2026 FIA Formula 3 Championship

The 2026 FIA Formula 3 Championship is a motor racing championship for Formula 3 cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship is the seventeenth season of Formula 3 racing 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 is 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 competing in the championship run the same car, the Dallara F3 2025.

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.

Entries

The following teams and drivers are scheduled to compete in the 2026 FIA Formula 3 Championship. As the championship is a spec series, all teams compete with an identical Dallara F3 2025 chassis with a 3.4 L (207 cu in) naturally-aspirated V6 engine developed by Mecachrome. All teams compete with tyres supplied by Pirelli.

Driver changes

Campos Racing have 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 have an all-new line-up, as Théophile Naël moved to Campos Racing while Santiago Ramos and Ivan Domingues left the team. VAR 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 have 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 will graduate 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 last year 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 have 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.

In-season changes

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.

Race calendar

Calendar changes

• Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 followed Formula One in replacing the round at Imola Circuit with a second round in Spain held at the newly-built Madring.
• A round was set to be held at Bahrain International Circuit, but was cancelled due to the Iran war.

Season report

Round 1: Australia

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 second-placed Enzo Deligny 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. A crash by Michael Shin on lap twenty brought out the safety car, which stayed out until the end of the race. Further penalties were issued in the closing laps, with Naël and Lacorte both receiving penalties for false starts. 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.

Results and standings

Season summary

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top ten classified finishers in both races. The pole-sitter in the feature race also receives two points, and one point is given to the driver who set the fastest lap in both the feature and sprint races, provided that driver finished inside the top ten. If the driver who set the fastest lap is classified outside the top ten, the point is given to the driver who set the fastest lap of those inside the top ten. No extra points are awarded to the pole-sitter in the sprint race as the grid for it is set by reversing the top twelve qualifiers.

Sprint race points

Points are awarded to the top ten classified finishers. A bonus point is awarded to the driver who set the fastest lap and finished in the top ten.

Feature race points

Points are awarded to the top ten classified finishers. Bonus points are awarded to the pole-sitter and to the driver who set the fastest lap and finished in the top ten.

Drivers' Championship standings

Teams' Championship standings

Notes

External links