2026 F3 Season Roundup: Round Five – Great Britain

Roundup of the fifth round of the 2026 F3 season as the grid touched down at Silverstone, Great Britain.

Ugo Ugochukwu arrived on British soil as the championship leader with a 16-point lead over home favourite, Freddie Slater who looked to boost his title challenge with a strong weekend on his home turf.

Theophile Nael and Bruno Del Pino meanwhile looked to try and keep their own title ambitions on track as the season hit the halfway stage.

 

Practice

AIX Racing’s Ricardo Escotto, Yevan David and Fernando Barrichello were the first drivers on track but pitted at the end of their installation laps, just as MP Motorsport sent Tuukka Taponen, Alessandro Giusti and Mattia Colnaghi out onto the circuit.

Taponen proceeded to lay an unrepresentative benchmark time of 2m 05.657 which he soon lowered to 1m 47.652 on his first flier in the ninth minute, only for Giusti to go 0.215 seconds quicker but his lap time was swiftly deleted after he had exceeded track limits at Copse.

Hitech’s Jin Nakamura in the 15th minute lowered the benchmark time to 1m 47.337 before Campos’ Ernesto Rivera displaced him with 1m 46.740 just three minutes later.

Slater however produced the fastest overall time on his first timed lap as he set 1m 46.161 to displace Rivera in the 19th minute, with the latter only able to get to within 0.158s of the Brit’s time.

Slater however was disqualified post session after his car failed to provide the minimum fuel sample as part of the technical checks.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Ernesto Rivera	Campos	1m 46.161
2	Matteo De Palo	Trident	+ 0.054
3	Hiyu Yamakoshi	VAR	+ 0.193
4	Enzo Deligny	VAR	+ 0.358
5	Theophile Nael	Campos	+ 0.369
6	Fionn McLaughlin	Hitech GP	+ 0.372
7	Ugo Ugochukwu	Campos	+ 0.405
8	Noah Stromsted	Trident	+ 0.479
9	Louis Sharp	PREMA	+ 0.483
10	Jin Nakamura	Hitech GP	+ 0.555
11	Yevan David	AIX Racing	+ 0.591
12	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	+ 0.598
13	Mattia Colnaghi	MP Motorsport	+ 0.687
14	James Wharton	PREMA	+ 0.886
15	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	+ 0.961
16	Bruno Del Pino	VAR	+ 1.000
17	Maciej Gladysz	ART GP	+ 1.012
18	Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi	DAMS	+ 1.053
19	Jose Garfias	PREMA	+ 1.130
20	Taito Kato	ART GP	+ 1.159
21	Gerrard Xie	DAMS	+ 1.174
22	Brando Badoer	Rodin	+ 1.180
23	Tuukka Taponen	MP Motorsport	+ 1.333
24	Kanato Le	ART GP	+ 1.335
25	Michael Shin	Hitech GP	+ 1.348
26	Pedro Clerot	Rodin	+ 1.410
27	Ricardo Escotto	AIX Racing	+ 1.583
28	Fernando Barrichello	AIX Racing	+ 1.763
29	Christian Ho	Rodin	+ 1.800
DSQ	Freddie Slater	Trident	Fuel

 

Qualifying

Nakamura was first out onto the circuit and set 2m 07.484 as the initial unrepresentative benchmark, which was lowered to 1m 47.588 in the seventh minute but it was Slater who topped the opening flying laps until his lap was deleted for a tracks limit breach at Copse.

De Palo consequently sat quickest from Rivera by 0.096s, whilst Slater was one of nine drivers who saw their first laps deleted alongside fellow title contenders, Ugochukwu and Nael.

De Palo briefly lowered his benchmark to 1m 46.334 but his time was deleted due to a breach of track limits in the 19th minute, which allowed Rivera to go top with 1m 46.352, but he was displaced by Gladysz a minute later as the Polish driver set 1m 46.294 as the time to beat.

Slater however responded with 1m 46.233 to go fastest in the 21st minute which he subsequently lowered at the checkered flag to 1m 45.620 to claim pole at his home track from Nael by 0.260s.

Sharp qualified a surprise third ahead of Rivera, De Palo, McLaughlin, Stromsted, Gladysz, Wharton, Giusti, David and Ugochukwu who took reverse-pole for the sprint.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Freddie Slater	Trident	1m 45.620
2	Theophile Nael	Campos	+ 0.260
3	Louis Sharp	PREMA	+ 0.261
4	Ernesto Rivera	Campos	+ 0.286
5	Matteo De Palo	Trident	+ 0.311
6	Fionn McLaughlin	Hitech GP	+ 0.313
7	Noah Stromsted	Trident	+ 0.337
8	Maciej Gladysz	ART GP	+ 0.376
9	James Wharton	PREMA	+ 0.395
10	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	+ 0.469
11	Yevan David	AIX Racing	+ 0.595
12	Ugo Ugochukwu	Campos	+ 0.598
13	Kanato Le	ART GP	+ 0.664
14	Mattia Colnaghi	MP Motorsport	+ 0.681
15	Jin Nakamura	Hitech GP	+ 0.688
16	Taito Kato	ART GP	+ 0.761
17	Bruno Del Pino	VAR	+ 0.781
18	Hiyu Yamakoshi	VAR	+ 0.867
19	Jose Garfias	PREMA	+ 0.870
20	Tuukka Taponen	MP Motorsport	+ 0.897
21	Pedro Clerot	Rodin	+ 1.024
22	Brando Badoer	Rodin	+ 1.040
23	Gerrard Xie	DAMS	+ 1.076
24	Enzo Deligny	VAR	+ 1.114
25	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	+ 1.187
26	Christian Ho	Rodin	+ 1.273
27	Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi	DAMS	+ 1.323
28	Michael Shin	Hitech GP	+ 1.350
29	Fernando Barrichello	AIX Racing	+ 1.590
30	Ricardo Escotto	AIX Racing	+ 2.656

Sprint Race 

At lights out, Ugochukwu made a clean start to lead David, Giusti and Wharton whilst Stromsted and De Palo cleared Gladysz for fifth and sixth respectively in a largely clean opening lap across the whole grid.

Ugochukwu soon settled and built a gap to David whilst Giusti began to struggle to manage his tyre degradation by lap eight when Wharton passed him for third on the inside of Luffield, with Stromsted and De Palo following through shortly afterwards at Stowe on separate laps.

Nael meanwhile recovered to seventh by lap 10 with a move on Gladysz into Luffield, whilst Stromsted cleared Wharton on the inside of Maggots for third as David mounted a stern defence of second place.

Nael soon found himself fifth by the end of lap 12 behind Stromsted and De Palo who exchanged positions briefly on lap 13 between Brooklands and Luffield.

De Palo however received a shock as he turned into Brooklands on lap 14 as Nael dived up the inside of the Brazilian to take fourth, only to be repassed shortly afterwards and proceeded to take third on lap 17 after David nudged Stromsted wide on the exit of Luffield.

Nael however saved his best for the final lap as he cleared Stromsted with a spectacular switchback drive out of Luffield to take fourth, before he then launched his Campos up the inside of Club to finish third behind Ugochukwu and David.

De Palo and Stromsted settled for fourth and fifth whilst Gladysz recovered to sixth ahead of Slater, Sharp, McLaughlin and Wharton.

In the drivers’ standings, Ugochukwu extended his title lead over Slater to 21 points.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Ugo Ugochukwu	Campos	18	32m 51.225
2	Yevan David	AIX Racing	18	+ 17.023
3	Theophile Nael	Campos	18	+ 17.620
4	Matteo De Palo	Trident	18	+ 17.750
5	Noah Stromsted	Trident	18	+ 17.957
6	Maciej Gladysz	ART GP	18	+ 18.155
7	Freddie Slater	Trident	18	+ 18.360
8	Louis Sharp	PREMA	18	+ 19.002
9	Fionn McLaughlin	Hitech GP	18	+ 19.479
10	James Wharton	PREMA	18	+ 20.418
11	Alessandro Giusti	MP Motorsport	18	+ 22.464
12	Hiyu Yamakoshi	VAR	18	+ 22.780
13	Jin Nakamura	Hitech GP	18	+ 23.254
14	Ernesto Rivera	Campos	18	+ 23.579
15	Mattia Colnaghi	MP Motorsport	18	+ 23.967
16	Kato Le	ART GP	18	+ 24.355
17	Tuukka Taponen	MP Motorsport	18	+ 24.534
18	Taito Kato	ART GP	18	+ 24.974
19	Brando Badoer	Rodin	18	+ 25.435
20	Pedro Clerot	Rodin	18	+ 25.869
21	Bruno Del Pino	VAR	18	+ 26.470
22	Enzo Deligny	VAR	18	+ 29.040
23	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	18	+ 29.596
24	Fernando Barrichello	AIX Racing	18	+ 30.129
25	Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi	DAMS	18	+ 30.565
26	Jose Garfias	PREMA	18	+ 34.430
27	Michael Shin	Hitech GP	18	+ 35.959
28	Ricardo Escotto	AIX Racing	18	+ 39.335
29	Gerrard Xie	DAMS	18	+ 74.510
30	Christian Ho	Rodin	18	+ 76.864

Feature Race

At lights out, Slater squeezed Nael on the inside of Abbey to protect his lead from the Frenchman and Sharp whilst Rivera got passed by De Palo and McLaughlin.

De Palo quickly got on a charge as he cleared Sharp on the inside of Vale on lap 2 then Nael on the inside of Stowe on the next lap, before Slater tactically allowed him to take the lead into Stowe on lap 4.

Slater subsequently sat behind his Trident teammate until he retook the lead at Stowe on lap 7, whilst Gladysz and Rivera exchanged positions repeatedly between laps 6 to 9 when Rivera snuck through into fifth after Gladysz tried an inside move on McLaughlin into Club.

That clash led McLaughlin to fall down the order whilst Sharp fell from fourth to ninth on lap 13 amidst a tense multiple-driver squabble after he tried to pass Nael at the end of lap 12, during which Ugochukwu snuck up the inside of Luffield to pass Stromsted for seventh.

Wharton also benefitted from the squabble to put himself sixth behind Rivera and Gladysz as the group reeled in third-placed Nael, until the safety car was deployed on lap 18 after Escotto stopped out of the Loop due to damage from hitting the back of a DAMS car.

The safety car ended at the end of the penultimate lap which set up a final-lap decider in which De Palo suffered multiple lock-ups, which led Slater to poke his rear on multiple occasions before the Brit got nudged wide at Copse to drop to sixth at the checkered flag.

De Palo proceeded to claim his maiden victory from Nael, Rivera, Gladysz and Wharton with Slater, Ugochukwu, Sharp, Stromsted and Le rounding out the top ten on the road, moments before Nael was handed a ten-second time penalty for forcing Sharp off track on lap 12.

Nael consequently slid down to 16th in the classification with Giusti promoted to the final points-paying position in tenth.

De Palo however was stripped of his victory and disqualified post race after his diffuser failed to meet measurements under Article 3.4 1 of FIA regulations, having measured 3mm below the minimum height on the right hand side, whilst the left hand side fell 1mm short.

Rivera however didn’t inherit the win after he was handed a five-second time penalty for weaving on the Hangar Straight, which dropped the Mexican to tenth, whilst Wharton and Giusti too were penalised for the same offence and slid to 11th and 13th positions in the classification.

Bhirombhakdi was handed a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits on five separate occasions but stayed 24th in the classification.

Gladysz consequently inherited his maiden F3 victory from Slater, Ugochukwu, Sharp, Stromsted, Le, David, Yamakoshi and Clerot.

In the drivers’ standings, Ugochukwu’s title lead was reduced to 18 points by Slater as the season now heads to Spa-Francorchamps from 17-19 July for the Belgian round of the season.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Maciej Gladysz	Trident	21	40m 51.122
2	Freddie Slater	Campos	21	+ 0.908
3	Ugo Ugochukwu	ART GP	21	+ 1.160
4	Louis Sharp	PREMA	21	+ 2.858
5	Noah Stromsted	Trident	21	+ 3.269
6	Kanato Le	Campos	21	+ 3.426
7	Yevan David	PREMA	21	+ 3.995
8	Hiyu Yamakoshi	Trident	21	+ 4.251
9	Pedro Clerot	ART GP	21	+ 4.629
10	Ernesto Rivera	MP Motorsport	21	+ 4.871
11	James Wharton	AIX Racing	21	+ 5.442
12	Tuukka Taponen	VAR	21	+ 5.642
13	Alessandro Giusti	Rodin	21	+ 8.723
14	Theophile Nael	MP Motorsport	21	+ 9.668
15	Jin Nakamura	Campos	21	+ 10.395
16	Enzo Deligny	Hitech GP	21	+ 10.561
17	Brando Badoer	VAR	21	+ 10.759
18	Bruno Del Pino	Rodin	21	+ 11.039
19	Fionn McLaughlin	VAR	21	+ 11.214
20	Mattia Colnaghi	Hitech GP	21	+ 11.759
21	Jose Garfias	MP Motorsport	21	+ 12.096
22	Gerrard Xie	PREMA	21	+ 18.268
23	Michael Shin	DAMS	21	+ 18.655
24	Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi	Hitech GP	21	+ 25.392
25	Taito Kato	DAMS	21	+ 36.358
26	Christian Ho	ART GP	21	+ 44.849
27	Fernando Barrichello	Rodin	20	+ 1 Lap
DSQ	Matteo De Palo	AIX Racing	21	Diffuser
RET	Ricardo Escotto	AIX Racing	17	Collision
RET	Nicola Lacorte	DAMS	6	Mechanical