Freddie Slater remains at the top of the 2026 FIA F3 Drivers’ Championship after the Madrid Sprint Race, although Ugo Ugochukwu reduced the gap between the title rivals from 15 to 12 points ahead of the two remaining Feature Races at the Spanish GP.
Campos Racing’s Théophile Naël won the Sprint Race at the Madring and added the fastest lap point to collect 11 points. PREMA Racing’s James Wharton finished second, while teammate Alex Powell completed the podium and scored his first F3 points in just his second race weekend. The result also strengthened Campos Racing’s position at the top of the Teams’ Championship.
Slater failed to score after starting 17th, while Ugochukwu collected three points in eighth. Consequently, the American reduced Slater’s advantage from 15 points after Monza to 12 with two Feature Races remaining. The Sprint also ended the mathematical title hopes of Naël and Ernesto Rivera, leaving Slater and Ugochukwu as the final two contenders for the 2026 Drivers’ Championship.
Slater retains lead as Ugochukwu closes to 12 points
Slater entered Madrid on 141 points after his Monza Feature Race retirement, while Ugochukwu arrived on 126 following his recovery to eighth in Italy. The TRIDENT driver therefore carried a 15-point advantage into the final round.
However, Friday’s Qualifying placed Slater in a difficult position for the Sprint. He finished 17th in Qualifying 1 after encountering problems with his car, while Ugochukwu qualified fourth. The top 12 reversal put the Campos driver further down the Sprint grid, but he still held a much stronger starting position than his championship rival.
Neither driver featured at the front of the Sprint, but Ugochukwu’s eighth-place finish added three points to his total. He therefore moves from 126 to 129.
Slater failed to score and remains on 141. As a result, his championship lead falls to 12 points with the two Madrid Feature Races still to come.
Naël moves into third after Madrid Sprint victory
Naël produced the largest gain among the leading Drivers’ Championship contenders by winning the Sprint and recording the fastest lap. The Campos Racing driver entered Saturday fourth on 75 points, one behind teammate Rivera.
His 11-point haul takes him to 86 and moves him ahead of Rivera into third place. Although Naël has climbed significantly closer to the leading pair, the championship mathematics now rule him out of the title fight.
Qualifying has already determined both remaining pole positions, with ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato taking pole for Feature Race 1 and MP Motorsport’s Tuukka Taponen securing pole for Feature Race 2. Therefore, Naël can score a maximum of 52 further points through two Feature Race victories and two fastest laps. That would take him to 138, below Slater’s existing 141.
Rivera also added five points from sixth place, increasing his total from 76 to 81. However, he drops from third to fourth after Naël’s larger gain and can now reach no more than 133 points.
The Drivers’ Championship therefore becomes a direct fight between Slater and Ugochukwu.
Kato climbs to fifth as battle behind Campos pair changes
Kato added two points through ninth place in the Sprint, increasing his championship total from 71 to 73. That moves the ART Grand Prix driver into fifth and breaks the three-way tie he previously shared with Brando Badoer and Hiyu Yamakoshi.
Rodin Motorsport’s Badoer failed to score and remains on 71, dropping from fifth to sixth. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Yamakoshi also remains on 71 and stays seventh in the official classification.
The margins remain small immediately behind them. TRIDENT’s Noah Strømsted remains eighth on 65 after failing to score, while Taponen added one point for 10th to draw level with him on 65.
The official standings continue to place Strømsted eighth and Taponen ninth. Only eight points now separate Kato in fifth from the two drivers tied on 65.
Del Pino moves into top 10
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Bruno del Pino produced another significant move after finishing fourth in the Sprint. His seven points increase his total from 50 to 57 and lift him from 11th to 10th in the Drivers’ Championship.
Maciej Gładysz consequently drops from 10th to 11th despite remaining on 54 points. Rodin Motorsport’s Pedro Clerot follows on 48, while MP Motorsport’s Mattia Colnaghi remains 13th with 44.
Hitech’s Jin Nakamura added four points for seventh place, increasing his total from 39 to 43. He remains 14th but reduces his deficit to Colnaghi to just one point.
The results leave only 14 points separating del Pino in 10th from Nakamura in 14th, keeping several positions open heading into the final two races.
Wharton makes major jump after second place
Wharton made one of the largest moves through the midfield after finishing second in the Sprint. The PREMA Racing driver collected nine points, increasing his total from 29 to 38.
That result moves him from 19th after Monza to 15th in the championship. He passes Yevan David and Enzo Deligny, who remain tied on 34 points, as well as Nicola Lacorte on 33 and Kanato Le on 30.
David now sits 16th ahead of Deligny in 17th, while Lacorte drops to 18th and Le falls to 19th.
MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti also scored strongly with fifth place. His six points take him from 23 to 29, although he remains 20th because Wharton’s larger points gain carried the Australian further up the standings.
Powell scores first F3 points with Madrid podium
Powell delivered the biggest positional gain in the lower half of the championship after taking third for PREMA Racing.
The American-Jamaican driver entered Madrid without an F3 point after making his championship debut at Monza. However, his eight-point haul from the Sprint takes him directly to 23rd in the standings. His podium followed an impressive Qualifying 1 performance in which he finished 10th and secured a second-row Sprint start through the reversed grid.
Powell moves ahead of Matteo De Palo, who remains on seven points, and Brad Benavides on six.
Christian Ho, Fionn McLaughlin and Fernando Barrichello remain tied on two points, while José Garfias has one. The remaining drivers listed in the official standings remain scoreless.
2026 F3 Drivers’ Championship standings after the Madrid Sprint Race
- Freddie Slater — 141 points
- Ugo Ugochukwu — 129 points
- Théophile Naël — 86 points
- Ernesto Rivera — 81 points
- Taito Kato — 73 points
- Brando Badoer — 71 points
- Hiyu Yamakoshi — 71 points
- Noah Strømsted — 65 points
- Tuukka Taponen — 65 points
- Bruno del Pino — 57 points
- Maciej Gładysz — 54 points
- Pedro Clerot — 48 points
- Mattia Colnaghi — 44 points
- Jin Nakamura — 43 points
- James Wharton — 38 points
- Yevan David — 34 points
- Enzo Deligny — 34 points
- Nicola Lacorte — 33 points
- Kanato Le — 30 points
- Alessandro Giusti — 29 points
- Louis Sharp — 21 points
- Gerrard Xie — 20 points
- Alex Powell — 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
- Ricardo Escotto — 0 points
- Patrick Heuzenroeder — 0 points
- Michael Shin — 0 points
- Salim Hanna — 0 points
The official standings therefore leave Slater and Ugochukwu as the only remaining title contenders. Slater carries a 12-point advantage into the two Feature Races, while Naël now leads the fight for third by five points over Rivera.
Campos extends Teams’ Championship advantage
Campos Racing strengthened its position considerably in the Teams’ Championship after all three drivers scored in the Sprint.
Naël contributed 11 points through victory and fastest lap, Rivera added five from sixth and Ugochukwu scored three in eighth. Campos therefore collected 19 points and moved from 277 to 296.
TRIDENT failed to score, with Slater, Strømsted and De Palo all finishing outside the top 10. The team remains on 213 points.
Consequently, Campos extends its championship advantage from 64 points after Monza to 83 after the Madrid Sprint. TRIDENT remains mathematically capable of overturning that deficit across the two remaining Feature Races, but the task has become considerably more difficult.
Van Amersfoort moves ahead of ART
Van Amersfoort Racing emerged from the Sprint in sole possession of third in the Teams’ Championship.
Del Pino supplied all seven of the team’s points through fourth place, taking Van Amersfoort from 155 to 162. Yamakoshi and Deligny failed to score.
ART Grand Prix added two points through Kato’s ninth place and moves from 155 to 157. The result therefore breaks the tie between the two teams and gives Van Amersfoort a five-point advantage in the fight for third.
MP Motorsport remains close behind after adding seven points. Giusti contributed six through fifth and Taponen added one from 10th, taking MP from 131 to 138.
Rodin Motorsport failed to score and remains sixth on 121.
PREMA makes biggest Teams’ Championship gain
PREMA Racing produced the strongest team score outside Campos after placing two cars on the podium.
Wharton added nine points for second and Powell collected eight for third, giving PREMA 17 points from the Sprint. The team therefore rises from 51 to 68 and moves from eighth to seventh in the Teams’ Championship.
DAMS Lucas Oil failed to score and remains on 53, dropping to eighth as a result.
Hitech added four points through Nakamura and moves from 41 to 45. That allows the team to pass AIX Racing, which remains on 42 after failing to score.
Only 26 points now separate PREMA in seventh from AIX in 10th, leaving several positions open across the two remaining races.
2026 F3 Teams’ Championship standings after the Madrid Sprint Race
- Campos Racing — 296 points
- TRIDENT — 213 points
- Van Amersfoort Racing — 162 points
- ART Grand Prix — 157 points
- MP Motorsport — 138 points
- Rodin Motorsport — 121 points
- PREMA Racing — 68 points
- DAMS Lucas Oil — 53 points
- Hitech — 45 points
- AIX Racing — 42 points
Campos therefore takes an 83-point lead over TRIDENT into the final two races of the season. Meanwhile, Van Amersfoort Racing has broken clear of ART Grand Prix by five points in the battle for third, with MP Motorsport another 19 points behind.
The Drivers’ Championship has now narrowed to Slater and Ugochukwu, separated by 12 points, while Campos has strengthened its grip on the Teams’ title. However, with two Feature Races still to come at the Madring, both championships remain mathematically open.
