‘We need to prove why we are here’ – Ferreira admits she’s feeling the pressure to perform in her second year

Rafaela Ferreira believes she has to avoid replicating her rookie year errors in order to make her mark as one of a handful of second-year drivers.

Rookies outnumber sophomore drivers by 11 to six, leaving Racing Bulls’ Ferreira motivated to build on her learnings from last year and capitalise on the advantage of having previous experience in the Series.

The Brazilian racer has already beaten her best finish by claiming P4 in Shanghai’s Reverse Grid Race – in the same event, P5 ended up being her strongest result of last year, but Ferreira is eager to continue improving and reach that elusive podium.

Looking ahead to the season, she said: “I’m really excited. I think it’s going to be a really good year because I’ve already done my first one. I would say my first year was all about learning everything – getting used to the Series, the car, the tyres, how to work with the team. I think the second year is the year we need to prove why we are here and do our best.

“For sure, if we have some rookies that are really fast, they’re going to be there to fight too, but I want to fight for the title. I think the goal this year is to get my first podium and my first win in F1 ACADEMY.

“I think last year I made some mistakes that I’m really clear to not commit this year. I’ll use everything that I learned last year to prepare myself from the beginning of the year.”

As drivers are typically only permitted a two-year stint in the Series, all of the second-year competitors – Ferreira, her Campos Racing teammate Alisha Palmowski, Emma Felbermayr, Nina Gademan, Ella Lloyd and Alba Larsen – will battle to show what they can do before looking to progress elsewhere.

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With plenty on the line in terms of her next steps, Ferreira admitted that she feels “a little bit of pressure” to improve on her rookie season result of P12 and 18 points. However, she’s already well on her way to exceeding the tally, having secured 13 points in Round 1 alone.

“I think we have a little bit more pressure, mainly because we have the rookies so we want to be faster than them, for sure,” she explained. “At the same time, I think everything is calmer – we arrive here and already know everything that’s going to happen.

“It’s basically the same as last year so we’re already used to it. At the same time as we have the pressure, everything is easier, I would say.”