Qualifying 1 for the first F3 Feature Race and the Sprint Race in Madrid this weekend at the 2026 Spanish GP has been completed, view the full results here.
In Free Practice much earlier in the day, Nicola Lacorte crashed at turn 9 near the end of the session. Nonetheless, considering the carnage that occurred in testing when they were there, it was a very calm session.
Jin Nakamura topped the times as Kato completed a Japanese 1-2 in the only Free Practice session. Enzo Deligny was 3rd. In the championship fight, Ugo Ugochukwu was fastest as the American driver finished up in 4th, two spots in front of Freddie Slater. Ernesto Rivera, with the slimmest of slim chances to win it, split the duo in 5th.
Having a tough rookie season in F3, Irish driver Fionn McLaughlin had a strong session as he ended up 7th.
Only 28 drivers took place in qualifying as Ricardo Escotto and Gerrard Xie were not competing this weekend. Christian Ho was replaced by Niccolò Maccagnani at Rodin Motorsport.
Pushing to the absolute limit, Japanese driver Taito Kato got his rewards and is set to start on pole for the first Feature Race. Pedro Clerot joins him on the front row. Tuukka Taponen, who starts on pole for the second Feature Race this weekend, was 3rd.
Critically, championship leader Freddie Slater had a shocker as he complained a broken car. He only managed P17. Ugo Ugochukwu, his title rival, will go off from 4th and looks to be favourite for the title now.
2026 F3 Spanish GP | Qualifying 1 results
- Taito Kato
- Pedro Clerot
- Tuukka Taponen
- Ugo Ugochukwu
- Enzo Deligny
- Jin Nakamura
- Ernesto Rivera
- Alessandro Giusti
- Bruno del Pino
- Alex Powell
- Théophile Naël
- James Wharton
- Matteo De Palo
- Fionn McLaughlin
- Yevan David
- Mattia Colnaghi
- Freddie Slater
- Hiyu Yamakoshi
- Maciej Gładysz
- Kanato Le
- Nicola Lacorte
- Brando Badoer
- José Garfias
- Woo-hyun Shin
- Fernando Barrichello
- Noah Strømsted
- Niccolò Maccagnani
- Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi
