Ernesto Rivera stormed to victory during the Sprint Race at the 2026 F3 Austrian GP, view the full race report here.
Round 4 of the 2026 F3 season began with a quiet Free Practice session that saw Noah Strømsted top the timesheets with a 1:22.410. Qualifying, however, proved challenging with track temperatures reaching 52°C, forcing teams to focus on tyre management. As drivers struggled with track limits and championship leaders fell back, Hiyu Yamakoshi claimed a breakthrough maiden pole position, while James Wharton took reverse-grid pole for the Sprint Race.
On the Sprint Race grid, Wharton lined up on the front row alongside Ernesto Rivera in P2. Pedro Clerot started in P3, while Jin Nakamura and Kanato Le completed the top five. Notably, after Qualifying, the stewards handed Alessandro Giusti a three-place grid penalty for both races after impeding Christian Ho.
Lights out for the Sprint Race at the 2026 F3 Austrian GP
Wharton got away cleanly as the race got underway. However, drama struck at Turn 1 as Strømsted made contact with teammate Freddie Slater, spinning Slater around and out of the race. The incident triggered a Safety Car as Slater’s TRIDENT car was collected.
The Spielberg Sprint Race resumed on Lap 3 with Wharton taking the field back to normal speeds at Turn 8. Giusti, who began from P10 with his penalty, now made his way up to P8 after bravely going around the outside of Yamakoshi at Turn 7. At the front, Rivera used DRS to close the gap to Wharton before his progress was interrupted due to a Virtual Safety Car.
The brief interruption was triggered due to debris on the track after Fionn McLaughlin lost his front wing in contact with Enzo Deligny. Wharton had another strong race restart, building a 1.4s gap over Rivera. Meanwhile, Clerot in P4 led a DRS train after the field had bunched up again.
An intense battle for the lead
By Lap 11, Rivera closed in on Wharton again. The duo made slight contact at Turn 3 before Wharton defended well for the remainder of the lap. As Rivera and Wharton battled, Nakamura and Clerot closed the gap to the top 2, making it a multi-car battle for the lead.
After multiple tries, Rivera finally took the Sprint Race lead with a decisive move at Turn 4 on Lap 14. Meanwhile, the top 16 drivers remained within DRS range of each other. Clerot attempted a late lunge move for P3 at Turn 4, but Nakamura managed to hold on. Running just 0.3s behind Nakamura, the Rodin Motorsport driver made another lunge on the next lap, though he wasn’t able to make it stick.
Final laps
With four laps remaining, Rivera locked up at Turn 3, allowing Wharton to slightly close the gap. In the meantime, Race Control handed out five-second false-start penalties to Woohyun Shin, Salim Hanna, and McLaughlin.
The close racing continued as Clerot made the move past Nakamura at Turn 3. Wharton ran wide at Turn 8 of the penultimate lap, falling out of DRS range. Under pressure from the drivers behind, Wharton fell further down the grid as Clerot and Nakamura made moves past.
Campos Racing’s Rivera ultimately claimed victory at the 2026 Austrian GP Sprint Race as Clerot and Nakamura completed the podium. Wharton finished P4.
See the full 2026 Austrian GP Sprint Race results here.
