Ugo Ugochukwu and Freddie Slater will enter the final race of the 2026 FIA F3 season level on points after a dramatic Feature Race 1 at the Spanish GP in Madrid completely erased Slater’s advantage at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.
Ugochukwu finished fourth at the Madring to collect 12 points, while Slater failed to score after crashing at Turn 19. The result moves the Campos Racing driver from 129 to 141 points, drawing him level with the TRIDENT driver, who remains on 141. Ugochukwu sits first in the official standings on countback ahead of Sunday’s Feature Race 2.
Meanwhile, Pedro Clerot claimed his maiden F3 victory for Rodin Motorsport ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato and MP Motorsport’s Tuukka Taponen. Campos also secured the 2026 Teams’ Championship after Ugochukwu, Ernesto Rivera and Théophile Naël all finished inside the points.
Ugochukwu draws level with Slater ahead of F3 finale
Slater entered Feature Race 1 with a 12-point advantage after Ugochukwu reduced the gap during the Sprint Race. However, their championship positions changed dramatically during Saturday evening’s race.
Ugochukwu started fourth and remained around that position throughout the race, despite coming under pressure from Jin Nakamura. Slater faced a much more difficult task from 17th and had moved to 15th before losing control at Turn 19 on Lap 10 and hitting the barrier. His retirement left him unable to add to his 141-point total.
Ugochukwu eventually finished fourth and collected 12 points, taking him from 129 to 141. The two title contenders therefore enter the final Feature Race tied, although the official classification places Ugochukwu first. Under the 2026 regulations, Feature Race victories provide the first countback criterion, followed by Sprint Race victories when the number of Feature wins is equal.
The championship will consequently be decided in Feature Race 2. Ugochukwu starts from second, while Slater lines up eighth, giving the Campos driver the stronger track position before the final race.
Kato climbs to third after second place
Kato made another significant gain in the Drivers’ Championship after finishing second from pole position. His Feature Race result, combined with the points earned for pole, added 20 to his total and moved him from 73 to 93 points.
The ART Grand Prix driver consequently climbs from fifth after the Sprint to third in the standings. He moves ahead of Naël and Rivera, who had occupied third and fourth following Saturday morning’s race.
Naël added two points for ninth and moves from 86 to 88, but drops to fourth. Rivera finished eighth and collected four, increasing his total from 81 to 85 while moving from fourth to fifth.
The fight for third therefore remains open heading into Feature Race 2. Kato holds a five-point advantage over Naël and sits eight ahead of Rivera, giving all three drivers something significant to fight for in the final race.
Taponen jumps to sixth with Madrid podium
Taponen also made a substantial move after finishing third and setting the fastest lap. His 16-point haul takes him from 65 to 81 points and lifts him from ninth to sixth in the Drivers’ Championship.
The MP Motorsport driver passes several rivals in the process, including Brando Badoer, Hiyu Yamakoshi and Noah Strømsted. Taponen now sits only four points behind Rivera and seven behind Naël before starting Feature Race 2 from pole position.
His starting position gives him an opportunity to make another sizeable gain in the final classification. Victory and fastest lap would provide another 26 points, leaving several of the positions immediately ahead of him potentially within reach depending on their results.
Clerot surges from 12th to seventh after maiden F3 victory
Clerot produced the largest move near the front of the standings by taking his maiden F3 victory. The Rodin Motorsport driver made a better start than pole-sitter Kato, took the lead into Turn 1 and controlled both restarts to secure all 25 points for victory.
He entered Feature Race 1 on 48 points in 12th place but leaves it with 73, jumping five positions to seventh. Clerot now sits eight points behind Taponen and two ahead of both Badoer and Yamakoshi.
Badoer and Yamakoshi failed to score and remain tied on 71 points. They consequently fall to eighth and ninth respectively, while Strømsted’s scoreless race leaves him 10th on 65.
Clerot’s victory therefore significantly reshapes the battle immediately behind the top five, with only 16 points separating Taponen in sixth from Strømsted in 10th.
Nakamura and Giusti make further gains
Nakamura continued his strong Madrid weekend by finishing fifth for Hitech. The result added 10 points to his total, taking him from 43 to 53 and lifting him ahead of Mattia Colnaghi into 13th.
Alessandro Giusti made an even larger positional gain after finishing sixth. The MP Motorsport driver collected eight points to move from 29 to 37, climbing from 20th after the Sprint to 16th.
James Wharton collected the final point in 10th and increases his total from 38 to 39. Alex Powell also continued his productive second F3 weekend by taking seventh, adding six points to the eight he scored with his Sprint podium. He remains 23rd but now has 14 points from his first two rounds.
2026 F3 Drivers’ Championship standings after Feature Race 1
- Ugo Ugochukwu — 141 points
- Freddie Slater — 141 points
- Taito Kato — 93 points
- Théophile Naël — 88 points
- Ernesto Rivera — 85 points
- Tuukka Taponen — 81 points
- Pedro Clerot — 73 points
- Brando Badoer — 71 points
- Hiyu Yamakoshi — 71 points
- Noah Strømsted — 65 points
- Bruno del Pino — 57 points
- Maciej Gładysz — 54 points
- Jin Nakamura — 53 points
- Mattia Colnaghi — 44 points
- James Wharton — 39 points
- Alessandro Giusti — 37 points
- Yevan David — 34 points
- Enzo Deligny — 34 points
- Nicola Lacorte — 33 points
- Kanato Le — 30 points
- Louis Sharp — 21 points
- Gerrard Xie — 20 points
- Alex Powell — 14 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
- Woohyun Shin — 0 points
- Salim Hanna — 0 points
The official standings place Ugochukwu ahead of Slater despite the pair sharing 141 points. Kato now holds third, while just 20 points separate him from Clerot in seventh ahead of the season-ending Feature Race 2.
Campos seals back-to-back F3 Teams’ Championship
While the Drivers’ Championship remains undecided, Campos Racing completed the job in the Teams’ Championship during Feature Race 1.
Campos entered the race with 296 points and an 83-point advantage over TRIDENT. Ugochukwu contributed 12 points through fourth, Rivera added four in eighth and Naël collected two in ninth, giving the team another 18 points and taking its total to 314.
TRIDENT failed to score for the second Madrid race in succession. Slater retired, while De Palo finished 13th and Strømsted took 16th, leaving the team on 213 points.
Campos therefore extends its advantage to 101 points with only Feature Race 2 remaining. With a maximum of 59 points available to a team in the final race, TRIDENT can no longer overturn the deficit, confirming Campos as the 2026 Teams’ Champion. The result also gives the Spanish outfit consecutive Teams’ titles.
ART Grand Prix moves into third
ART Grand Prix made a major gain through Kato’s second-place finish and pole position. The Japanese driver supplied all 20 of the team’s Feature Race 1 points, taking ART from 157 to 177 and moving it ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing into third.
Van Amersfoort failed to score after Deligny and del Pino became involved in the opening-lap accident, while Yamakoshi finished 15th. The team therefore remains on 162 points and falls to fourth.
MP Motorsport also reaches 162 after collecting 24 points. Taponen contributed 16 with third place and fastest lap, while Giusti added eight in sixth. However, the official standings continue to place Van Amersfoort ahead of MP on countback.
Only 15 points now separate ART in third from both Van Amersfoort and MP on 162, leaving the final podium position in the Teams’ Championship open heading into Sunday.
Clerot victory strengthens Rodin’s sixth place
Clerot’s maiden victory delivered 25 points to Rodin Motorsport, taking the team from 121 to 146. Badoer did not score, but Clerot’s result significantly reduced the gap to the teams immediately ahead.
Rodin remains sixth, 16 points behind both Van Amersfoort and MP and 31 behind ART. With 59 points theoretically available in Feature Race 2, the team remains mathematically capable of moving further up the classification.
PREMA Racing also added seven points through Powell’s sixth-point haul and Wharton’s one point, moving from 68 to 75. The team remains seventh but has strengthened its position over the teams behind.
Hitech passes DAMS after Nakamura’s fifth place
Hitech made another notable gain through Nakamura’s fifth-place finish. His 10 points move the team from 45 to 55 and lift it from ninth to eighth in the Teams’ Championship.
DAMS Lucas Oil failed to score and remains on 53, dropping to ninth. AIX Racing also stays on 42 after another scoreless race and remains 10th.
Only 13 points separate Hitech, DAMS and AIX heading into Feature Race 2, leaving the lower positions in the Teams’ standings open even though Campos has already secured the championship.
2026 F3 Teams’ Championship standings after Feature Race 1
- Campos Racing — 314 points
- TRIDENT — 213 points
- ART Grand Prix — 177 points
- Van Amersfoort Racing — 162 points
- MP Motorsport — 162 points
- Rodin Motorsport — 146 points
- PREMA Racing — 75 points
- Hitech — 55 points
- DAMS Lucas Oil — 53 points
- AIX Racing — 42 points
Campos therefore enters the final race with an unassailable 101-point advantage and the 2026 Teams’ Championship secured. Behind the top two, however, ART, Van Amersfoort, MP and Rodin all remain involved in the fight for third.
The Drivers’ Championship could hardly be closer. Ugochukwu and Slater will start the final race tied on 141 points, with Ugochukwu holding the official lead on countback and starting from second compared with Slater’s eighth. After an 18-race season, the 2026 F3 Drivers’ title will therefore come down to the final Feature Race at the Madring.
