The 2026 FIA Formula 3 Championship was a motor racing championship for Formula 3 cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was the seventeenth season of Formula 3 racing since the inception of the GP3 Series and the eighth season run under the FIA Formula 3 Championship moniker. FIA Formula 3 is an open-wheel racing category serving as the third tier of formula racing in the FIA Global Pathway. The category was run in support of selected rounds of the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship. As the championship is a spec series, all teams and drivers who competed in the championship ran the same car, the Dallara F3 2025.
Ugo Ugochukwu won the Drivers' Championship with Campos Racing in his second season of the FIA Formula 3 Championship after finishing second in the final race of the season in Madrid.
Campos Racing entered the season as the reigning Teams' Champions, having secured their inaugural title at the final race of the 2025 season at Monza Circuit. They also secured the Teams' Championship title in 2026.
The following teams and drivers competed in the 2026 FIA Formula 3 Championship. As the championship is a spec series, all teams competed with an identical Dallara F3 2025 chassis with a 3.4 L (207 cu in) naturally-aspirated V6 engine developed by Mecachrome. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli.
| Entrant | No. | Driver name | Rounds |
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| 1 | All | ||
| 2 | All | ||
| 3 | 1 | ||
| 2–9 | |||
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| 19 | 1–8 | ||
| 9 | |||
| 20 | 1–7 | ||
| 8–9 | |||
| 21 | All | ||
| 22 | All | ||
| 23 | All | ||
| 24 | All | ||
| 25 | All | ||
| 26 | 1–2 | ||
| 3, 5–6, 8 | |||
| 4, 7 | |||
| 27 | All | ||
| 28 | All | ||
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| 30 | All | ||
| 31 | 1–8 | ||
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Hitech ended their partnership with Toyota Gazoo Racing after one season, dropping the 'TGR' moniker from its name.
Campos Racing had an all-new lineup after Nikola Tsolov, Mari Boya and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak left the team, all graduating to Formula 2, with Tsolov remaining with Campos, Boya moving to Prema Racing and Inthraphuvasak joining ART Grand Prix. The team signed two sophomore drivers in 2025 Macau Grand Prix winner Théophile Naël, who left Van Amersfoort Racing after finishing eighth with the team in 2025, and Ugo Ugochukwu, who left Prema Racing after ending the 2025 season 16th. Red Bull Junior driver Ernesto Rivera completed Campos' lineup on his graduation from their Eurocup-3 outfit.
Reigning champion Rafael Câmara stepped up to Formula 2 with Invicta Racing, while Charlie Wurz left the series to compete in Super Formula with Team Goh. The team signed FRECA champion Freddie Slater and promoted runner-up Matteo De Palo for their full-season debut after Slater already deputised for two rounds for AIX Racing and Hitech in 2025.
Both Bruno del Pino and Tim Tramnitz left MP Motorsport, with Del Pino joining Van Amersfoort Racing, and Tramnitz moving to GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with ROWE Racing. To replace them, the team signed reigning Eurocup-3 champion Mattia Colnaghi, who also joined the Red Bull Junior Team, as well as Ferrari junior driver Tuukka Taponen, who departed ART Grand Prix after coming ninth in 2025.
ART Grand Prix reset their lineup as Tuukka Taponen joined MP Motorsport, James Wharton joined Prema Racing and Laurens van Hoepen moved to Formula 2 with Trident. The team signed Eurocup-3 winter series champion Maciej Gładysz, who finished tenth in Eurocup-3, and promoted 2024 French F4 Champion Taito Kato and Kanato Le from their FRECA outfit, where they finished the 2025 season in seventh and 14th, respectively.
Van Amersfoort Racing had an all-new line-up, as Théophile Naël moved to Campos Racing while Santiago Ramos and Ivan Domingues left the team. They promoted Hiyu Yamakoshi from its FRECA outfit, who finished ninth, and signed Bruno del Pino, who left MP Motorsport after finishing the 2025 season in 23rd. In September 2025, it was announced that Jesse Carrasquedo Jr., who deputised for Hitech for two rounds in 2025, would drive for the team in 2026. However, he vacated his seat indefinitely for personal reasons ahead of the start of the season, and was replaced by Enzo Deligny, who finished third with R-ace GP.
Rodin Motorsport also had three new drivers with Louis Sharp moving to Prema, Callum Voisin competing in Porsche Carrera Cup GB with Century Motorsport and Roman Bilinski graduating to Formula 2 with DAMS. The team signed Brando Badoer, who in turn left Prema after finishing his debut season with the team in 25th, 2024 Eurocup-3 champion Christian Ho, who departed DAMS after coming 22nd in 2025, and Pedro Clerot graduated from FRECA, where he finished fourth with Van Amersfoort Racing.
Brando Badoer, Ugo Ugochukwu, and Noel León all left Prema Racing as Badoer and Ugochukwu moved to Rodin Motorsport and Campos Racing respectively, while León stepped up to Formula 2 with Campos Racing. James Wharton returned to Prema, departing ART Grand Prix after finishing his full-time debut season in 18th. 2024 GB3 Champion Louis Sharp joined Prema for his sophomore season after a 26th place with Rodin Motorsport in 2025. The team initially signed Enzo Deligny, but he left the team ahead of the start of the season to join Van Amersfoort Racing instead. The seat was taken by José Garfias, who finished fourth in Euroformula Open with Motopark, and made a one-round appearance in 2025 with AIX Racing.
Hitech also renewed their lineup after Martinius Stenshorne stepped up to Formula 2 with Rodin Motorsport, Gerrard Xie moved to DAMS and none of the team's four part-time competitors returned. Hitech signed a returnee and two championship debutants: Genesis Magma Racing's Trajectory Program driver Michael Shin who made his FIA F3 debut in 2023 with PHM Racing by Charouz and has since been competing in Euroformula Open with Team Motopark where he finished 3rd, TGR protégé Jin Nakamura stepped up from FRECA, where he finished 10th with R-ace GP, and Red Bull junior Fionn McLaughlin entered FIA F3 after winning the 2025 F4 British Championship with Hitech's outfit.
AIX Racing had two new drivers as neither James Hedley nor Nicola Marinangeli returned to the team. To replace them, AIX signed two Euroformula Open graduates: Yevan David, the series runner-up who became the first Sri Lankan driver to compete in FIA Formula 3, and 7th placed Fernando Barrichello, who already deputised for Hedley at the team in the last round of the 2025 season.
DAMS Lucas Oil saw Christian Ho join Rodin Motorsport and Matías Zagazeta leave the series to compete in GT World Challenge Europe with AF Corse. To replace them, the team signed Thai driver Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi from FRECA, where he finished 16th with Trident, and Gerrard Xie, who joined the team after finishing last season in 29th driving for Hitech.
Ernesto Rivera suffered a vertebral injury while competing in Formula Regional Oceania earlier this year, which meant that he was unable to compete at the opening round in Melbourne. He was replaced by Eurocup-3 competitor and FIA F3 debutant Patrick Heuzenroeder, who already deputised for Rivera in pre-season testing.
Brad Benavides sustained injuries following a crash in the sprint race of the Monte Carlo round, which forced him to take a break from racing. Indy NXT driver Ricardo Escotto replaced him for the round at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. FREC driver Salim Hanna then took over the car for the round at the Red Bull Ring, before Escotto then piloted the car in the Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps rounds. Hanna again returned to drive the car for the round at the Hungaroring, before Escotto concluded the season by taking over the seat for the Monza and Madrid rounds.
Louis Sharp left Prema Racing ahead of the Monza round to focus on his 2027 commitments. He was replaced for the final two rounds of the season by Alex Powell, who stepped up from Eurocup-3, where he claimed two podiums in the first four rounds.
Christian Ho left Rodin Motorsport ahead of the Madrid round to focus on his enlistment for the mandatory National Service in Singapore. He was replaced by Ferrari junior driver Niccolò Maccagnani, who stepped up from Italian F4, where he claimed two wins. Ricardo Escotto and Gerrard Xie also missed the event due to a road traffic collision and an injury from Monza, respectively. Their AIX Racing and DAMS Lucas Oil seats, however, were left unentered.
| Round | Circuit | Sprint race | Feature race(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 March | 8 March | |
| 2 | 6 June | 7 June | |
| 3 | 13 June | 14 June | |
| 4 | 27 June | 28 June | |
| 5 | 4 July | 5 July | |
| 6 | 18 July | 19 July | |
| 7 | 25 July | 26 July | |
| 8 | 5 September | 6 September | |
| 9 | 12 September | 12–13 September | |
| Source: | |||
2025 saw the championship use Aramco-supplied fuel containing 70% sustainable components, and a further increase in sustainability was planned for 2026 ahead of the series' goal of adopting fully synthetic fuels in 2027.
The season began at Albert Park Circuit with a Campos Racing one-two in qualifying; Théophile Naël on pole position, Ugo Ugochukwu second and Trident's Freddie Slater third.
Bruno del Pino started the reverse-grid sprint race from pole position by virtue of having qualified twelfth. Del Pino and teammate Enzo Deligny, who started second, held their positions at the start, whilst Noah Strømsted lost third place to Brando Badoer. On lap eight of twenty, Prema Racing teammates James Wharton and Louis Sharp collided heavily whilst battling for seventh place. The race was red-flagged and not resumed due to the damage to the barriers. The result was taken from the end of lap seven and points were only awarded to the top five finishers. Del Pino claimed his first Formula 3 victory and Deligny and Badoer achieved their first podiums in the series. Wharton and Sharp were withdrawn from the following day's feature race on medical grounds.
Pole-sitter Naël maintained the lead at the start of the feature race whilst Ugochukwu lost second place to Slater. Ugochukwu soon recovered the position and then passed Naël for first place on lap four. Nicola Lacorte briefly entered the podium positions after overtaking Slater, but soon dropped back and was then involved in a collision with Strømsted, for which Strømsted received a penalty. Further penalties were issued in the closing laps, with Naël and Lacorte both receiving penalties for false starts. A crash by Michael Shin on lap twenty brought out the safety car, which stayed out until the end of the race; the resulting bunching up of the field resulted in Naël, Strømsted and Lacorte all dropping out of the points after their penalties were applied. Ugochukwu took his first Formula 3 victory and was joined on the podium by Slater and Taito Kato, who had originally crossed the finish line in fifth but was promoted by the penalties for Naël and Strømsted. Ugochukwu's win placed him in the lead of the championship by seven points ahead of second-placed Del Pino.
The championship resumed at the Circuit de Monaco after a three-month long break caused by the cancellation of the Bahrain round. Qualifying was split into two groups, with Naël taking overall pole with a time of 1:24.471.
Hiyu Yamakoshi started from pole in the reverse-grid sprint race, which he led from start to finish amid chaotic incidents including a red flag, the most notable being an opening lap crash between Brad Benavides and Christian Ho. Benavides sustained a serious back injury and had to take a break from racing. Yamakoshi was later disqualified for a technical infringement caused by incorrectly mounted front push rods. Gerrard Xie inherited the victory for DAMS, with Del Pino and Pedro Clerot completing the podium.
In the feature race, Brando Badoer, driving for Rodin Motorsport, seized the lead from polesitter Naël at the start, and proceeded to lead the entirety of the race to take his maiden Formula 3 victory. Naël finished second, only half a second behind Badoer. Slater and Ugochukwu came in third and fourth respectively; this result was enough for Ugochukwu to retain his championship lead.
Naël claimed his third consecutive pole position at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with a time of 1:28.263, narrowly ahead of teammate and championship leader Ugochukwu in another Campos front-row lockout.
The reverse-grid sprint race saw Xie initially lead from pole, until James Wharton passed him on lap five. The race saw two safety car periods; the first came when Ernesto Rivera stopped in the final sector, the second followed after Ugochukwu spun into the gravel at Turn 3 while attempting a switchback on Enzo Deligny. Wharton defended his position strongly at both restarts and set the fastest lap afterward, holding off a late challenge from Slater to take Prema's first win with the Dallara F3 2025 chassis and their first FIA F3 victory in nearly two years. Slater finished second, Xie third, with Tuukka Taponen fourth.
In the feature race, Naël converted pole into a lights-to-flag maiden Formula 3 victory in Campos' home country, leading every lap and resisting early pressure from Yamakoshi. Yamakoshi held onto second for his first podium after his earlier disqualification in Monaco, while Ugochukwu recovered from a poor start to finish third, completing a double podium for Campos. Badoer was fourth, followed by the Van Amersfoort Racing pair of Deligny and Del Pino. Rivera finished seventh after Slater received a five-second time penalty that dropped him to eighth. The result moved Naël to second in the standings behind Ugochukwu, with Del Pino third. Campos further extended their Teams' Championship lead.
High temperatures at the Red Bull Ring made tyre management critical. Yamakoshi took pole for the feature race after a closely fought qualifying session which saw 27 drivers qualify within a second of the pole time.
In the reverse-grid sprint race, Wharton was on pole and kept the lead at the start, ahead of Ernesto Rivera. Contact between Trident teammates Noah Strømsted and Slater at turn 1 on the opening lap sent Slater spinning into retirement, which brought out the safety car. When the race restarted, Rivera pressured Wharton and eventually overtook him at Turn 4 on lap 14. On the final lap, Wharton ran wide, allowing Pedro Clerot and Jin Nakamura to pass; Clerot also overtook Nakamura during the same sequence. Rivera claimed his maiden Formula 3 victory, the first for a Campos driver in a sprint this season, with Clerot finishing second and Nakamura third.
The feature race began with Ugochukwu snatching the lead from pole-sitter Yamakoshi. Rivera spun early in the race and a turn 1 collision between Yevan David and Maciej Gładysz brought out the safety car. Later on, the Trident pair of Slater and Strømsted closed in on Ugochukwu, with Slater and Ugochukwu exchanging the lead on multiple occasions. On lap 23, Strømsted took advantage of the battle between the two ahead to pass Ugochukwu for second; he then overtook teammate Slater for the lead on the following lap. Ugochukwu took second from Slater on the final lap, after a fraught battle. Strømsted took his first win of the season and Trident's first victory of 2026, with Ugochukwu second and Slater third. Ugochukwu left Austria with a 16 point lead over Slater.
Slater took his maiden Formula 3 pole position on home soil at Silverstone, over a quarter of a second clear of Théophile Naël and Louis Sharp who qualified second and third respectively.
Ugochukwu, who ended up 12th in qualifying, started the reverse-grid sprint from pole as a result. He produced the most dominant victory in Formula 3 history in the sprint, winning by a record 17.023 seconds, leading every lap and taking the bonus point for fastest lap. Yevan David finished a distant second and became the first Sri Lankan driver to finish on the podium in a Formula 3 race, while Naël charged through from 11th on the grid to snatch third from Matteo De Palo in the final corner of the last lap.
The feature race saw Trident teammates Slater and De Palo battle at the head of the field, with both drivers having stints in the lead. The safety car was brought out on lap 18 of 21 after Ricardo Escotto stopped on track with damage sustained from contact with Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi, it came in at the end of the penultimate lap resulting in a one lap shootout. De Palo crossed the line first after fending off multiple overtaking attempts from Slater, and slight contact between the two at Copse dropped the latter down to what was initially sixth over the finish line. However, De Palo was disqualified post-race after the diffuser of his car was found to be below the minimum height requirement. Naël and Rivera crossed the line in second and third behind De Palo but they also received time penalties for separate infringements; this promoted ART's Maciej Gładysz to his maiden Formula 3 victory. Slater was moved back up to second and Ugochukwu to third after all the penalties were applied. Ugochukwu had a championship lead of 18 points over Slater at the end of the round.
A chaotic qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps saw Slater claim his second consecutive pole. The session initially began on a greasy track and as the track dried up, drivers began searching for a tow on their warm-up laps, bunching up the field and resulting in a multi-car accident that brought out the red flag. 11 drivers received grid penalties as a result, including Ugochukwu.
Jin Nakamura, driving for Hitech, won the sprint race after passing reverse-grid polesitter Brando Badoer at a safety car restart, and then absorbing pressure from the latter for the remainder of the race. Badoer and Rodin teammate Pedro Clerot finished second and third. Championship rivals Ugochukwu and Slater made contact on the opening lap at Les Combes, which resulted in both ending up in the gravel; Slater retired on the spot, whereas Ugochukwu had to pit for repairs and went a lap down, eventually ending as the last classified finisher in 29th.
Slater dropped down the order from pole at the start of the feature race as his Trident kicked into anti-stall mode, with Hiyu Yamakoshi passing Tuukka Taponen down the Kemmel Straight to take the lead. A collision between De Palo and David led to both drivers retiring and the deployment of the safety car. Slater steadily recovered lost ground when the race resumed and passed Yamakoshi for the lead, but he was unable to hold off Rivera who charged through from fourth on the grid. Rivera went on to take his second victory of the season, and Yamakoshi was able to repass Slater to finish second. Third for Slater was enough for him to slash Ugochukwu's championship lead to a single point, as the latter finished outside the points again. Campos remained clear in the Teams' Championship.
Tuukka Taponen, driving for MP Motorsport, took his first Formula 3 pole position at the Hungaroring by 0.040 seconds, denying Slater a third consecutive pole.
In the reverse-grid sprint race, Théophile Naël charged from sixth to second on the opening lap, before overtaking polesitter Kanato Le on lap 9 and pulling away to take his second victory of the year. Le finished second for his maiden podium, with Rivera taking third. Ugochukwu ran as high as fifth, but fell to tenth after struggling with tyre degradation, and received a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, dropping him out of the points in favour of Slater. As a result, Ugochukwu and Slater were tied on 104 points heading into the feature race.
Taponen held on to the lead at the start of the feature race, but had to pit at the end of the second lap with a right-rear puncture from contact with Slater. Slater took over the lead and controlled the race through multiple safety car periods to claim his first Formula 3 victory and the lead of the championship. He resisted pressure from title rival Ugochukwu, who overtook Badoer and Mattia Colnaghi round the outside in one move to take second. Naël was initially fifth, but received a pair of penalties for forcing Taponen off the track on multiple occasions; this dropped him out of the points. Unusually, both races saw Maciej Gładysz, Jin Nakamura and Gerrard Xie come together on the opening lap.
Slater moved into the championship lead for the first time on 130 points, with Ugochukwu second on 122, Naël third on 75, Rivera fourth on 72 and Badoer fifth on 71. Campos Racing continued to lead the Teams' Championship going into the summer break, with a total of 269 points.
Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers in both races. The pole-sitter in the feature race also received two points, and one point was given to the driver within the top ten who set the fastest lap in both the feature and sprint races. No extra points were awarded to the pole-sitter in the sprint race as the grid for it was set by reversing the top twelve qualifiers.
Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers. A bonus point was awarded to the driver who set the fastest lap within the top ten finishers.
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | FL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers. Bonus points were awarded to the pole-sitter and to the driver who set the fastest lap within the top ten finishers.
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Pole | FL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 25 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
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† – Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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† – Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The standings are sorted by best result; the rows are not related to the drivers. In case of a tie on points, the best positions achieved determined the outcome.
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