Ugo Ugochukwu retained the lead of the 2026 FIA Formula 3 Drivers’ Championship after the F3 Sprint Race at the Hungarian GP. However, Freddie Slater drew level with the Campos Racing driver on 104 points.
Ugochukwu crossed the line in P10 but received a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. The sanction dropped him to P17, while Slater inherited P10 and the final point. Therefore, the official standings place Ugochukwu first on countback ahead of the TRIDENT driver.
Théophile Naël claimed victory and increased his total to 75 points. Meanwhile, teammate Ernesto Rivera finished third and moved ahead of Noah Strømsted into fourth. Kanato Le, Mattia Colnaghi, Brando Badoer, Tuukka Taponen, Nicola Lacorte, James Wharton and Fernando Barrichello also scored.
Ugochukwu retains championship lead on countback
Ugochukwu entered the Budapest Sprint Race with 104 points and a one-point advantage over Slater.
The American started seventh and moved forward during the opening half of the race. However, Race Control investigated him after he ran off the circuit at Turn 3 on the opening lap before overtaking Taponen at the following corner.
Officials subsequently handed Ugochukwu a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Although he crossed the line in P10, the time penalty dropped him to P17 and left him without points.
Slater initially finished P11 after avoiding the opening-lap incident involving Gerrard Xie, Maciej Gładysz and Jin Nakamura. Nevertheless, Ugochukwu’s penalty promoted him into P10.
The TRIDENT driver collected one point and increased his total from 103 to 104. Consequently, he drew level with Ugochukwu at the top of the standings, although the official classification keeps Ugochukwu first on countback.
Naël strengthens third with Sprint Race victory
Naël started sixth and avoided the opening-lap chaos to move into second behind reverse-grid polesitter Le.
The Campos Racing driver remained close after the Safety Car restart before using DRS to pass Le at Turn 1 on Lap 9. He controlled the remaining laps and secured his second victory of the season.
Naël collected 10 points and increased his championship total from 65 to 75. He retained third place but reduced his deficit to Ugochukwu and Slater from 39 and 38 points respectively to 29 points.
Furthermore, Naël extended his advantage over fourth place from six points to 11.
Rivera moves into fourth after another podium
Rivera secured third after spending much of the Sprint Race close behind Le.
The Red Bull junior struggled with front-tyre graining as he followed the ART Grand Prix driver. Nevertheless, he resisted pressure from Colnaghi and brought the car home on the podium.
Rivera earned eight points and increased his total from 56 to 64. As a result, he moved ahead of Strømsted and climbed from fifth to fourth in the Drivers’ Championship.
The Campos Racing driver now trails Naël by 11 points and leads Strømsted by five.
Strømsted falls to fifth after scoreless race
Strømsted failed to score after finishing P20 for TRIDENT.
The Danish driver remained on 59 points and dropped from fourth to fifth after Rivera’s podium. His deficit to the championship leaders increased from 45 and 44 points to 45 points behind both Ugochukwu and Slater.
Meanwhile, Badoer’s fifth-place finish reduced Strømsted’s advantage over sixth place from nine points to three.
Badoer climbs two positions after fifth place
Badoer survived the early incidents and remained inside the leading group throughout the Sprint Race.
The Rodin Motorsport driver initially ran behind Colnaghi and Ugochukwu. However, he overtook the championship leader during the closing stages and finished fifth.
Badoer collected six points and increased his total from 50 to 56. Consequently, he climbed from eighth to sixth and moved ahead of Gładysz and Hiyu Yamakoshi.
He now trails Strømsted by three points while leading both Gładysz and Yamakoshi by two.
Gładysz and Yamakoshi drop despite remaining level
Gładysz retired following the opening-lap collision involving Xie and Nakamura.
The ART Grand Prix driver started second but entered the gravel after contact at Turn 2. Therefore, he remained on 54 points and dropped from sixth to seventh.
Yamakoshi also failed to score after finishing P26 for Van Amersfoort Racing. He remained on 54 points but fell from seventh to eighth following Badoer’s six-point gain.
Gładysz retains the higher position on countback.
Del Pino, Clerot, Kato and Nakamura retain their positions
Bruno Del Pino finished P18 and remained ninth on 49 points.
Pedro Clerot followed a scoreless P21 result by remaining 10th with 48 points, while Taito Kato finished P14 and retained 11th on 45.
Nakamura retired after the opening-lap collision at Turn 2. The Hitech driver therefore remained on 39 points in 12th. The Stewards also handed him a three-place Feature Race grid penalty after finding him predominantly responsible for the incident with Xie.
Taponen moves ahead of Deligny
Taponen started P12 but gained several positions during the race.
The Feature Race polesitter avoided the first-lap incident before passing Ugochukwu during the closing stages. He eventually finished sixth and also recorded the fastest lap, earning six points in total.
Taponen increased his total from 28 to 34 points and moved from 14th to 13th.
Enzo Deligny failed to score after finishing P16. He remained on 28 points but dropped from 13th to 14th.
Colnaghi continues Spa momentum
Colnaghi produced another strong result after scoring heavily during the previous round at Spa-Francorchamps.
The MP Motorsport driver started P10 and avoided the opening-lap trouble before climbing to fourth. Although he placed pressure on Rivera, he could not find a way past the Campos Racing driver.
Colnaghi collected seven points and increased his total from 20 to 27. As a result, he climbed from 16th to 15th and moved ahead of Wharton, Xie and several other midfield rivals.
He now trails Deligny by only one point.
Wharton and Le make gains
Wharton moved into the top 10 during the second half of the race and eventually finished eighth.
The PREMA Racing driver earned three points and increased his total from 19 to 22. Consequently, he climbed from 17th to 16th and moved ahead of Xie.
Le recorded the largest positional gain among the lower half of the standings after finishing second.
The ART Grand Prix driver started from reverse-grid pole and led until Naël passed him on Lap 9. He nevertheless secured nine points and increased his total from 11 to 20.
Le climbed from 21st to 18th and drew level with Xie, who remains 17th on countback.
Lacorte and Barrichello add valuable points
Lacorte finished seventh for DAMS Lucas Oil after racing inside the points throughout the Sprint Race.
The Italian collected four points and increased his total from two to six. He moved from 24th to 23rd and drew level with Brad Benavides, whom he leads on countback.
Barrichello also scored his first F3 points after finishing ninth for AIX Racing.
His two-point haul lifted him from zero to two points and into 26th place. He now sits level with Fionn McLaughlin, who remains ahead on countback.
2026 F3 Drivers’ Championship standings after the Hungarian GP Sprint Race
- Ugo Ugochukwu — 104 points
- Freddie Slater — 104 points
- Théophile Naël — 75 points
- Ernesto Rivera — 64 points
- Noah Strømsted — 59 points
- Brando Badoer — 56 points
- Maciej Gładysz — 54 points
- Hiyu Yamakoshi — 54 points
- Bruno Del Pino — 49 points
- Pedro Clerot — 48 points
- Taito Kato — 45 points
- Jin Nakamura — 39 points
- Tuukka Taponen — 34 points
- Enzo Deligny — 28 points
- Mattia Colnaghi — 27 points
- James Wharton — 22 points
- Gerrard Xie — 20 points
- Kanato Le — 20 points
- Alessandro Giusti — 17 points
- Louis Sharp — 17 points
- Yevan David — 15 points
- Matteo De Palo — 7 points
- Nicola Lacorte — 6 points
- Brad Benavides — 6 points
- Fionn McLaughlin — 2 points
- Fernando Barrichello — 2 points
- José Garfias — 1 point
- Christian Ho — 0 points
- Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi — 0 points
- Patrick Heuzenroeder — 0 points
- Woohyun Shin — 0 points
- Salim Hanna — 0 points
- Ricardo Escotto — 0 points
Ugochukwu retains the championship lead on countback ahead of Slater. Meanwhile, Naël sits 29 points behind, while only eight points separate Rivera in fourth and Badoer in sixth.
Campos Racing extends Teams’ Championship advantage
Campos Racing produced the strongest team result of the Sprint Race.
Naël contributed 10 points through victory, while Rivera added eight with third place. Ugochukwu failed to score following his penalty, but the team still added 18 points.
Campos increased its total from 225 to 243 points. Meanwhile, TRIDENT earned only one point through Slater after Strømsted finished outside the top 10.
TRIDENT moved from 169 to 170 points. Consequently, Campos extended its Teams’ Championship advantage from 56 to 73 points.
Van Amersfoort Racing remains third
Van Amersfoort Racing failed to score after Del Pino, Yamakoshi and Hiyu Yamakoshi’s teammates finished outside the points.
The team therefore remained on 131 points in third. Its deficit to TRIDENT increased from 38 to 39 points, while ART Grand Prix reduced the gap behind from 21 to 12.
ART Grand Prix strengthens fourth
Le scored all nine of ART Grand Prix’s points after taking second.
Gładysz retired following the opening-lap incident, while Kato finished outside the points. Nevertheless, Le’s result lifted ART from 110 to 119 points.
The team retained fourth place and moved 15 points clear of Rodin Motorsport. Moreover, it reduced its deficit to Van Amersfoort Racing to 12 points.
Rodin Motorsport increases advantage over MP Motorsport
Badoer contributed six points for Rodin Motorsport after finishing fifth.
Clerot and Ho failed to score, leaving Badoer responsible for the team’s entire haul. Rodin increased its total from 98 to 104 points and remained fifth.
However, MP Motorsport scored 13 points through Colnaghi and Taponen. Colnaghi earned seven in fourth, while Taponen collected six through sixth place and the fastest lap.
MP Motorsport moved from 65 to 78 points and reduced its deficit to Rodin from 33 to 26.
PREMA Racing closes on Hitech
Hitech failed to score after Nakamura retired and its other two drivers finished outside the top 10.
The team therefore remained seventh on 41 points.
Wharton added three points for PREMA Racing, increasing its total from 37 to 40. Consequently, PREMA reduced its deficit to Hitech from four points to one.
DAMS and AIX Racing add points
Lacorte’s seventh-place finish added four points to DAMS Lucas Oil’s total.
The team moved from 22 to 26 points and retained ninth place. Xie finished P28 following the opening-lap incident, while his other teammate failed to score.
Meanwhile, Barrichello’s ninth-place finish earned AIX Racing two points. The team increased its total from 21 to 23 but remained three points behind DAMS.
2026 F3 Teams’ Championship standings after the Hungarian GP Sprint Race
- Campos Racing — 243 points
- TRIDENT — 170 points
- Van Amersfoort Racing — 131 points
- ART Grand Prix — 119 points
- Rodin Motorsport — 104 points
- MP Motorsport — 78 points
- Hitech — 41 points
- PREMA Racing — 40 points
- DAMS Lucas Oil — 26 points
- AIX Racing — 23 points
Campos Racing leads TRIDENT by 73 points, while ART Grand Prix sits only 12 points behind Van Amersfoort Racing in the fight for third. Meanwhile, PREMA Racing moved to within one point of Hitech.
