Mattia Colnaghi says both he and MP Motorsport have learned valuable lessons from the opening round of the 2026 FIA Formula 3 (F3) season, with the pair aiming to return stronger ahead of the Monaco GP round from June 4-7.
The Argentinian driver endured a mixed opening weekend at Albert Park Circuit. While he showed strong one-lap pace by qualifying sixth, the races proved far more difficult, with Colnaghi leaving Melbourne with just a single point after finishing last in the Sprint Race and P10 in the Feature Race.
Since then, Colnaghi has spent much of the 2026 F3 break preparing for the upcoming European rounds through simulator work, alongside time training at home and assisting MP Motorsport in the lower categories.
“It’s been a break, but it’s been quite busy at the same time,” said Colnaghi. “We now have a lot of rounds back-to-back, Monaco, Barcelona, and more.“
“There has also been a lot of sim work preparing for all of the rounds, not only for Monaco. But it’s mainly been sim work, then helping out MP a bit in the lower categories, like in F4. I was happy to join them for one of their Valencia rounds.”
“Then I spent a bit of time at home, still training and also spending some time with the family. On top of that, also studying for A-levels, doing as many exams as I can before we go racing in June. So that’s been good.”
Analysis Melbourne
Colnaghi explained that both himself and the team spent significant time analysing the positives and negatives from the 2026 F3 Melbourne GP Round, particularly focusing on understanding where improvements could be made before the season resumes.
“We obviously went into a lot of detail analysing what didn’t go our way in Melbourne and what we did well,” he said. “Some would say we went into maybe too much detail.”
“The simple things work, so we try to keep it simple. But I have definitely gone into a lot of detail. I’ve looked at all the specifics of where we are strong and where we are weak.”
The upcoming in-season test at the Red Bull Ring will be an important opportunity for MP Motorsport to apply what they have learned before the back-to-back European rounds begin.
“I am ready for the Red Bull Ring test to put into practise what we’ve learned on the simulator and in the workshop, and then Monaco as well.”
“I feel like we need to use this test at the Red Bull Ring to our advantage and then we can keep working on ourselves.”
“Also we don’t really have time from round to round from Monaco because it’s back-to-back. So, it’s good to have this test pre-round.”
The Monaco GP Round
Looking ahead to Monte Carlo, Colnaghi admitted he is particularly excited to race on another iconic street circuit. “I’m very excited for the drive around Monaco. I’m quite a fan of street tracks like Macau and Monaco falls into that category.”
Despite the challenges from Round 1, the 17-year-old remains confident that both he and MP Motorsport can become regular front-runners as the season progresses.
“I think there’s obviously some points where we’ve proven to be strong and some points where we obviously have proven to be quite weak still.”
“So, there’s going to be a lot of work to do on that, but I think that it’s just about making things click and then we’ll be ready to go for the podiums.”
Colnaghi is confident ahead of the 2026 F3 Monaco GP Round, as he has been preparing during the break from the Melbourne Round with MP Motorsport.
