Roundup of the seventh round of the 2026 F3 season in Hungary ahead of the summer break.
Campos’ Ugo Ugochukwu arrived at the Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary with an one-point lead over title rival, Freddie Slater, but this weekend saw their title battle hit a turning point ahead of the summer break.
Practice
A quiet start to the session saw only Hitech GP’s Michael Shin head out onto the circuit and laid 1m 46.027 as the initial unrepresentative lap time, but his first flying lap of 1m 36.472 was deleted due to a breach of track limits.
On his next flier, Shin managed to go 0.337 seconds quicker with 1m 36.135, which was beaten five minutes later by Mattia Colnaghi who set 1m 35.213 as times soon tumbled once everyone set their first flying laps.
Ugochukwu eventually found himself quickest after the opening laps with 1m 34.798 ahead of Slater by 0.052s, with MP Motorsport’s Tuukka Taponen sat third and 0.126s off the American.
Red flags were out in the 20th minute after Salim Hanna dipped his left tyres in the gravel trap on the exit of Turn 5, which sent him spinning into the barriers and stopped the session for 14 minutes.
Once the session resumed, Slater set 1m 34.702 to displace Ugochukwu with eight minutes left but the American went 0.180s quicker, before Hitech GP’s Jin Nakamura set 1m 34.369 to go top with six minutes left.
Times however tumbled once more as Rodin’s Pedro Clerot and Brando Badoer briefly went quickest until Slater with four minutes left posted 1m 33.947 to top the session, as the session was prematurely curtailed moments later as Noah Stromsted stopped on the run to turn 12 with power loss in his Trident car.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Freddie Slater | Trident | 1m 33.947 |
| 2 | Brando Badoer | Rodin | + 0.135 |
| 3 | Pedro Clerot | Rodin | + 0.400 |
| 4 | Jin Nakamura | Hitech GP | + 0.422 |
| 5 | Theophile Nael | Campos | + 0.450 |
| 6 | Enzo Deligny | VAR | + 0.471 |
| 7 | Nicola Lacorte | DAMS | + 0.515 |
| 8 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Campos | + 0.575 |
| 9 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | + 0.686 |
| 10 | Maciej Gladysz | ART GP | + 0.711 |
| 11 | Taito Kato | ART GP | + 0.785 |
| 12 | Bruno Del Pino | VAR | + 0.828 |
| 13 | Ernesto Rivera | Campos | + 0.933 |
| 14 | Louis Sharp | PREMA | + 0.935 |
| 15 | Tuukka Taponen | MP Motorsport | + 0.977 |
| 16 | Christian Ho | Rodin | + 0.993 |
| 17 | Yevan David | AIX Racing | + 1.034 |
| 18 | James Wharton | PREMA | + 1.070 |
| 19 | Alessandro Giusti | MP Motorsport | + 1.077 |
| 20 | Noah Stromsted | Trident | + 1.127 |
| 21 | Kanato Le | ART GP | + 1.248 |
| 22 | Gerrard Xie | DAMS | + 1.355 |
| 23 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech GP | + 1.424 |
| 24 | Michael Shin | Hitech GP | + 1.568 |
| 25 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | VAR | + 1.621 |
| 26 | Jose Garfias | PREMA | + 1.739 |
| 27 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | DAMS | + 2.103 |
| 28 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | + 14.339 |
| 29 | Fernando Barrichello | AIX Racing | + 24.883 |
| 30 | Salim Hanna | AIX Racing | + 28.826 |
Qualifying
Clerot led the field out onto the circuit and initially set 2m 06.228 as the unrepresentative benchmark time, which he then lowered to 1m 34.263 in the seventh minute.
His lap time however was quickly usurped by several drivers as Nael went quickest on 1m 33.533 from Taponen by 0.019s, whilst Nakamura was 0.086s behind the Frenchman in third, as 0.869s split the top 25 drivers.
Slater found himself seventh after his first lap but in the middle stint, he found time to set 1m 33.451 as the benchmark time from Lacorte by 0.064s, whilst Badoer was a further 0.008s behind the Italian in third as not every driver improved on their second fliers.
The final round of fliers produced similar results as not everyone improved but Taponen with under two minutes left stunned with 1m 33.411, which saw him become the first Finnish driver to take pole in this category since Aaro Vainio in 2013 when known then as GP3 Series.
Slater fell 0.040s shy in second after he failed to improve on his second lap time, whilst Colnaghi, Lacorte and Badoer rounded out the top five, ahead of Campos’ trio; Ugochukwu, Nael and Rivera in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.
Nakamura qualified ninth ahead of Xie, Gladysz and Le who inherited reverse-pole for the sprint race.
Yamakoshi qualified 30th on the grid but has been given permission by stewards to participate in both races, after he was disqualified post-session after his team were found to had worked on his engine due to an issue after the end-of-race signal had been given.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Tuukka Taponen | MP Motorsport | 1m 33.411 |
| 2 | Freddie Slater | Trident | + 0.040 |
| 3 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | + 0.064 |
| 4 | Nicola Lacorte | DAMS | + 0.104 |
| 5 | Brando Badoer | Rodin | + 0.112 |
| 6 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Campos | + 0.113 |
| 7 | Theophile Nael | Campos | + 0.122 |
| 8 | Ernesto Rivera | Campos | + 0.142 |
| 9 | Jin Nakamura | Hitech GP | + 0.199 |
| 10 | Gerrard Xie | DAMS | + 0.242 |
| 11 | Maciej Gladysz | ART GP | + 0.302 |
| 12 | Kanato Le | ART GP | + 0.333 |
| 13 | Alessandro Giusti | MP Motorsport | + 0.336 |
| 14 | Christian Ho | Rodin | + 0.377 |
| 15 | James Wharton | PREMA | + 0.394 |
| 16 | Yevan David | AIX Racing | + 0.403 |
| 17 | Fernando Barrichello | AIX Racing | + 0.492 |
| 18 | Taito Kato | ART GP | + 0.495 |
| 19 | Louis Sharp | PREMA | + 0.520 |
| 20 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech GP | + 0555 |
| 21 | Enzo Deligny | VAR | + 0.579 |
| 22 | Jose Garfias | PREMA | + 0.585 |
| 23 | Noah Stromsted | Trident | + 0.611 |
| 24 | Bruno Del Pino | VAR | + 0.619 |
| 25 | Michael Shin | Hitech GP | + 0.628 |
| 26 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | DAMS | + 0.645 |
| 27 | Pedro Clerot | Rodin | + 0.696 |
| 28 | Salim Hanna | AIX Racing | + 0.764 |
| 29 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | + 1.055 |
| DSQ | Hiyu Yamakoshi | VAR | + 1.108 |
Sprint
Despite his clean start, Le lost the lead to Xie into the first corner but the DAMS driver got a slow exit out of the corner and got swallowed by the pack, which led to him getting hit by Nakamura who had misjudged his braking into turn two and was launched over his car and took out an innocent Gladysz on the outside line.
The safety car consequently was deployed until the end of lap 3 when Le led everyone back racing but Nael kept him under pressure with Rivera sat third, whilst Ugochukwu cleared Lacorte then Badoer for fifth by the end of lap 8.
Up front, Nael’s pressure paid dividends as he was able to make an inside lunge on Le on lap nine into turn one for the lead, from which he held off the Japanese driver for victory.
Ugochukwu meanwhile received a five-second time penalty after he had ran wide out of turn three on the opening lap which gave him the inside line into turn 4 to pass Taponen for seventh.
The American soon hit saw his tyres hit the cliff as he pushed Colnaghi for fourth but fell backwards into Badoer’s clutches, and the Italian passed Ugochukwu on lap 16 into turn one for fifth whilst Lacorte hit Ugochukwu’s right-rear tyre as he tried to follow through and lost seventh to Taponen.
Ugochukwu lost sixth to Taponen on the next lap with Lacorte following through, which led the American to tactically park his Campos on the tight line of turn one on the penultimate lap, in-turn blocking Slater and allowed Wharton to take eighth followed by Barrichello for his highest F3 finish of ninth place.
Slater settled behind Ugochukwu to the checkered flag in 11th which allowed him to claim the final point once Ugochukwu’s time penalty was applied.
In the drivers’ standings, Ugochukwu’s title lead over Slater was reduced to virtue of countback due to his two wins to the Brit’s none as both drivers sit on 104 points, whilst Nael cut his deficit down to 29 points.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Theophile Nael | Campos | 19 | 32m 33.347 |
| 2 | Kanato Le | ART GP | 19 | + 2.715 |
| 3 | Ernesto Rivera | Campos | 19 | + 3.839 |
| 4 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | 19 | + 4.126 |
| 5 | Brando Badoer | Rodin | 19 | + 6.198 |
| 6 | Tuukka Taponen | MP Motorsport | 19 | + 8.030 |
| 7 | Nicola Lacorte | DAMS | 19 | + 13.283 |
| 8 | James Wharton | PREMA | 19 | + 15.298 |
| 9 | Fernando Barrichello | AIX Racing | 19 | + 15.690 |
| 10 | Freddie Slater | Trident | 19 | + 17.164 |
| 11 | Yevan David | AIX Racing | 19 | + 18.802 |
| 12 | Louis Sharp | PREMA | 19 | + 19.375 |
| 13 | Alessandro Giusti | MP Motorsport | 19 | + 19.760 |
| 14 | Taito Kato | ART GP | 19 | + 20.238 |
| 15 | Jose Garfias | PREMA | 19 | + 20.551 |
| 16 | Enzo Deligny | VAR | 19 | + 20.899 |
| 17 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Campos | 19 | + 21.385 |
| 18 | Bruno Del Pino | VAR | 19 | + 21.572 |
| 19 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech GP | 19 | + 22.014 |
| 20 | Noah Stromsted | Trident | 19 | + 22.277 |
| 21 | Pedro Clerot | Rodin | 19 | + 22.717 |
| 22 | Christian Ho | Rodin | 19 | + 23.198 |
| 23 | Michael Shin | Hitech GP | 19 | + 23.810 |
| 24 | Salim Hanna | AIX Racing | 19 | + 24.570 |
| 25 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | DAMS | 19 | + 24.870 |
| 26 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | VAR | 19 | + 25.430 |
| 27 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | 19 | + 30.982 |
| 28 | Gerrard Xie | DAMS | 19 | + 37.156 |
| RET | Maciej Gladysz | ART GP | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Jin Nakamura | Hitech GP | 0 | Collision |
Feature Race
At lights out, Taponen got a clean start to lead Slater and Colnaghi whilst Badoer, Ugochukwu and Nael demoted Lacorte to seventh.
Taponen however got a slow right-rear puncture after he squeezed Slater onto the grass on the run to turn 12, which led the Brit to lose a piece of his front wing in the process.
Taponen however won a cheap pit stop on lap 3 under the safety car after Nakamura squeezed Gladysz and Xie into the barriers at turn 13 on the opening lap, which saw the pole-sitter rejoin in sixth.
Racing resumed on lap six but a virtual safety car (VSC) was deployed briefly after Hanna stopped at turn 13 on the previous lap with a technical failure.
Ugochukwu at that point sat fourth but on lap 10, he produced a sweeping double overtake on Badoer and Colnaghi around the outside of turn 2 for second.
The safety car was redeployed on lap 15 for three laps after Barrichello got spun out following contact with Deligny and David, after the latter attempted an inside move into turn one.
Slater led everyone back racing on lap 18 and held off Ugochukwu to claim his maiden victory in the category which gave him the title lead from his rival by eight points.
Badoer meanwhile cleared Colnaghi for third whilst Nael, Taponen, Rivera, Wharton, Sharp and Ho completed the top ten.
F3 is now taking a six-week summer break ahead of the final two rounds which begins at Monza, Italy, on weekend of 4-6 September, before the season concludes in Madrid, Spain across 11-13 September with an additional race that weekend.
The grid however will convene in Madrid across 24-25 August for an in-season test to help circuit organisers prepare for the MADRING debut on the calendar.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Freddie Slater | Trident | 24 | 43m 51.807 |
| 2 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Campos | 24 | + 1.484 |
| 3 | Brando Badoer | Rodin | 24 | + 3.098 |
| 4 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | 24 | + 3.380 |
| 5 | Theophile Nael | Campos | 24 | + 5.607 |
| 6 | Tuukka Taponen | MP Motorsport | 24 | + 5.973 |
| 7 | Ernesto Rivera | Campos | 24 | + 6.830 |
| 8 | James Wharton | PREMA | 24 | + 9.851 |
| 9 | Louis Sharp | PREMA | 24 | + 12.654 |
| 10 | Christian Ho | Rodin | 24 | + 13.192 |
| 11 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | VAR | 24 | + 13.382 |
| 12 | Jose Garfias | PREMA | 24 | + 14.011 |
| 13 | Noah Stromsted | Trident | 24 | + 14.554 |
| 14 | Taito Kato | ART GP | 24 | + 14.902 |
| 15 | Bruno Del Pino | VAR | 24 | + 15.568 |
| 16 | Pedro Clerot | Rodin | 24 | + 15.821 |
| 17 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech GP | 24 | + 16.326 |
| 18 | Alessandro Giusti | MP Motorsport | 24 | + 16.924 |
| 19 | Nicola Lacorte | DAMS | 24 | + 19.158 |
| 20 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | DAMS | 24 | + 19.748 |
| 21 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | 24 | + 21.261 |
| 22 | Michael Shin | Hitech GP | 24 | + 21.894 |
| 23 | Yevan David | AIX Racing | 24 | + 28.042 |
| RET | Enzo Deligny | VAR | 15 | Damage |
| RET | Fernando Barrichello | AIX Racing | 14 | Collision |
| RET | Kanato Le | ART GP | 11 | Mechanical |
| RET | Salim Hanna | AIX Racing | 4 | Mechanical |
| RET | Jin Nakamura | Hitech GP | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Gerrard Xie | DAMS | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Maciej Gladysz | ART GP | 0 | Collision |
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