Freddie Slater extended his lead at the top of the 2026 F3 Drivers’ Championship standings after charging from 12th to second in the Monza Sprint Race at the Italian GP. The TRIDENT driver entered Saturday eight points ahead of Ugo Ugochukwu but added nine points at Monza while his title rival failed to score, moving Slater to 139 points and giving him a 17-point advantage heading into Sunday’s Feature Race.
Meanwhile, Taito Kato claimed his maiden F3 victory and climbed four places in the championship, while Hiyu Yamakoshi strengthened his position inside the top 10 with third. Ernesto Rivera also moved ahead of Campos Racing teammate Théophile Naël into third in the Drivers’ standings.
In the Teams’ Championship, Campos Racing retains the lead, although TRIDENT reduced the gap from 73 to 68 points. Van Amersfoort Racing remains third, while ART Grand Prix moved ahead of Rodin Motorsport into fourth.
Slater extends championship lead to 17 points
Slater began the Monza weekend with 130 points and an eight-point advantage over Ugochukwu following his maiden F3 victory in Budapest. After taking pole in Qualifying, the reverse-grid format placed Slater 12th for Saturday’s Sprint Race, but he steadily worked his way through the field during an incident-filled contest.
Slater had climbed to fourth by the second Safety Car restart before moving ahead of Alessandro Giusti and Hiyu Yamakoshi during the closing stages. He eventually finished second behind Kato and collected nine points, increasing his championship total from 130 to 139.
More importantly, Ugochukwu’s scoreless race allowed Slater to more than double his advantage from eight to 17 points. Slater will also start Sunday’s Feature Race from pole, giving him another opportunity to strengthen his position before the final round in Madrid.
Ugochukwu fails to score at Monza
Ugochukwu remains second in the Drivers’ Championship on 122 points after leaving Saturday’s Sprint without adding to his total. The Campos Racing driver already faced a difficult weekend after receiving a five-place grid penalty following an incident with Matteo De Palo in Free Practice, while his Qualifying result left him towards the rear of the grid for both races.
Ugochukwu made limited progress during the Sprint and eventually finished 13th, outside the points-paying positions. Consequently, he remains on the 122 points he carried into Monza, while Slater’s second place means the gap between the championship leaders has grown from eight to 17 points with the Italian GP Feature Race still to come.
Despite that increase, Ugochukwu remains comfortably second overall because the leading pair continues to hold a substantial advantage over the rest of the field.
Rivera moves ahead of Naël into third
Ernesto Rivera emerged from the Sprint Race as the new third-placed driver in the championship. The Campos Racing driver started the weekend fourth with 72 points, three behind teammate Naël, and initially moved into the leading fight during the chaotic opening stages before eventually finishing seventh to collect four points.
His championship total therefore rises to 76 points. Naël, meanwhile, produced an impressive recovery after starting 28th and reached the fringes of the points during the closing stages, but he eventually finished 11th and failed to score.
The Frenchman remains on 75 points and drops from third to fourth. Only one point now separates the Campos teammates, while Rivera sits 46 points behind Ugochukwu and 63 behind Slater.
Badoer holds fifth despite difficult Sprint
Brando Badoer remains fifth in the Drivers’ Championship on 71 points after a difficult afternoon at Monza. The Rodin Motorsport driver started from reverse-grid pole and initially led teammate Pedro Clerot, but his race unravelled following incidents and penalties.
Badoer made contact with Fernando Barrichello during the early stages and later received penalties for a Safety Car infringement and for forcing Barrichello off the circuit. He eventually finished outside the points and therefore remains on the 71 he brought into the weekend.
His failure to score did not cost him fifth place, but the battle immediately behind him tightened significantly because Yamakoshi returned to the podium.
Yamakoshi climbs to sixth with podium
Yamakoshi entered Monza seventh in the championship on 55 points but produced one of his strongest results of the season in the Sprint Race. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver spent much of the second half inside the leading group and fought Slater and Giusti during the closing laps.
Although Slater passed him for second, Yamakoshi successfully reclaimed third from Giusti and secured the final podium position. The eight points increase his total from 55 to 63 and move him ahead of Noah Strømsted into sixth place.
Yamakoshi now sits eight points behind Badoer and four ahead of Strømsted. The latter failed to score after finishing 15th and remains on 59 points.
Kato jumps four places after maiden F3 victory
Kato made the largest move near the front of the standings after converting ninth on the Sprint grid into his maiden F3 victory. The ART Grand Prix driver worked his way into the leading group before producing a decisive move at the final corner to jump from third into first during the closing stages.
Slater applied pressure on the final lap, but Kato held the championship leader behind to take victory. The 11 points increase his championship total from 45 to 56 and lift him from 12th to eighth in the standings.
Kato consequently moves ahead of Maciej Gładysz, Bruno del Pino, Pedro Clerot and Tuukka Taponen. He now sits only three points behind Strømsted and seven behind Yamakoshi.
Gładysz drops to ninth as del Pino reaches 50 points
Gładysz drops from eighth to ninth in the championship after retiring from the Sprint Race. The ART Grand Prix driver stopped on the run towards Turn 4 shortly after the first Safety Car restart and failed to add to his 54-point total.
Bruno del Pino follows him in 10th after collecting the final point available for 10th place. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver moves from 49 to 50 points but remains 10th overall.
Pedro Clerot stays 11th with 48 points after a promising race ended prematurely. The Rodin driver led during the early stages before smoke began emerging from his car and forced him to retire, while Tuukka Taponen also failed to finish and remains 12th on 46 points.
Colnaghi moves ahead of Nakamura
Mattia Colnaghi continued his strong recent scoring run by finishing sixth for MP Motorsport. The Italian collected five points and increased his championship total from 39 to 44, allowing him to climb from 14th to 13th and move ahead of Jin Nakamura.
Nakamura finished 12th and failed to score, leaving him on 39 points in 14th. Meanwhile, Enzo Deligny added three points with eighth place, taking the Van Amersfoort Racing driver from 28 to 31 points and moving him ahead of James Wharton into 15th.
Wharton initially finished higher up the order but received a 10-second penalty for his collision with Kanato Le. He eventually dropped to 21st in the Sprint classification and remains on 28 championship points.
Giusti and David make significant gains
Notably, Giusti and Yevan David both made important gains after finishing fifth and fourth respectively. Giusti spent much of the Sprint fighting at the front and led following the early incidents, remaining in podium contention deep into the race before losing positions to Slater, Yamakoshi and David during the closing stages.
His fifth-place finish earned six points and lifts him from 17 to 23 points, moving him from 20th to 17th in the championship. David made even greater progress during the race itself, charging from 17th on the grid to fourth and completing his final overtake on Giusti at the last corner.
The AIX Racing driver earned seven points, increasing his total from 15 to 22 and climbing from 21st to 18th. Louis Sharp drops to 19th on 21 points, while Gerrard Xie and Kanato Le remain level on 20 in 20th and 21st respectively.
Lacorte adds two points at Monza
Nicola Lacorte claimed the final significant movement further down the championship after finishing ninth. The DAMS Lucas Oil driver collected two points and increased his total from six to eight, moving ahead of Matteo De Palo into 22nd place.
De Palo remains on seven points after finishing 20th, while Brad Benavides stays 24th with six. Christian Ho, Fionn McLaughlin and Fernando Barrichello remain level on two points, José Garfias holds one, while Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi, Patrick Heuzenroeder, Woohyun Shin, Salim Hanna and Ricardo Escotto remain scoreless.
2026 F3 Drivers’ Championship standings after the Italian GP Sprint Race
- Freddie Slater — 139 points
- Ugo Ugochukwu — 122 points
- Ernesto Rivera — 76 points
- Théophile Naël — 75 points
- Brando Badoer — 71 points
- Hiyu Yamakoshi — 63 points
- Noah Strømsted — 59 points
- Taito Kato — 56 points
- Maciej Gładysz — 54 points
- Bruno del Pino — 50 points
- Pedro Clerot — 48 points
- Tuukka Taponen — 46 points
- Mattia Colnaghi — 44 points
- Jin Nakamura — 39 points
- Enzo Deligny — 31 points
- James Wharton — 28 points
- Alessandro Giusti — 23 points
- Yevan David — 22 points
- Louis Sharp — 21 points
- Gerrard Xie — 20 points
- Kanato Le — 20 points
- Nicola Lacorte — 8 points
- Matteo De Palo — 7 points
- Brad Benavides — 6 points
- Christian Ho — 2 points
- Fionn McLaughlin — 2 points
- Fernando Barrichello — 2 points
- José Garfias — 1 point
- Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi — 0 points
- Patrick Heuzenroeder — 0 points
- Woohyun Shin — 0 points
- Salim Hanna — 0 points
- Ricardo Escotto — 0 points
Slater leads Ugochukwu by 17 points heading into Sunday’s Feature Race, while Rivera has moved into third. Only five points separate Rivera, Naël and Badoer from third through fifth, while just nine points cover Yamakoshi in sixth through Gładysz in ninth, leaving several positions open to change again after the Feature Race.
Campos retains Teams’ Championship lead
Campos Racing remains comfortably at the top of the Teams’ Championship, although its advantage over TRIDENT narrowed during the Sprint Race. The team entered Saturday on 269 points and earned four more through Rivera’s seventh-place finish, while Ugochukwu and Naël both finished outside the points.
That leaves Campos on 273 points. TRIDENT, meanwhile, collected nine points through Slater’s second place, while Strømsted and De Palo failed to score, increasing the team’s total from 196 to 205.
As a result, TRIDENT reduced Campos’ advantage from 73 to 68 points. With the Feature Race still to come at Monza, TRIDENT gained ground but still faces a substantial deficit to the championship leader.
Van Amersfoort strengthens third place
Van Amersfoort Racing produced the highest-scoring team result of the Sprint Race. Yamakoshi contributed eight points through third place, Deligny added three with eighth and del Pino collected one in 10th, giving the team a combined 12-point haul.
That increases Van Amersfoort’s total from 132 to 144 points. The team remains third but has strengthened its position in the battle behind Campos and TRIDENT, now sitting 14 points ahead of ART Grand Prix and 23 clear of Rodin Motorsport.
However, the 61-point gap to TRIDENT means Van Amersfoort still needs significant gains if it wants to challenge the top two before the end of the season.
Kato victory lifts ART into fourth
Kato’s Sprint victory transformed ART Grand Prix’s position in the Teams’ Championship. ART entered the weekend fifth on 119 points, two behind Rodin Motorsport, and Kato added 11 points with victory while Gładysz and Nakamura failed to score.
That takes ART to 130 points and moves the team ahead of Rodin into fourth. Rodin, by contrast, endured a difficult race despite locking out the front row, with Badoer dropping outside the points following damage and penalties while Clerot retired after his car developed a problem.
Rodin therefore remains on 121 points and falls to fifth, leaving only nine points between the two teams heading into the Feature Race.
MP closes on Rodin after double points finish
MP Motorsport also made significant progress through Giusti and Colnaghi. Giusti collected six points for fifth, while Colnaghi added five with sixth, giving the team 11 points despite Taponen failing to score after retiring.
MP consequently increased its championship total from 102 to 113. The Dutch team remains sixth but has closed considerably on the battle immediately ahead, trailing Rodin by only eight points and ART by 17.
Van Amersfoort remains 31 points further ahead in third, but the Sprint tightened the fight from fourth through sixth considerably ahead of Sunday’s Feature Race.
AIX Racing moves ahead of DAMS
PREMA Racing and Hitech both failed to add to their totals and remain seventh and eighth on 50 and 41 points respectively. However, AIX Racing moved ahead of DAMS Lucas Oil following David’s recovery to fourth.
David supplied all seven of AIX Racing’s points, increasing the team’s total from 23 to 30 and moving AIX from 10th to ninth in the standings. DAMS also scored through Lacorte’s ninth place, which added two points to its total, but its increase from 26 to 28 was not enough to retain ninth.
The two teams now sit only two points apart heading into the Feature Race.
2026 F3 Teams’ Championship standings after the Italian GP Sprint Race
- Campos Racing — 273 points
- TRIDENT — 205 points
- Van Amersfoort Racing — 144 points
- ART Grand Prix — 130 points
- Rodin Motorsport — 121 points
- MP Motorsport — 113 points
- PREMA Racing — 50 points
- Hitech — 41 points
- AIX Racing — 30 points
- DAMS Lucas Oil — 28 points
Campos Racing leads TRIDENT by 68 points, while Van Amersfoort Racing holds a 14-point advantage over ART Grand Prix in third. The closest battle sits immediately behind, with only 17 points separating ART in fourth and MP Motorsport in sixth, while AIX Racing and DAMS are separated by only two points at the bottom of the standings.
