Sérgio Sette Câmara and Lando Norris at Carlin in 2018
Carlin team has confirmed its lineup of drivers for its return to Formula 2, it will be the British Lando Norris and the Brazilian Sérgio Sette Câmara.
The choice of Lando Norris is not really a surprise, given that the 18-year-old British driver has been part of the British team’s structure since F4. The young prodigy’s single-seater career began in British F4 in 2015 with a title won brilliantly with eight victories.
The 2016 season of Norris was even more prolific with the impressive feat of three titles in four different championships. At the beginning of the season, he competed in the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand and won the title. Then he participated in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup championship as well as in the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC championship, both of which he won. At the same time, he took part in the British F3 BRDC championship and won some races. This 2016 season will be crowned by a McLaren Autosport BRDC Award which rewards young talents. This allows him to join the McLaren young driver program.
This year, the adventure with Carlin continues but this time in the FIA European Formula 3 championship. Once again, Norris wins the championship as a newcomer with no less than 20 podiums and 9 victories, becoming the youngest driver to be champion in F3 Europe. To top it all off, the Englishman managed to finish second in the Macau Grand Prix (Formula 3 World Cup) last weekend. Next season, in addition to being the reserve driver for the McLaren team in Formula 1, Norris will continue to the next level in Formula 2 still under the Carlin banner.
The second driver of the team for 2018 will be the 19-year-old Brazilian driver Sérgio Sette Câmara. The South American driver’s record includes an eleventh-place finish as his best result in the Formula 3 Europe championship. However, it was at the Macau Grand Prix that he excelled the most, finishing third on the podium in 2016 alongside the winner Antonio Felix da Costa, who was also driving for Carlin on that occasion. In fact, he came very close to victory this year, leading for the majority of the race before being involved in a last corner collision with another Carlin driver, Ferdinand Habsburg, which prevented him from winning.
Regarding the Formula 2 championship, Sette Câmara competed this season with the small team MP Motorsport. The beginning of the year was quite difficult with 14 races without scoring points, but things eventually took a turn for the better towards the end of the season with a win in the sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps and six top 10 finishes in the last seven rounds. He will therefore compete in his second season in the discipline with Carlin. His performances against a driver considered a rising star in motorsport could prove decisive for his future as a racing driver.
Therefore, it is with reasonable title hopes that Carlin makes its return to F2 by unveiling a brand new single-seater like all the other teams on the grid.
