Brad Benavides entered the 2026 FIA Formula 3 season as AIX Racing’s experienced reference, but an injury at Monaco brought his campaign to a premature end and transformed the No. 26 car into a revolving seat. Ricardo Escotto and Salim Hanna subsequently shared the entry, with both facing the considerable challenge of joining the championship during the season.
The circumstances make direct comparisons between the three difficult. Benavides arrived with several years of F3 experience and an established relationship with AIX, while Escotto and Hanna received opportunities with little preparation. However, the changing line-up also became a defining part of AIX’s campaign as the team searched for continuity following Benavides’s injury.
Benavides enters 2026 as AIX Racing’s reference
Benavides returned to AIX after showing considerable one-lap potential during 2025. Pole positions at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza had demonstrated his qualifying speed, while fourth in the Monza Feature Race represented his best result of the year. With rookies Yevan David and Fernando Barrichello joining him for 2026, Benavides entered the campaign as the team’s most experienced F3 driver.
That continuity also gave him confidence heading into Melbourne. Speaking to Pit Debrief before the season, Benavides highlighted the existing relationship between AIX’s three drivers and targeted greater consistency after the highs and lows of 2025. His task involved turning the qualifying speed he had already demonstrated into more regular race results as AIX looked to progress.
Melbourne provided a reasonable start despite a difficult qualifying session. Benavides recovered to seventh in the Feature Race, scoring six points and leaving Australia with a result to build on. He later acknowledged that qualifying had made his weekend harder than necessary, but the recovery offered encouragement that AIX could convert his established pace into points more consistently.
Monaco brings Benavides’s season to an abrupt halt
Any opportunity to build momentum disappeared at Monaco. Benavides started the Sprint Race 21st before becoming involved in a collision with Christian Ho and Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi at Turn 6 on the opening lap. The stewards held Benavides responsible and initially handed him a 10-second penalty, which became a five-place grid drop because he had retired.
More significantly, Benavides sustained a back injury in the accident and withdrew from the remainder of the weekend. As Pit Debrief noted following the Monaco round, the injury raised immediate questions over how much of the season he would miss. What initially appeared to be a temporary absence ultimately ended his campaign.
Benavides therefore finished 2026 with only Melbourne’s six points, leaving him 25th in the Drivers’ Championship. AIX eventually confirmed that he would not return as his recovery continued, bringing his time with the team to an earlier conclusion than either side had anticipated.
Escotto receives an unexpected F3 opportunity
With Benavides unable to compete in Barcelona, AIX turned to Ricardo Escotto. The Mexican arrived from Indy NXT with previous experience in Formula 4, USF Pro 2000 and Euroformula Open, but had no prior F3 race experience. His Barcelona call-up as Benavides’s replacement therefore required him to quickly adapt to a new car, tyres and championship.
Escotto finished 22nd in the Barcelona Sprint Race, which remained one of his best results of the season. Although he failed to score, AIX saw enough progress to bring him back for Silverstone and Spa. His return also provided some continuity after the disruption that followed Monaco, even if he remained well outside the points.
The results offered little indication of a breakthrough, with Escotto again taking 22nd in the Spa Sprint Race. However, AIX praised the work he completed with the engineers away from the circuit and eventually confirmed him for the final two rounds of the season. That decision suggested the team valued his development beyond what the championship standings showed.
Hanna faces an even steeper challenge in Spielberg
Salim Hanna became the third driver to occupy the No. 26 car when AIX selected him for Spielberg. His situation differed considerably from Escotto’s. The Colombian had only stepped up from Formula 4 to Formula Regional Europe earlier in 2026, making his F3 debut an especially significant jump.
AIX therefore approached Spielberg as an opportunity for Hanna to learn rather than expecting immediate results. Despite his limited experience, he qualified 25th and placed ahead of both regular AIX drivers David and Barrichello. That represented an encouraging start given the circumstances, even though it did not translate into points across the weekend.
Hanna’s appearance remained a one-off as Escotto subsequently returned at Silverstone. As a result, his 2026 F3 record provides too small a sample to support any firm conclusions about his potential. However, qualifying ahead of both teammates offered a positive moment during an otherwise demanding introduction to the category.
Escotto returns but points remain out of reach
Escotto’s return gave him considerably more F3 experience than Hanna, but he still struggled to move into points contention. His appearances at Silverstone and Spa provided further mileage before he returned once again for Monza, where AIX committed to him for the closing stages of the championship.
However, Escotto never managed to score. He ended the year 31st in the Drivers’ Championship, with his best finishes remaining the 22nd places he achieved in Barcelona and Spa. The result reflected the difficulty of joining F3 during the season without the extensive testing and preparation enjoyed by the regular field.
Escotto had originally been due to contest the Madrid finale, but circumstances again forced AIX to change its plans. A road traffic accident before the event left him unable to race on medical advice, and the team consequently entered only David and Barrichello. His season therefore ended at Monza rather than with the planned final opportunity to demonstrate his progress.
An injury changes the complexion of AIX’s No. 26 campaign
The story of AIX’s No. 26 car ultimately revolves around what might have happened had Benavides remained fit. His seventh place in Melbourne provided six points immediately, while his two poles from 2025 had already shown the speed he could produce with the team. However, Monaco ended any opportunity to discover whether he could turn that potential into the consistent results he targeted before the season.
Escotto and Hanna subsequently faced very different expectations. Neither entered F3 with a full preparation programme, while Hanna made an especially large jump from Formula Regional. Their zero-point returns therefore require more context than Benavides’s results, particularly given the limited number of weekends each contested.
For AIX, the repeated changes prevented the continuity it had expected when it retained Benavides. For Escotto and Hanna, however, those circumstances created unexpected opportunities to experience F3. Benavides’s injury may have ended one campaign prematurely, but it simultaneously opened the door for two drivers taking very different routes through the junior single-seater ladder.
