Theóphile Nael claimed victory this Saturday (25) in the Sprint race that opened the seventh round of the 2026 Formula 3 season, held at the Hungaroring circuit in Hungary. The Campos Racing driver moved into first place on the ninth of 19 laps in the session held this morning by passing Kanato Le, and he went on to win for the second time this year.
Second place went to Le, the ART Grand Prix driver who finished just over two seconds behind Nael. The podium was completed by Ernesto Rivera, third with another Campos Racing car. Mattia Colnaghi, the MP Motorsport driver from Argentina, finished fourth, followed by Brando Badoer, who ended up fifth in a Rodin Motorsport machine.
Tuukka Taponen crossed the finish line in sixth place with an MP Motorsport car, ahead of Nicola Lacorte, seventh with DAMS. James Wharton took Prema to eighth, while Fernando Barrichello earned his first points in F3 by finishing ninth with AIX Racing. Freddie Slater, from Trident, completed the top ten.
The race’s disappointment was Ugo Ugochukwu. The Campos Racing driver had a strong start to the battle, but saw tire performance deteriorate as the race progressed. Additionally, a five-second penalty dropped him to 17th place at the end of the race. Brazilian Pedro Clerot finished 21st with Rodin Motorsport after starting 27th.
The race featured a Safety Car intervention early on. Jin Nakamura collided with the rear of Gerrard Xie’s car, while Maciej Gladysz was struck by the Japanese driver’s car. After a few moments, race control neutralized the Hungaroring event.
The Hungary round of Formula 3 will wrap up this Sunday (26) with the main race, scheduled to start at 3:40 a.m.
