in the Formula Regional Middle East Championship.

He returned to both series in 2024, but this time became champion in FRECA and finished third in the Formula Regional Middle East Championship. After delivering those impressive campaigns, the FIA Formula 3 team Trident was quick to sign him for the 2025 Formula 3 season, alongside teammates Noah Strømsted and Charlie Wurz.

Camara dominated his only season in Formula 3. Securing the title at the Hungaroring with a round to spare. Having won the 2025 Formula 3 championship, he stepped up to FIA Formula 2 this season with the team Invicta Racing, alongside teammate Joshua Dürksen. 

In the opening and his Formula 2 debut race in Melbourne, he finished 2nd just behind his former title rival Nikola Tsolov, meaning he’s also currently 2nd in the standings.

(Image credit to Autosport)

2024 Champion

Leonardo Fornaroli was born in Piacenza, Italy, on December 3rd, 2004, and 10 years later in 2014, he started karting. Fornaroli’s dad was a racing driver himself. “I was going to his race weekends because he was a racing driver as well, and I liked watching his races a lot, how he was preparing for the race weekends.” He says to Formula 2 about his greatest influences. Therefore, it is no surprise that he started climbing the motorsport ladder quickly. 

Fornaroli moved up to single-seaters in 2020, where he raced in the Italian Formula 4 Championship in which he finished ninth and the ADAC Formula 4 Championship, where he finished nineteenth.

The following year in 2021 he made a return to both of those series. This time, he finished fourth in the Italian F4 and unclassified in the ADAC F4. In 2021, he also joined the series, FIA Central European Zone Formula 4, and finished third overall.

In 2022, he competed in FRECA where he ended as the highest-placed rookie in eighth overall, and in the Formula Regional Asian Championship in which he ended seventeenth. After his campaign in FRECA, Trident was quick to confirm that he would be taking part in the post-season Formula 3 test at Jerez in 2022. 

Shortly after that, Trident confirmed that he would be part of their driver line-up alongside Gabriel Bortoleto and Oliver Goethe for the 2023 FIA Formula 3 season.

He managed to secure two podiums that season and finished eleventh overall.

 In 2024, he returned for a second campaign in the F3 championship. Even though he didn't win a single race this season, he stayed consistent, which made him win the 2024 Formula 3 championship, making him the first winless champion in FIA Formula 3 history.

Not long after that, he signed with the FIA Formula 2 team Invicta Racing for the 2025 season. While signed, he took part in the FIA Formula 2 Abu Dhabi race weekend with Rodin Motorsport, replacing Zane Maloney who had to start his career in Formula E. He ended up finishing just outside the points in both the sprint and the feature race.

Fornaroli returned to Yas Marina shortly after to do the FIA Formula 2 post-season test with his new team, Invicta Racing. He ended up winning the 2025 FIA Formula 2 season in the penultimate round of the season in Qatar, becoming the fifth rookie driver to be crowned Formula 2 Drivers' Champion.

Following his title win, he signed with McLaren, a day before his birthday, to be part of their Driver Development Programme and was later on named as McLaren Reserve Driver for the FIA Formula 1 2026 season.

(Image credit to FIA Formula 3)

2023 Champion

Gabriel Bortoleto was born in São Paulo, Brazil, on October 14th, 2004. Bortoleto started his karting career early. Already at the age of seven, he started his competitive karting career, where he went on to win multiple national titles, before making his single-seater debut in 2020 in Italian F4 with the team Prema, where he finished fifth overall.

This good campaign in Italian F4 made him move up to FRECA, where he joined Formula One driver Fernando Alonso’s FA Racing team, then partnered with MP Motorsport for the 2021 season, in which he finished fifteenth overall after a hard season. In 2021, he also competed in Stock Car Light Brasil, where he finished thirteenth overall.

The following year, in 2022, he returned to FRECA, this time finishing sixth while also competing in the Formula Regional Asian Championship, finishing fourteenth, and the Stock Car Pro Series, with an unclassified position.

This performance made Trident sign him for the FIA Formula 3 2023 season, alongside Leonardo Fornaroli and Oliver Goethe. He was not considered a favorite that season, but after a fiercely competitive Formula 3 season, he ended up proving them wrong by winning the title at the final round at Monza.

After securing his Formula 3 title win, he signed with McLaren for their McLaren Driver Development programme. Backed by McLaren and Fernando Alonso as a manager, he joined Invicta Racing for the 2024 FIA Formula 2 season, alongside teammate Kush Maini. Bortoleto and his team won both the Drivers' and the Teams’ championships at the final round in Abu Dhabi.

Not long after the title-win, rumors started circling around that then Formula 1 team Kick Sauber had signed a contract with Bortoleto, and even more when McLaren announced they had released the Brazilian driver from their programme.

On the 6th of November 2024, Sauber confirmed the news. They announced that he had signed a multi-year deal, alongside German veteran driver, Nico Hülkenberg, for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 season.

In Bortoleto’s first season in Formula 1, he finished nineteenth overall. His best result was P6 in Hungary, where he scored 8 of the total 19 points at the end of the season. 

In his second season, here in 2026, he’s currently fourteenth in the standings after 2 rounds.

Article written by Laura Friis