Roundup of the fourth round of the 2026 F3 season as the title fight continued to rumble on in Spielberg, Austria.
Ugo Ugochukwu arrived in Austria with a six-point lead over Theophile Nael on a weekend which delivered season-defining drama as his title rival changed hands.
Practice
AIX Racing’s replacement driver, Salim Hanna led the field out for two installation laps before everyone swiftly pitted again, although it was teammate – Yevan David who set 1m 46.564 as the initial benchmark time.
David and Hanna subsequently traded fastest laps until Trident’s Noah Stromsted set 1m 23.387 to go quickest, although he was soon displaced by MP Motorsport’s Tuukka Taponen and other drivers.
The benchmark time eventually was lowered to 1m 22.594 by Campos’ Ernesto Rivera in the 26th minute, but Stromsted responded just past the half-hour mark with a session-topping 1m 22.410 ahead of ART GP’s Taito Kato.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Noah Stromsted | Trident | 1m 22.410 |
| 2 | Taito Kato | ART GP | + 0.101 |
| 3 | Freddie Slater | Trident | + 0.176 |
| 4 | Ernesto Rivera | Campos | + 0.184 |
| 5 | Theophile Nael | Campos | + 0.236 |
| 6 | Jin Nakamura | Hitech GP | + 0.283 |
| 7 | Pedro Clerot | Rodin | + 0.295 |
| 8 | Bruno Del Pino | VAR | + 0.322 |
| 9 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | VAR | + 0.327 |
| 10 | Kanato Le | ART GP | + 0.330 |
| 11 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | + 0.445 |
| 12 | Louis Sharp | PREMA | + 0.452 |
| 13 | Tuukka Taponen | MP Motorsport | + 0.523 |
| 14 | Enzo Deligny | VAR | + 0.535 |
| 15 | Brando Badoer | Rodin | + 0.577 |
| 16 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | + 0.586 |
| 17 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Campos | + 0.586 |
| 18 | Nicola Lacorte | DAMS | + 0.602 |
| 19 | James Wharton | PREMA | + 0.649 |
| 20 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech GP | + 0.655 |
| 21 | Gerrard Xie | DAMS | + 0.665 |
| 22 | Alessandro Giusti | MP Motorsport | + 0.722 |
| 23 | Maciej Gladysz | ART GP | + 0.732 |
| 24 | Michael Shin | Hitech GP | + 0.739 |
| 25 | Christian Ho | Rodin | + 0.834 |
| 26 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | DAMS | + 0.889 |
| 27 | Salim Hanna | AIX Racing | + 1.054 |
| 28 | Yevan David | AIX Racing | + 1.240 |
| 29 | Jose Garfias | PREMA | + 1.355 |
| 30 | Fernando Barrichello | AIX Racing | + 1.357 |
Qualifying
Nakamura was first on track and set 1m 45.775 as the initial unrepresentative benchmark time, which was soon lowered to 1m 22.938 on his first representative flier.
Taponen eventually headed the order after first fliers with 1m 21.775 set in the 10th minute to head Stromsted by 0.084s.
VAR subsequently gambled on a mid-session second run with their drivers which saw Yamakoshi go fastest with 1m 21.730 in the 18th minute.
His time ultimately proved enough for pole position in the Feature Race ahead of Ugochukwu, Taponen, Stromsted, Slater, Giusti, Kato, Le, Nakamura, Clerot, Rivera and Wharton who took reverse-pole for the sprint.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | VAR | 1m 21.730 |
| 2 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Campos | + 0.015 |
| 3 | Tuukka Taponen | MP Motorsport | + 0.045 |
| 4 | Noah Stromsted | Trident | + 0.129 |
| 5 | Freddie Slater | Trident | + 0.200 |
| 6 | Alessandro Giusti | MP Motorsport | + 0.245 |
| 7 | Taito Kato | ART GP | + 0.273 |
| 8 | Kanato Le | ART GP | + 0.310 |
| 9 | Jin Nakamura | Hitech GP | + 0.329 |
| 10 | Pedro Clerot | Rodin | + 0.337 |
| 11 | Ernesto Rivera | Campos | + 0.352 |
| 12 | James Wharton | PREMA | + 0.371 |
| 13 | Bruno Del Pino | MP Motorsport | + 0.412 |
| 14 | Maciej Gladysz | ART GP | + 0.426 |
| 15 | Enzo Deligny | VAR | + 0.431 |
| 16 | Christian Ho | Rodin | + 0.435 |
| 17 | Nicola Lacorte | DAMS | + 0.482 |
| 18 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | + 0.521 |
| 19 | Gerrard Xie | DAMS | + 0.538 |
| 20 | Louis Sharp | Rodin | + 0.553 |
| 21 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | DAMS | + 0.581 |
| 22 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | + 0.584 |
| 23 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech GP | + 0.606 |
| 24 | Theophile Nael | Campos | + 0.618 |
| 25 | Salim Hanna | AIX Racing | + 0.773 |
| 26 | Jose Garfias | PREMA | + 0.851 |
| 27 | Yevan David | AIX Racing | + 0.948 |
| 28 | Fernando Barrichello | AIX Racing | + 1.019 |
| 29 | Brando Badoer | Rodin | + 1.064 |
| 30 | Michael Shin | Hitech GP | + 1.190 |
Sprint Race
Wharton led Rivera from lights out but slightly further back, Slater made a fast start but got spun out by his own teammate, Stromsted who clipped the Brit’s right-rear tyre as they exited the opening corner.
The safety car consequently was deployed until the end of lap 3 and Ugochukwu who had made a poor start recovered to 12th by the end of lap 5.
Up front, Wharton fought off Rivera’s intense pressure until the Mexican almost got a late-braking move into Turn 3 on lap 11 wrong and tamely glanced the rear of the PREMA.
Rivera however was able to swiftly regroup and swept round the outside of Wharton at Turn 4 on lap 14 to take the lead and comfortably held him off to take his maiden F3 victory.
Last season’s sprint winner at this event, Wharton however ultimately failed to hang onto second as Clerot battled past Nakamura, before the pair passed him on the final lap to demote him to fourth at the checkered flag.
Stromsted, Le, Taponen, Kato, Yamakoshi and Ugochukwu rounded out the top ten across the line.
Post-race, Le was disqualified after his car was found 3kg below the minimum weight due to a loss of water pressure, which in-turn promoted Del Pino up to 10th and the final point-paying position.
In the drivers’ standings, Ugochukwu extended his title lead to eight points over Nael who could only finish 15th.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Ernesto Rivera | Campos | 21 | 31m 31.362 |
| 2 | Pedro Clerot | Rodin | 21 | + 1.787 |
| 3 | Jin Nakamura | Hitech GP | 21 | + 2.597 |
| 4 | James Wharton | PREMA | 21 | + 2.823 |
| 5 | Noah Stromsted | Trident | 21 | + 3.255 |
| 6 | Tuukka Taponen | MP Motorsport | 21 | + 4.131 |
| 7 | Taito Kato | ART GP | 21 | + 4.423 |
| 8 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | VAR | 21 | + 4.946 |
| 9 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Campos | 21 | + 9.236 |
| 10 | Bruno Del Pino | VAR | 21 | + 9.965 |
| 11 | Alessandro Giusti | MP Motorsport | 21 | + 10.544 |
| 12 | Nicola Lacorte | DAMS | 21 | + 11.084 |
| 13 | Maciej Gladysz | ART GP | 21 | + 13.340 |
| 14 | Louis Sharp | PREMA | 21 | + 13.736 |
| 15 | Theophile Nael | Campos | 21 | + 14.089 |
| 16 | Gerrard Xie | DAMS | 21 | + 14.477 |
| 17 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | 21 | + 14.664 |
| 18 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | 21 | + 14.891 |
| 19 | Yevan David | AIX Racing | 21 | + 21.172 |
| 20 | Enzo Deligny | VAR | 21 | + 21.773 |
| 21 | Brando Badoer | Rodin | 21 | + 22.831 |
| 22 | Christian Ho | Rodin | 21 | + 23.483 |
| 23 | Fernando Barrichello | AIX Racing | 21 | + 24.975 |
| 24 | Jose Garfias | PREMA | 21 | + 27.604 |
| 25 | Michael Shin | Hitech GP | 21 | + 28.007 |
| 26 | Salim Hanna | AIX Racing | 21 | + 29.440 |
| 27 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | DAMS | 21 | + 35.099 |
| 28 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech GP | 21 | + 53.321 |
| RET | Freddie Slater | Trident | 0 | Collision |
| DSQ | Kanato Le | ART GP | 21 | Weight |
Feature Race
At lights out, Yamakoshi headed Ugochukwu but the latter got a better exit out of the first corner and passed Yamakoshi for second, whilst Stromsted and Slater demoted Taponen to fifth.
The safety car however was deployed after Gladysz and David stopped at the first corner in separate incidents.
Racing resumed on lap 4 but Stromsted and Yamakoshi both got passed by Slater whilst Shin and Barrichello collided at Turn 4 to bring out the VSC.
Racing recommenced on lap 7 and Taponen passed Stromsted for fourth only to be repassed a lap later.
Ugochukwu up front couldn’t shake off Slater who waited until lap 9 to pass the American for the lead into Turn 3 with Yamakoshi briefly following through, although the latter eventually passed Ugochukwu on lap 11 with an inside move into Turn 3.
Ugochukwu however repassed Yamakoshi into Turn 4 on lap 19 with Stromsted following through at Turn 6 two laps later later.
Ugochukwu then was able to sweep round the outside of Slater into Turn 4 on lap 22 but was repassed into that corner a lap later, and subsequently demoted by Stromsted at Turn 6.
Stromsted proceeded to pass Slater on lap 24 into Turn 4 for the lead and eventually victory, whilst the Brit lost second to Ugochukwu on the final lap.
Clerot benefitted from a late-race DRS train to battle his way to fourth from Nakamura, Kato and Taponen as Yamakoshi slipped to eighth, ahead of Lacorte and Le who rounded out the top ten.
Ugochukwu now leads Slater in the standings on 78 points to the Brit’s 62 points heading into the latter’s home round at Silverstone between 3-5 July.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Noah Stromsted | Trident | 26 | 39m 16.300 |
| 2 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Trident | 26 | + 1.373 |
| 3 | Freddie Slater | Trident | 26 | + 2.043 |
| 4 | Pedro Clerot | Rodin | 26 | + 3.095 |
| 5 | Jin Nakamura | Hitech GP | 26 | + 4.066 |
| 6 | Taito Kato | ART GP | 26 | + 4.349 |
| 7 | Tuukka Taponen | MP Motorsport | 26 | + 5.340 |
| 8 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | VAR | 26 | + 5.809 |
| 9 | Nicola Lacorte | DAMS | 26 | + 6.407 |
| 10 | Kanato Le | ART GP | 26 | + 7.675 |
| 11 | Alessandro Giusti | MP Motorsport | 26 | + 8.010 |
| 12 | James Wharton | PREMA | 26 | + 8.461 |
| 13 | Enzo Deligny | VAR | 26 | + 8.944 |
| 14 | Louis Sharp | PREMA | 26 | + 9.509 |
| 15 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | 26 | + 9.879 |
| 16 | Theophile Nael | Campos | 26 | + 10.814 |
| 17 | Christian Ho | Rodin | 26 | + 11.386 |
| 18 | Bruno Del Pino | VAR | 26 | + 12.176 |
| 19 | Ernesto Rivera | Campos | 26 | + 12.582 |
| 20 | Salim Hanna | AIX Racing | 26 | + 13.012 |
| 21 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | 26 | + 13.749 |
| 22 | Brando Badoer | Rodin | 26 | + 14.819 |
| 23 | Jose Garfias | PREMA | 26 | + 18.300 |
| 24 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech GP | 26 | + 20.828 |
| 25 | Gerrard Xie | DAMS | 26 | + 21.737 |
| 26 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | DAMS | 26 | + 24.100 |
| RET | Fernando Barrichello | AIX Racing | 3 | Collision |
| RET | Michael Shin | Hitech GP | 3 | Collision |
| RET | Maciej Gladysz | ART GP | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Yevan David | AIX Racing | 0 | Collision |
Leave a Reply