Born on January 25, 1976, Mario Haberfeld is the son of a motorsport enthusiast and inherited the same passion from an early age. His first sport was tennis, but constant exposure to the paddocks of Nelson Piquet, a close family friend, quickly turned karting into his main passion.
In karting, he won the Pan-American Championship in 1992 and the São Paulo State Championship in 1993. Soon after, he transitioned to car racing and following a few races in Brazilian Formula Ford decided to compete in the British version of the category in 1995, moving to Cambridge, England. It was a challenging period marked by intense personal and professional growth.
In 1996, he advanced to Formula Renault, and in 1997 and 1998 competed in British Formula 3, then the most important and competitive feeder series to Formula 1. Driving for Jackie Stewart’s team, one of his greatest idols, he won the championship in 1998 despite starting the second half of the season 54 points behind the leader.
During this period, he received key support from engineer Andy Miller, who would become a close friend. In 1999, Mario joined Formula 3000 as a contracted driver for McLaren, which maintained a junior team in the category. In the following years, he raced for Fortec (2000), Super Nova (2001), and Astromega (2002), the season in which he achieved his best results. His seventh-place finish in the championship and limited podium appearances did not fully reflect his performance throughout the year, which included an unforgettable second place at Interlagos, his first F-3000 podium.
However, it was outside the racetrack that Mario developed a deeper purpose shaped by his direct experiences in nature. In 1989, at the age of 12, Mario traveled with his family to Tanzania. The encounter with African wildlife during a safari created a strong bond with nature and profoundly influenced his relation to nature throughout his life.
Over the years, he returned to Africa several times, deepening his admiration for the balance between conservation and wildlife. At some point during this period, his awareness of life’s finitude began guiding his choices, leading him to invest in his other passion. In 2012, alongside his wife, he traveled to India, where coexistence between humans and animals expanded his understanding of harmony and respect for nature.
Yet it was necessary to turn his gaze back to Brazil. In 2007, upon visiting the Amazon, Mario encountered a Brazil previously unknown to him. Even without clearly seeing its wildlife, he grasped the urgency of preserving the ecosystems that sustain life and environmental balance.
The Pantanal ultimately solidified this calling to work directly in the conservation of Brazilian wildlife. In the Miranda region (MS), at Caiman Pantanal, alongside partners and guided by hands-on field experience, he found a viable path to integrate conservation, science, and tourism.
From this experience, Onçafari was born; an organization dedicated to conserving Brazilian biodiversity through the protection of natural areas and the socio-economic strengthening of local communities.
