Taito Kato stormed to victory during a chaotic Sprint Race at the 2026 F3 Italian GP at Monza, view the full race report here.
Round 8 kicked off with an MP Motorsport-led Free Practice, with Alessandro Giusti topping the timesheets and finishing ahead of his teammates. Notably, championship contender Ugo Ugochukwu received a post-session five-place grid penalty for both races for causing a collision with Matteo De Palo.
A two-group Qualifying session then saw Freddie Slater claim an impressive last-minute pole, outpacing De Palo and Nicola Lacorte. However, post-qualifying decisions reshuffled the starting order for both races, as the stewards handed Mattia Colnaghi and Maciej Gładysz three-place grid penalties for unsafe releases and disqualified De Palo due to a diffuser issue.
As a result, Brando Badoer inherited reverse-grid pole for the Sprint Race, lining up alongside Pedro Clerot on the front row. Tuukka Taponen started from P3, while Fernando Barrichello and Giusti completed the top five.
Lights out for the Sprint Race at the 2026 F3 Monza round!
As the five lights went out, Badoer got off to a strong start, while Rodin Motorsport teammate Clerot held on to P2 despite pressure from Taponen. Controlling the field through the opening lap, Badoer attempted to break the tow before making a mistake at Turn 1 of Lap 2, immediately losing his progress. The Italian soon made another mistake, this time at Ascari, allowing Clerot to use DRS and take the lead.
As Badoer dropped to P2, Taponen was quick to apply pressure, attempting a move at the final corner of Lap 3. However, drama struck on the main straight as Badoer, Fernando Barrichello, and Taponen went three-wide, making contact and triggering a Safety Car. The incident ended Barrichello’s race, while Badoer and Taponen fell to the back of the field, with Badoer missing his front wing.
During the chaos, Giusti managed to find the lead, with Clerot, Ernesto Rivera, Taito Kato, Hiyu Yamakoshi, and Colnaghi completing the top five.
Safety Car restart on Lap 6
Giusti smoothly brought the field back to high speeds on Lap 7 as he went early at the restart, immediately building a gap to Clerot. Meanwhile, Colnaghi suffered a significant lock-up at Turn 1, dropping down to P8 as championship leader Freddie Slater jumped up to P6.
Further down, Gładysz slowed down, ultimately stopping at the run to Turn 4. A brief Virtual Safety Car was released as marchals quickly cleared Gładysz’s ART Grand Prix car.
As racing resumed, Giusti went deep at Turn 1, opening the door for Clerot, who took the lead into the second chicane. However, his Sprint Race lead didn’t last long as his Rodin Motorsport car started to smoke, forcing the Brazilian racing driver to peel off into the grass.
In the meantime, Gerrard Xie made contact with Woohyun Shin at Turn 1, sending Xie airborne and into the barriers. Xie got out of the car unharmed, while Shin also retired on the spot. The incidents forced a second Safety Car.
Giusti retains the lead
As the marshals cleared the track, Race Control handed Badoer a 5-second time penalty for an earlier Safety Car infringement. Meanwhile, Giusti tackled another Safety Car restart on Lap 13, holding off Yamakoshi, as Slater made his way up to P4. By Lap 15, Théophile Naël entered the points in P10, gaining an impressive 18 positions after initially starting in P28.
At the front, Kato pulled off a stunning move at the final corner to go from P3 to P1. Meanwhile, Slater continued his charge, going past Giusti, before taking P2 on the final lap. The battle for the podium continued until the chequered flag as Yamakoshi and Giusti went wheel to wheel. However, through it all, Kato withstood the pressure, claiming an impressive P9 to P1 victory. Slater crossed the line in P2, as Yamakoshi completed the podium.
Full 2026 F3 Italian GP Sprint Race results
