Who is Red Bull Racing's new reserve driver Sette Camara?

On Monday morning, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing announced Sergio Sette Camara would be the reserve driver for its team, as well as for AlphaTauri. How did the Brazilian get there?

Like most drivers in Formula 2 and Formula 1, Sette Camara started his professional career in a Formula 3 championship; the Brazilian one, to be exact.

At 16 years of age he was finally old enough to participate in the race at Interlagos, venue of the Brazilian Grand Prix. In his first professional race he grabbed an impressive P6, but teammate Pedro Piquet proved to be too much to handle for the rookie. Piquet won the championship in dominant fashion while Sette Camara 'only' ended seventh.

Red Bull junior

In that same year, the Brazilian was allowed to do a test race in European F3. He earned a seat on the grid for the following season, but said season didn't get off to the best start. Halfway through the campaign, he managed to turn it around, getting multiple podium finishes. He piqued the interest of Red Bull and their youth program, snapping the teenager up and immediately giving him a test drive for Toro Rosso at Silverstone. 

In 2016, the season once again didn't start well for Sette Camara. The opening race at Paul Ricard ended in tears for him as he got taken out by his teammate, but again, he turned things around. With the help of some brave moves Sette Camara built a reputation for himself as he fought his way into the points often. In the second half of the season, things soured again. He missed out on good points because of grid penalties and a crucial drive-through penalty when he was running second at Hockenheim. He finished the year in 11th, prompting Red Bull to drop him from their youth set-up.

Step up to F2

Despite Red Bull losing faith in him, Sette Camara landed a spot on the Formula 2 grid in 2017 at MP Motorsport. His first season in the class was mostly one to forget, until he bagged his maiden win in Spain. He impressed the rest of the season too, moving to Carlin in 2018 to partner a certain Lando Norris before going to DAMS.

His achievements in F2 got him a gig as a development driver at McLaren in 2019 while also getting the attention of Red Bull Racing again. Can it be enough to get a seat at AlphaTauri in the future? Sergio Sette Camara certainly remains one to watch.