Théophile Naël claimed pole position in the 2026 FIA Formula 3 (F3) Australian GP Qualifying session, where they will start from the front row in Sunday’s Feature Race.
The 2026 FIA Formula 3 Championship season officially began this morning with Free Practice, where drivers had 45 minutes to gather as much running as possible ahead of Qualifying at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne.
Ugochukwu set the early benchmark in Free Practice, finishing the session almost half a second clear of Brando Badoer in P2. There was late drama for Mattia Colnaghi, with the Red Bull Junior Team driver encountering an engine issue in the final five minutes of the session. He parked his MP Motorsport machinery on the side of the track, bringing an early end to the session.
Ugochukwu with a strong start in Qualifying
Drivers headed out onto the Albert Park Circuit on medium tyres to begin their qualifying runs. The three MP Motorsport cars were the first to leave the pit lane, followed closely by entries from Trident and Campos Racing as teams looked to secure early benchmark times.
Colnaghi was the first driver to record a representative flying lap, posting a 1:35.136. However, the Trident pairing of Strømsted and Slater quickly moved ahead, each improving on the time by roughly two tenths of a second.
Moments later, Ugochukwu surged to the top of the timesheets with an impressive 1:34.208, placing himself four tenths clear of Strømsted in second place. As the first wave of laps came in, several rookies briefly appeared near the top of the order as they completed their initial flying runs and the session began to take shape.
De Palo brings out the Red Flag
With 20 minutes remaining in the session, Matteo De Palo ran wide at Turn 10 and crashed into the barriers, bringing out the Red Flag during qualifying for the 2026 F3 Australian GP Qualifying session at the Albert Park Circuit.
As a result of causing the stoppage, De Palo will have his fastest lap time deleted. His best effort of 1:35.113, which had provisionally placed him in P5, is expected to drop him down the order once the classification is updated.
With two-thirds left of the session, drivers headed back on track, with many teams opting to send their drivers out on fresh slick tyres. Naël and Nakamura had their earlier times deleted due to track limits, leaving them as the only drivers without a lap time with 15 minutes left.
Ugochukwu was set to improve on his benchmark time, but his run came to an abrupt halt after running wide at Turn 10 and clipping a foam marker board, which damaged his front wing. Fortunately, the Campos Racing driver was able to return to the pit lane and have the front wing replaced without bringing out a stoppage.
Australian James Wharton then surged up the order, setting a 1:34.621 to move into P2 and briefly challenge the top of the timesheets for PREMA Racing. Meanwhile, Pedro Clerot saw his lap time deleted after exceeding track limits, further shuffling the order.
With most of the track back in the pits, it was only Naël among 4 other drivers on track, where he improved from the back of the field to P4 with a time of 1:34.682.
10 minutes left of F3 Australian GP Qualifying
Colnaghi was noted for a pit lane incident involving Slater earlier in the session, but Race Control determined that no further investigation was necessary.
Ugochukwu headed out for a final flying lap but could not improve on his earlier benchmark. Slater then jumped up to P2, finishing just 0.061 seconds behind the American. Colnaghi moved into P3 with a 1:34.547, while Kato slotted into P4 with a 1:34.612.
Gładysz briefly climbed to P3 with a 1:34.454, but Naël soon displaced him with a late improvement, setting a 1:34.187 to secure pole position and edge out his Campos Racing teammate Ugochukwu by 0.021s.
The result gives Campos Racing a front-row lockout for Sunday’s Feature Race, with Slater completing the top three.
