2026 F3 Season Roundup: Round Two – Monaco

Roundup of the second round of the 2026 F3 season in Monaco as the series returned from an unplanned spring break. 

After an unplanned three-week break, Ugo Ugochukwu entered the weekend as the title leader but consistency was key to his hopes of retaining his title lead, amidst the chaotic nature of Monaco which saw some red flags and overtaking challenges.

Now here is a full roundup of all the action across the second round of the season.

 

Practice

Theophile Nael, Ugochukwu and Campos’ debutant, Ernesto Rivera – who missed the season opener due to injury – were first on track, and Nael set 1m 57.606 as the initial unrepresentative benchmark time.

Times soon tumbled because of F3 having been the first cars to hit the circuit, with DAMS’ Gerrard Xie fastest on 1m 28.109 when red flags came out in the 10th minute, after PREMA’s James Wharton suffered a crash into the Swimming Pool chicane.

The session resumed following a near 30-minute delay which led stewards to add an additional 15 minutes onto the session, which saw  times continue to tumble but it was Rodin’s Brando Badoer who found himself quickest at the halfway mark with 1m 27.055 from Alessandro Giusti.

Nael and Slater eventually exchanged fastest laps before the Frenchman set 1m 25.806 with four minutes left, which he subsequently lowered by 0.012 seconds to 1m 25.794 in the final minute.

Slater finished second quickest from Ugochukwu and Bruno Del Pino.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Theophile Nael	Campos	1m 25.794
2	Freddie Slater	Trident	+ 0.059
3	Ugo Ugochukwu	Campos	+ 0.295
4	Bruno Del Pino	VAR	+ 0.343
5	Pedro Clerot	Rodin	+ 0.347
6	Louis Sharp	PREMA	+ 0.381
7	Ernesto Rivera	Campos	+ 0.497
8	Taito Kato	ART GP	+ 0.658
9	Noah Stromsted	Trident	+ 0.702
10	Enzo Deligny	VAR	+ 0.754
11	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	+ 0.755
12	Maciej Gladysz	ART GP	+ 0.800
13	Christian Ho	Rodin	+ 0.819
14	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	+ 0.842
15	Gerrard Xie	DAMS	+ 0.909
16	Brando Badoer	Rodin	+ 0.945
17	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	+ 0.953
18	Mattia Colnaghi	MP Motorsport	+ 1.105
19	Tuukka Taponen	MP Motorsport	+ 1.229
20	Michael Shin	Hitech GP	+ 1.426
21	Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi	DAMS	+ 1.441
22	Fionn McLaughlin	Hitech GP	+ 1.454
23	Kanato Le	ART GP	+ 1.580
24	Jose Garfias	PREMA	+ 1.609
25	Hiyu Yamakoshi	VAR	+ 1.611
26	Yevan David	AIX Racing	+ 1.681
27	Jin Nakamura	Hitech GP	+ 1.771
28	Matteo De Palo	Trident	+ 2.038
29	Fernando Barrichello	AIX Racing	+ 2.232
30	James Wharton	PREMA	+ 3.351

 

Qualifying

Qualifying Group A

With Qualifying traditionally split into two groups around Monaco, Ugochukwu led Group A out and after two warm-up laps, he laid 1m 26.367 as the initial benchmark.

Kato however had gone slightly earlier for his first flier and exchanged fastest laps with Ugochukwu, but it was Badoer who found himself quickest with four minutes left on 1m 25.287 ahead of Taponen and Del Pino.

Taponen then Ugochukwu displaced Badoer in the closing minutes but the Brazilian responded with 1m 24.612 to top the group.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Brando Badoer	Rodin	1m 24.612
2	Ugo Ugochukwu	Campos	+ 0.351
3	Tuukka Taponen	MP Motorsport	+ 0.630
4	Bruno Del Pino	VAR	+ 0.696
5	Noah Stromsted	Trident	+ 0.720
6	Hiyu Yamakoshi	VAR	+ 0.740
7	Taito Kato	ART GP	+ 0.865
8	Louis Sharp	PREMA	+ 1.081
9	Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi	DAMS	+ 1.266
10	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	+ 1.278
11	Kanato Le	ART GP	+ 1.402
12	Matteo De Palo	Trident	+ 1.596
13	Jose Garfias	PREMA	+ 1.681
14	Fionn McLaughlin	Hitech GP	+ 1.775
15	Fernando Barrichello	AIX Racing	+ 2.208

 

Qualifying Group B

Nael led Group B out for their opening runs but it was Gladysz who laid the initial benchmark time of 1m 26.825 as he, Slater and Nael soon exchanged fastest laps across the session.

Nael eventually took control with two minutes left as he set 1m 24.522 but he subsequently found 0.051s to claim pole with 1m 24.471, which meant that Group B occupied the odd-numbered grid slots for the Feature Race and Group A were left in the even-numbered positions.

Yamakoshi from Group A consequently inherited sprint pole as the top 12 grid slots were reversed, with Xie joining him on the front row.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Theophile Nael	Campos	1m 24.471
2	Freddie Slater	Trident	+ 0.127
3	Ernesto Rivera	Campos	+ 0.504
4	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	+ 0.530
5	Pedro Clerot	Rodin	+ 0.638
6	Gerrard Xie	DAMS	+ 0.840
7	Maciej Gladysz	ART GP	+ 0.943
8	Jin Nakamura	Hitech GP	+ 0.959
9	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	+ 0.966
10	Christian Ho	Rodin	+ 1.072
11	Enzo Deligny	VAR	+ 1.119
12	Yevan David	AIX Racing	+ 1.122
13	James Wharton	PREMA	+ 1.127
14	Mattia Colnaghi	MP Motorsport	+ 1.203
15	Michael Shin	Hitech GP	+ 1.712

 

Sprint Race

Yamakoshi led the sprint from pole position but further back, Taponen clattered into the left side-pod of Rivera at Loews Hairpin, which caused a chain reaction that resulted in Taponen, Badoer, Benavides and Ho being eliminated.

Taponen however managed to drag his car through most of the tunnel before he came to a halt, which necessitated a safety car then subsequent red flag at the end of lap 2, in order to allow marshals and medical staff time to safely remove the drivers and cars.

Racing resumed behind the safety car on lap 3 after a 32-minute delay before Yamakoshi led the field back to racing speeds and Clerot immediately conceded third to Del Pino on instruction of Rodin after he cut the opening corner at the start.

Further down the top ten, Slater on an inside move spun Rivera at Loews hairpin on lap 6 with Nael hitting the rear of Slater’s Trident, although the trio kept their engines running and were able to rejoin the action.

Yamakoshi eventually fended off the threat of Xie to take the checkered flag but was disqualified post race after VAR were found to had unintentionally fitted their right and left front-rods to the wrong sides, which meant that Xie became the first Chinese driver to win a modern F3 race.

Del Pino was elevated up to second ahead of Clerot, Giusti, Stromsted, Ugochukwu, Nakamura and Gladysz, whilst Le drove from 22nd on the grid to ninth ahead of Garfias who had began 26th.

De Palo post-race was handed a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, which dropped him to 14th in the classification.

Deligny and Lacorte received total 40-second time penalties for both leaving the track and gaining an advantage and having had a team member touch their cars after the 15-second restart signal during the red flag, which resulted in 10-second time penalties and 30-second stop-and-go time penalties.

The pair consequently dropped to 23rd and 22nd respectively.

Barrichello received a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for having equipment attached to the car at the 15-second restart signal, which was converted into a 30-second time penalty to drop him to 20th.

Shin, David and Sharp received ten-second stop-and-go penalties converted into a 30-second time penalty after team members touched their cars at the 15-second restart signal, which led the trio to slip to 18th, 21st and 17th respectively.

Benavides was handed a five-place grid penalty in lieu of a stop-and-go penalty for his opening lap incident with Ho, although he withdrew from the Feature Race due to injury so will serve his penalty at his next event.

Tapponen likewise received the same penalty for his contact with Rivera.

Ugochukwu’s title lead consequently shrunk to four points as Del Pino climbed to second on 27 points behind the American who sat on 31 points.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Gerrard Xie	DAMS	18	1h 1m 55.381
2	Bruno Del Pino	VAR	18	+ 0.252
3	Pedro Clerot	Rodin	18	+ 1.016
4	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	18	+ 2.096
5	Noah Stromsted	Trident	18	+ 7.780
6	Ugo Ugochukwu	Campos	18	+ 8.084
7	Jim Nakamura	Hitech GP	18	+ 10.181
8	Maciej Gladysz	ART GP	18	+ 10.932
9	Kanato Le	ART GP	18	+ 12.498
10	Jose Garfias	DAMS	18	+ 19.635
11	Mattia Colnaghi	MP Motorsport	18	+ 20.444
12	Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi	DAMS	18	+ 22.232
13	Fionn McLaughlin	Hitech GP	18	+ 26.568
14	Matteo De Palo	Trident	18	+ 26.648
15	James Wharton	PREMA	18	+ 28.279
16	Taito Kato	ART GP	18	+ 30.753
17	Louis Sharp	PREMA	18	+ 46.986
18	Michael Shin	Hitech GP	18	+ 47.674
19	Freddie Slater	Trident	18	+ 50.555
20	Fernando Barrichello	AIX Racing	18	+ 55.046
21	Yevan David	AIX Racing	18	+ 55.403
22	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	18	+ 55.462
23	Enzo Deligny	VAR	18	+ 58.050
24	Theophile Nael	Campos	18	+ 62.030
DSQ	Hiyu Yamakoshi	VAR	18	Rod
RET	Ernesto Rivera	Campos	11	Damage
RET	Tuukka Taponen	MP Motorsport	0	Collision
RET	Brando Badoer	Rodin	0	Collision
RET	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	0	Collision
RET	Christian Ho	DAMS	0	Collision

 

Feature Race

Badoer cleared Nael at lights out to take the lead from second on the grid ahead of the Frenchman, Slater, Ugochukwu and Rivera, whilst Giusti lost sixth to Del Pino.

Taponen’s weekend came to a disastrous end at La Rascasse after he was squeezed into the wall by Gladysz who had dived up the inside, which left the Polish driver with a broken front wing which he subsequently replaced to end any hopes of a points finish.

The top ten subsequently settled into a comfortable pattern which maintained until the checkered flag as Badoer clung on for victory, amidst a late fightback from Nael who fell 0.5s shy.

Ugochukwu’s title lead over Del Pino extended to eight point with Slater two further points behind the latter as just ten points split the top three drivers heading to Barcelona, Spain, next weekend.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Brando Badoer	Rodin	27	41m 14.986
2	Theophile Nael	Campos	27	+ 0.527
3	Freddie Slater	Trident	27	+ 17.240
4	Ugo Ugochukwu	Campos	27	+ 17.962
5	Ernesto Rivera	Campos	27	+ 21.965
6	Bruno Del Pino	VAR	27	+ 22.880
7	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	27	+ 23.555
8	Pedro Clerot	Rodin	27	+ 26.131
9	Gerrard Xie	DAMS	27	+ 27.480
10	Noah Stromsted	Trident	27	+ 27.763
11	Taito Kato	ART GP	27	+ 28.551
12	Louis Sharp	PREMA	27	+ 29.156
13	Hiyu Yamakoshi	VAR	27	+ 29.754
14	Enzo Deligny	VAR	27	+ 35.308
15	Jose Garfias	PREMA	27	+ 36.748
16	Christian Ho	DAMS	27	+ 39.761
17	Kanato Le	ART GP	27	+ 40.214
18	James Wharton	PREMA	27	+ 41.426
19	Mattia Colnaghi	MP Motorsport	27	+ 48.068
20	Yevan David	AIX Racing	27	+ 49.140
21	Fionn McLaughlin	Hitech GP	27	+ 49.7
22	Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi	DAMS	27	+ 62.7
23	Jin Nakamura	Hitech GP	27	+ 64.4
24	Maciej Gladysz	ART GP	27	+ 76.1
25	Matteo De Palo	Trident	27	+ 80.6
26	Michael Shin	Hitech GP	27	+ 90.2
RET	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	25	Mechanical
RET	Fernando Barrichello	AIX Racing	18	Crash
RET	Tuukka Taponen	MP Motorsport	0	Collision
DNS	Brad Benavides	AIX Racing	0	Injury