Théophile Naël enjoyed an encouraging start to his 2026 Barcelona weekend after leading a Campos Racing 1-2-3 in FIA Formula 3 (F3) Free Practice, though the Frenchman insists his focus remains firmly on securing strong results across the weekend rather than simply adding another pole position to his tally.
Naël topped the timesheets with a 1:28.422, finishing over two tenths clear of teammate Ugo Ugochukwu, while Ernesto Rivera completed a clean sweep of the top three positions for Campos Racing.
Naël praised both his pace and the feeling from the car after topping the session, despite the low-grip conditions around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
“The car felt good, the grip was really low but I think that was for everyone, the track was completely green,” he said. “So I expect a big step for quali in terms of grip in general.
“It’s a good start of the weekend and I’m looking forward to quali later.”
Looking to make it a third pole position in his 2026 F3 season
The Campos Racing driver arrives in at the 2026 F3 Barcelona round having claimed pole position at both of the opening rounds in Melbourne and Monte Carlo. Naël may have been on top of Qualifying at the opening two rounds, but his focus extends beyond qualifying success in Barcelona.
“I would love to be in pole today but let’s see, because it’s not the main objective,” he said. “The main objective is to be at the top and to be well positioned for the Feature Race on Sunday.“
With Campos Racing appearing to have strong pace from the outset in practice, Naël does not expect significant setup changes ahead of the 2026 F3 Barcelona Qualifying session.
“I think I’m not going to touch a lot the car to be honest because the pace is looking strong. Since Monaco I’ve been feeling really good since the restart of the season, so I am looking forward to this quali.”
Despite the team’s impressive showing in Free Practice, he believes Qualifying could present a different challenge, particularly if a red flag interrupts the session.
Campos benefited from favourable pit lane positioning during Practice as track conditions improved throughout the session, but the Frenchman acknowledged that the evolving circuit and the threat of interruptions could influence the battle for pole.
“It looks good,” continued Naël. “But maybe we were a bit at an advantage about the pit lane allocation for Free Practice because the grip improved during the session quite a lot.
“But the track should improve, and it could be hotter but also the the pit allocation. If the track is going to improve, hopefully we don’t have any Red Flags for quali so then we are safe to make some clean laps for quali.”
