Maciej Gładysz believes ART Grand Prix could have fought for an even stronger result during the 2026 F3 Spa-Francorchamps Round, had Friday’s Qualifying session gone to plan.
The Polish driver recovered from a difficult Qualifying session to finish fifth in Sunday’s Feature Race, moving through the field from 10th on the grid and showing strong race pace throughout the weekend.
However, despite ending the round inside the points, Gładysz admitted he was “not too happy” with the weekend overall, with his Qualifying result leaving him with too much ground to recover.
“FP went really well and then in Qualifying it started to rain just before the green light,” Gładysz explained. “We did a completely different warm-up sequence, instead of doing out-push we did out-push-push and to be honest we weren’t prepared for that.
“Then we did the sequence we were supposed to do so it was fine, but then the crash happened on the exit of T14, so it was a bit disappointing because I qualified outside the top 12, close to being on reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race.”
The Sprint and Feature Races
Gładysz finished 12th in the Sprint Race after a race interrupted by multiple Safety Car periods, but he felt the ART Grand Prix car had the pace to fight further up the order.
“Races went pretty well because in the Sprint Race, our pace was good, but a lot of Safety Cars hurt us,” he said.
The ART driver then made the most of his starting position in the Feature Race, gaining two places on the opening lap before continuing his charge through the field.
“Then Feature Race, had a good start, I was up to P8 and then after Safety Car I managed to do many overtakes,” Gładysz said.
He ultimately finished fifth, but believed a stronger final few laps could have put him in contention for an even bigger result.
“Last three laps could have been better,” he admitted. “I made too many mistakes in T1 and then I didn’t manage to overtake Mattia and Freddie. Maybe it would have been easier because obviously he didn’t have DRS so maybe I would have overtaken him.”
Gładysz Spa highlight
One of the highlights of Gładysz’s 2026 F3 Spa-Francorchamps Feature Race came when he made an aggressive move on Noah Strømsted at Turn 6.
“The one onStrømsted I think was a good move, it was a bit unexpected,” he said. “I thought about this move in T6, I was like maybe I will actually try the move this time, so I decided to just send it and I think it worked pretty well.
“It may have destroyed his race a tiny bit because obviously he went a tiny bit wide, I didn’t put him in the gravel, it was a clean move but then I managed to overtake Tuukka and then I was in my head like ‘jeez we can actually be on the podium,’ but we didn’t quite get there.
“But anyway, good points scored and we need to keep pushing like that. Maybe another lap, I would have been there.”
Gładysz looking to improve his Qualifying performance
Gładysz’s fifth-place finish saw him recover from starting 10th, and the Polish driver believes the result underlined the strength of his race pace.
“Starting from P10 and finishing in P5 is honestly another great result, we’re showing that our pace in races is amazing,” he said.
However, with the championship continuing to develop, Gładysz knows improving his Qualifying performance will be key to consistently fighting at the front.
“I just need to work much more on the qualifying pace and then we can be in the fight for top three in the championship.”
Gładysz will now head to the Hungaroring for Round 7 of the 2026 FIA Formula 3 season, where he will race at a circuit he considers his favourite on the calendar.
“It was a good amount of points scored and now we’re going to the track I really enjoy racing at, it’s my favourite track of the calendar so I will try to do my best and qualify at the top.”
