Campos Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu says he “maximised” his result in Barcelona after recovering to third place in the 2026 FIA Formula 3 (F3) Feature Race, despite feeling he lacked the pace that had helped him secure strong results earlier in the season.
The American started from the front row alongside race winner Théophile Naël and initially ran inside the podium positions. However, as the race unfolded, Ugochukwu found himself under increasing pressure and briefly dropped to fourth place before fighting back to reclaim P3 and secure another valuable podium finish.
Reflecting on the race, Ugochukwu admitted it had been one of his more challenging outings of the 2026 campaign.
“Overall, it wasn’t an easy race,” he said. “I think pace was not the best. I had Del Pino behind who was very quick, so I had to try to manage him and push quite hard.“
Midway through the race, when Ugochukwu was running in P3, he made an error on the last corner of the track and slipped off the racing line and into the gravel, allowing del Pino to overtake him in the process.
“I fell into P4,” Ugochukwu said, “I thought maybe the chance of the podium was gone, but I think pace came back a bit more towards the end. I managed to get back onto the podium.”
Despite feeling the car was not as competitive as it had been at previous rounds, Ugochukwu was pleased to leave Barcelona with another strong points haul and his championship lead intact.
“For sure it was not as fast as previous weekends, I feel,” he explained. “But overall, I think I maximised what I could do today. So I’m fairly pleased.”
DRS and tyre degradation playing into the F3 Feature Race
A key challenge throughout the 2026 F3 Barcelona Feature race was balancing tyre management with the need to remain within DRS range of the cars ahead. Once he lost that advantage, the Campos driver found himself having to work even harder to defend his position.
“Of course it wasn’t easy,” Ugochukwu said. “I was trying to push, of course, but at the same time, try to manage my tyres a little bit and stay in the DRS, which I fell out of.
“That meant I had to push even harder to stay in front. Later in the race, I managed to find a bit of pace back and get back into P3.”
While satisfied with the final result, the American admitted he still needs to identify why he could not extract more performance during the opening stages of the race.
“I just need to see why we couldn’t extract a bit more performance towards the start of the race.”
Campos Racing proving strong around Barcelona
The F3 Barcelona Feature Race podium marked another strong weekend for Campos Racing, with Ugochukwu finishing in P3 behind Naël in P1 to secure a double podium for the Spanish outfit.
Looking ahead to the next round, Ugochukwu believes the team’s continued consistency gives them confidence that they can remain at the front of the field.
“I think the team has done a really good job from the first lap in FP,” he said. In the earlier Free Practice session on Friday, all 3 Campos drivers finished at the top of the timings, with Ernesto Rivera in P3 behind Naël and Ugochukwu.
“They did a good job all weekend. We are keeping the good momentum that we started the Championship with. Me and the team are really confident going into the next round that we can be competitive and be fighting for more podiums.”
