F3 returned to familiar territory at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Friday morning as Free Practice opened Round 3 of the 2026 season. After two street-circuit events in Melbourne and Monaco, the teams were on track minimally as the grid had previously visited the circuit for pre-season testing. They assessed the Hard compound tyre for race runs to gather crucial data before a tightly contested Qualifying session later in the day. With Ricardo Escotto taking over Brad Benavides cockpit, as Benavides is unable to race this weekend due to an injury he sustained from a crash in Monaco.
Slow start to F3 Free Practice in Barcelona as AIX set the early pace
As the 45-minute Free Practice session got underway, the F3 grid returned to the familiar Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya having completed pre-season testing at the venue earlier this year. However, Escotto, Ernesto Rivera and Woohyun Shin faced a steeper learning curve after missing that test.
The field did not set any fast laps in the opening 15 minutes, with all cars returning to the pits after completing installation laps around the Spanish circuit. The AIX Racing drivers were the first to head back out as the session reached the 30-minute mark, giving themselves clear track before the rest of the grid followed.
Fernando Barrichello then opened the timing runs with a 1:30.655, putting himself at the top of the timesheets ahead of his teammates. As almost the full grid returned to the circuit, PREMA’s Louis Sharp remained in the pits while the team worked on his car.
Naël leads Campos 1-2-3 as track limits cost Slater
As the session continued, more drivers began to set representative lap times and the order started to change quickly. Freddie Slater looked set to challenge for the fastest lap of the session, but the Briton ran wide at the final corner while pushing on his flying lap. Although he kept the car under control and avoided causing any disruption for the rest of the field, the stewards deleted his time for exceeding track limits, also therefore deleting his next lap time due to the circuit layout.
Théophile Naël then moved to the top of the timesheets with a 1:28.422, leading a Campos Racing 1-2-3 ahead of teammates Ugo Ugochukwu and Ernesto Rivera. While most of the grid had already completed timed laps by that point, PREMA’s Louis Sharp finally headed out with 20 minutes remaining, giving the New Zealand driver a short time on track to collect data ahead of Qualifying.
Campos hold firm as track limits shape the closing stages
With around 10 minutes remaining in F3 Free Practice at Barcelona, most of the field headed back out for another run. However, all three ART Grand Prix drivers ran wide at the exit of Turn 9, with each losing their lap time for exceeding track limits. Meanwhile, Trident worked on Freddie Slater’s car as the Briton continued to struggle with track limits, having his times deleted more than once during the session. His repeated excursions suggested the team needed to adjust the set-up to help him keep the car within the limits around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Although the times did not improve much in the closing minutes, with most teams running on used Hard tyres due to the limited tyres available for the weekend, the final phase of Free Practice still provided valuable data. Teams used the remaining laps to refine their set-ups and prepare for race conditions later in the weekend.
As the clock ran down, Campos Racing’s 1-2-3 remained unchanged, with Naël on top ahead of Ugochukwu and Rivera. Several drivers continued to struggle for grip on the used Hard tyres, sliding wide and exceeding track limits in the final minutes of F3 Free Practice in Barcelona.
See the full F3 Practice results here.
