Formula 3 is the home of tight battles and narrow margins, and its 2026 iteration promises to be no different, with 16 rookies joining the 14 returning drivers fighting for the title. Feeder Series brings you everything you need to know about the 2026 F3 season.

By Daniele Spadi and Tori Turner

Since the series’ rebrand back in 2019, F3 has enjoyed a terrific rate of success, with plenty of future stars rising through its ranks. A total of nine drivers have since graduated to F1, with Arvid Lindblad gearing up to become the 10th in just a couple of days.

In F3’s first season with the Dallara F3 2025, Rafael Câmara became the 2025 champion in the penultimate round in Budapest, beating rivals Nikola Tsolov and Mari Boya to the title in dominating fashion. All three are set to step up to F2 for their maiden campaigns this year. Câmara will race with Invicta Racing, with Tsolov continuing his partnership with Campos Racing and Boya finding a new home in Prema Racing.

The 2026 F3 grid features a healthy mix of returning drivers and rookies, including four reigning junior single-seater champions from the past year. Those are FRegional Europe’s Freddie Slater, FR Oceania’s Ugo Ugochukwu, Eurocup-3’s Mattia Colnaghi and British F4’s Fionn McLaughlin. FR World Cup winner Théophile Naël is also lining up for his second F3 season.

Compared to previous years, the regulations specify one important change related to grid penalties. From 2026 onwards, grid penalties from one event that applied to the next – and therefore took effect in the sprint race – will now be applied to the next feature race instead. More information about that shift, and all the other changes across junior series championships, can be found here.

The calendar 

As usual, the calendar consists of 10 tracks split across six months, though there have been notable changes to the line-up for 2026. The only absence from the 2025 season is the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, also known as Imola.

After providing some gripping showdowns over the past four seasons, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza will not host the season finale this year. The final round will instead be held at Spain’s newest street circuit, the Madring, which is still under construction. There is speculation on whether the circuit will be finished in time to hold the F1 grand prix weekend in September, which F3 is due to support.

The 2026 F3 calendar is currently as follows:

• Round 1: Albert Park (6–8 March)
• Round 2: Bahrain International Circuit (10–12 April)
• Round 3: Circuit de Monaco (4–7 June)
• Round 4: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (12–14 June)
• Round 5: Red Bull Ring (26–28 June) 
• Round 6: Silverstone Circuit (3–5 July)
• Round 7: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (17–19 July)
• Round 8: Hungaroring (24–26 July)
• Round 9: Autodromo Nazionale Monza (4–6 September)
• Round 10: Madring (11–13 September)

The format 

There are no changes to the weekend format for the 2026 season. Each championship round begins on Friday morning, when drivers partake in a 45-minute free practice session. Later in the afternoon, they take to the track again for a 30-minute qualifying session that sets the order for the weekend’s races. In both Monaco and Monza, the qualifying format will be revised because of traffic complications. Further details regarding the F2 and F3 group qualifying format can be found here.

Saturday morning brings the first race of the weekend in the form of a sprint race that lasts 40 minutes plus one lap. The top 12 drivers from qualifying start the race in reverse order – the driver that qualified in 12th place will start the race from pole position, while the fastest qualifier starts 12th – with the remaining grid positions following Friday’s qualifying results. Points are awarded for the top 10 drivers for the race, although they are on a reduced scale that starts at 10 points for the winner and goes to one point for the 10th-place finisher.

For Sunday’s feature race, the starting grid is determined by Friday’s qualifying results. The top 10 drivers score points again, with 25 points going to the winner this time, following the standard FIA format.

The driver who sets the fastest lap within the top 10 classified drivers in each race is awarded an extra point. Two extra points are up for grabs for the driver who starts on pole for the feature race.

Where to watch

Each session is livestreamed on the subscription platform F1TV, but specific regions and countries broadcast the series on their own channels. The full list of where fans can watch the series in each region can be found here. Live timing can be found on the F3 website, and highlights of the races are uploaded onto F1’s YouTube channel.

Teams and drivers

The same 10 teams that competed in 2025 are scheduled to be on the 2026 grid too. Everyone’s goal will be to dethrone Campos Racing after the Spanish outfit took its maiden teams’ crown last season, with Trident being first in line as they missed out by just 11 points last year. With the top five drivers from 2025 all moving on from their F3 duties, the drivers’ crown will be once again up for grabs, with 16 newcomers trying to become the third rookie in four years to win the title.

Campos Racing 

Campos Racing secured their first teams’ championship last season, beating Trident by 11 points to take the title in Monza. Despite the team’s success, their drivers failed to beat Câmara to the drivers’ title, finishing second, third and seventh respectively. After fielding three returning drivers in 2025, the Spanish outfit have selected a rookie to race alongside two more experienced teammates in 2026.

Théophile Naël (#1) joins the team after previously competing with Van Amersfoort Racing for his rookie season. The 18-year-old scored three podiums on his way to finishing eighth in the standings, making him one of the highest-placing returnees from 2025. At the end of the year, the Frenchman won the prestigious Macau Grand Prix, beating 2025 F3 Campos driver and title hopeful Mari Boya to the victory.

Ugo Ugochukwu (#2) will pilot Campos’ second car after a successful start to 2026 in FR Oceania. The former McLaren junior won four races and scored a further four podiums on his way to take the title, clinching it by 16 points ahead of fellow F3 driver Freddie Slater. The 18-year-old American driver, who left the McLaren Driver Development Programme at the end of the 2025 season, had a shaky start to his rookie season in F3 last year but bounced back in the second half to score two podiums following a livery change intended to reduce the car’s overall weight. This left him 16th in the standings with 43 points, but changing from Prema to such a top team as Campos will give him a better opportunity to improve his results.

Red Bull junior Ernesto Rivera (#3) rounds off Campos’ 2026 line-up as their sole rookie driver, though the 17-year-old is no stranger to the team. He first partnered with the Spanish outfit in 2024 for his entries in the Formula Winter Series and Spanish F4. Their partnership continued for his 2025 Eurocup-3 campaign, in which he finished fourth in the standings with three victories. The Mexican also raced alongside teammate Ugochukwu in FR Oceania earlier this year, scoring two podiums and finishing 11th overall.

Rivera, however, will not compete in Melbourne because of a back injury he sustained whilst racing in the final round of FR Oceania. Australia’s Patrick Heuzenroeder has been confirmed to replace him ahead of his Eurocup-3 campaign with Campos. The 20-year-old placed second in GB3 last season with Xcel Motorsport, winning at Zandvoort and taking a further four podiums, and he is currently 10th in the Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship.

Trident

Trident produced their third consecutive drivers’ champion with the seemingly unstoppable Rafael Câmara, but they once again failed to take their first teams’ championship since 2021. After sitting in second place for four years, the Italian team have a strong chance to re-take the title in 2026 with a highly sought-after line-up.

Former Mercedes junior Noah Strømsted (#4) will continue with the Italian outfit after a strong rookie campaign in which the 18-year-old finished sixth in the standings with 84 points. He scored his first podium of the season in the Melbourne feature race before finishing second again in Imola’s feature race. Later on in the year, the Danish driver secured his maiden victory in the Spa sprint race. He finished his season by placing seventh in the Macau Grand Prix with Trident’s FR division.

New Audi recruit Freddie Slater (#5) will partner Strømsted, fresh off his campaign in FR Oceania in which he placed second. It will be the Briton’s first full season in F3 following on from his remarkable debut last year in Bahrain, where he scored a podium for AIX. The 17-year-old did so before beginning his FR Europe campaign, in which he took the title by 36 points with eight wins. He also competed in three rounds of GB3 with Hillspeed, scoring three wins and a further two podiums out of nine races; made another appearance in F3 in Belgium, this time with Hitech; and ended the year in the Macau Grand Prix, winning the qualifying race and leading much of the main race before crashing from second place. 

Slater’s FR Europe championship rival Matteo De Palo (#6) will join him for his rookie season, having completed the same number of laps in pre-season testing (166) as the Briton. The 18-year-old Italian scored 277 points in FR Europe, securing four wins and a further seven podiums in the series. He also raced in Macau last year, avenging his disqualification in 2024 by placing eighth in the race. His appearance there came the week he was announced to be joining the McLaren junior team.

MP Motorsport

MP Motorsport finished third in the 2025 season’s standings, scoring 177 points, with German driver Tim Tramnitz taking their only victory of the season in the Imola sprint. The Dutch team’s 2025 results were a big step up from the year previous, when they placed sixth overall.

MP’s sole rookie is a driver who has partnered with the team for almost his entire junior single-seater career. Mattia Colnaghi (#7) first achieved victory with the Dutch outfit in 2024 when he won Spanish F4 with 282 points, six wins, seven poles and 12 total podiums. Colnaghi returned to glory with them in Eurocup-3 last year, taking the title by 35 points over Valerio Rinicella after being signed to Red Bull Junior Team mid-season. After wrapping up the title a round early, the 17-year-old skipped the Eurocup-3 finale to race in Macau with PHM Racing and finished just shy of a podium in fourth. Colnaghi, a dual national, will switch from the Italian flag to the Argentine flag for competition purposes this year.

Ferrari junior Tuukka Taponen (#8) will race alongside Colnaghi after partaking with ART Grand Prix in the championship last year. The 19-year-old Finn placed on the podium in Bahrain, Monaco and Budapest, but he lacked overall consistency, which landed him outside of the points-paying positions on 11 out of 19 occasions. Despite his late-season slump, he finished ninth with 67 points to his name.

Frenchman Alessandro Giusti (#9) is set to return with the team for his second season, having finished 2025 tied on 67 points with Taponen. The 19-year-old Williams junior placed 10th in the standings in his rookie F3 season thanks to impressive consistency across the entire campaign, showcased by scoring points in 13 out of 19 races and retiring only once. He also dipped his toes into the world of Formula E, partaking in the rookie test in Berlin last July and in the rookie free practice for the Miami E-Prix earlier this year.

ART Grand Prix

ART Grand Prix experienced a minor downturn in results across 2025, placing fourth in the teams’ championship after finishing third in 2024. James Wharton delivered their only win of the season in Austria’s sprint race, with Taponen and Laurens van Hoepen adding a smattering of podiums. 

Taito Kato (#10) will make his debut in the series after placing fifth in the 2025 Macau Grand Prix with ART. The 18-year-old Japanese driver is familiar with the French team, having placed seventh with them last season in FR Europe and 12th in FR Middle East. In his European campaign, the Honda junior scored 107 points and secured podiums at Spa-Francorchamps and Le Castellet. He started his 2026 by competing in the first three rounds of FR Middle East, finishing 11th in the standings with his maiden victory at the FR level at the Dubai Autodrome. 

Maciej Gładysz (#11) will join the French team for his rookie season, moving away from MP Motorsport for the first time in his junior single-seater career. The Polish driver, 17, finished 10th in Eurocup-3 last year, scoring 88 points with one victory at the Red Bull Ring. He did, however, win the Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship beforehand, scoring 115 points overall with two victories and three further podiums. 

Completing ART’s line-up for 2026 is Kanato Le (#12), a Japanese driver who is no stranger to the team after racing with them throughout 2025. His main campaign in FR Europe saw him finish 14th with 30 points, whilst he found more success in FR Middle East to place eighth overall with one victory at Yas Marina. His 2025 season ended with an 11th-place finish in Macau. He also competed in selected rounds of GB3 with Hillspeed, scoring three consecutive podiums in Belgium. The 18-year-old started 2026 by finishing sixth in FR Oceania, securing one win in the penultimate race at Highlands Motorsport Park.

Van Amersfoort Racing

The 2025 season was historic for Van Amersfoort Racing in F3 as they clinched their first one-two in the series in the sprint race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Thanks to two further victories and three additional podiums, the Dutch outfit clinched their best-ever finish of fifth in the teams’ standings with 138 points. In 2026, the team have opted for a line-up that includes two rookies and one experienced driver. 

Hiyu Yamakoshi (#14) is a known face for VAR, having raced with the team since 2024. Last year, the 19-year-old placed ninth in FR Europe, clinching two podiums in his maiden campaign in the series. He also partook in selected races of both FR Middle East and GB3, with a best finish of fifth in the former and fourth in the latter, scoring points in 13 out of 18 races. The Japanese driver ended 2025 at the Macau Grand Prix with Evans GP, finishing in 12th.

Originally, the second seat was supposed to be filled by Jesse Carrasquedo Jr, who had been announced for a VAR seat on 23 September 2025. The Mexican, however, was replaced just days before pre-season testing in Barcelona by Enzo Deligny (#15), who will join the series in his place as a rookie. The French-Chinese driver was originally announced by Prema Racing as one of their drivers for the 2026 season, but in a surprise turn of events, he left the Italian team over the winter and found a new home at the Dutch outfit. Deligny has spent the past two years racing in FR Europe with R-ace GP, finishing third in 2025 thanks to four wins and a total of nine podiums. A true connoisseur of the Tatuus T-318, he finished fifth in FR Middle East at the start of the year while also clinching third in the prestigious Macau Grand Prix last November.

Bruno Del Pino (#16) is the sole F3 returnee in the line-up, joining from fellow Dutch team MP Motorsport. After a strong 2024 Eurocup-3 campaign that saw him finish third, the 19-year-old Spaniard struggled to get up to speed with the new F3 car last season. He ultimately finished 23rd in the drivers’ standings, scoring points on four occasions – one of them being his maiden podium in the series with second place in the sprint at Imola.

Rodin Motorsport

Rodin Motorsport climbed from eighth to sixth in the teams’ standings after a solid effort in 2025, scoring a win and three further podiums across the season. With all three of last year’s drivers departing the team, however, 2026 promises to be an entirely new challenge, with two F3 returnees set to be partnered by a rookie.

The newcomer in question is Pedro Clerot (#17), who steps up to F3 racing after two solid FR Europe seasons with Van Amersfoort Racing. The 19-year-old Brazilian was mighty impressive in 2025, scoring points in all but two races and finishing in fourth overall with two wins and five additional podiums to his name.

Joining from Prema Racing is Brando Badoer (#18). The Italian, who competed as a McLaren junior last year, suffered from his former team’s faltered approach to the new F3 car last season, failing to score points in the first seven rounds. After stripping down his livery in hopes of reducing weight, he began to find his footing again and finished in the top 10 three times in a row across the Spa-Francorchamps and Budapest rounds. The 19-year-old ultimately finished in 25th with 13 points.

Three spots above him was Christian Ho (#19). Also in his rookie F3 season in 2025, the 19-year-old Singaporean scored points on four different occasions, with two pairs of top-10 finishes in Bahrain and Silverstone. The 2024 Eurocup-3 champion was DAMS’ primary points scorer last year, taking home 57 per cent of the team’s points. He began 2026 by racing in two rounds of FR Middle East, finishing 12th overall with one win at Yas Marina.

Prema Racing

Undoubtedly, the 2025 F3 season was Prema Racing’s weakest yet in terms of sheer results. The Italian junior single-seater giant fell hard in 2025 as they struggled to get to grips with the new F3 car, scoring points just five times in the opening 10 races across all their entries and ultimately finishing seventh in the teams’ standings. This year already brought huge changes for the team, as the entire Rosin family – who founded the team in 1983 and owned it ever since – walked away in January, with technical director Guillaume Capietto following suit.

The seasonal theme of change is extended to the team’s line-up too. Louis Sharp (#20) joins from Rodin Motorsport after competing in his maiden F3 campaign in 2025. The 2023 British F4 and 2024 GB3 champion did not have the rookie F3 season he had hoped for, finishing down in 26th with a best finish of fourth in the Imola sprint race. The 18-year-old has already raced in 2026, partaking in his native series FR Oceania and finishing in third behind future F3 rivals Ugochukwu and Slater.

James Wharton (#21) is also returning for a second F3 season, switching from ART Grand Prix to rejoin the Italian outfit. The 19-year-old Australian wore Prema’s colours in F4 and FR championships, winning the 2023 F4 UAE title with them and finishing second in his sole FR Europe season in 2024. Wharton was one of last year’s 11 winners, taking victory in the sprint at the Red Bull Ring, but finished 18th overall with only three further points scores. He began 2026 by contesting three of four FR Oceania rounds, finishing eighth overall with a win at Taupo.

José Garfias (#22) was this season’s latest signing, joining Prema after Deligny vacated the seat over the winter and signed with Van Amersfoort Racing instead. The 21-year-old had his first taste of F3 machinery last year when he jumped into AIX Racing’s car in Barcelona. The Mexican competed in Euroformula Open last year with Motopark, taking the winning spoils three times across the season and finishing in the top five a total of 15 times in 24 races en route to fourth in the standings.

Hitech

Another team who had a rather disappointing 2025 season is Hitech. Despite being home to former McLaren junior Martinius Stenshorne, who eventually took fifth in the drivers’ standings, the British outfit couldn’t muster more than eighth overall, with the Norwegian scoring 89 of the team’s 90 points.

Three new names will defend Hitech’s colours in F3 next year. The only driver with prior experience at the F3 level is Michael Shin (#23), though the South Korean has not driven in the series since 2023, when he substituted at PHM Racing for the last three rounds of the season. Since then, the 21-year-old raced in Eurocup-3 in 2024 and in Euroformula Open last year, finishing seventh and third respectively. He joined forces with Hitech once before, finishing 18th with them in the 2023 GB3 Championship. Shin was forced to sit out pre-season testing after he broke his collarbone in January, with Tramnitz replacing him, but he has been cleared to race in the opening round of the season.

Speaking of British-based junior categories, reigning British F4 champion Fionn McLaughlin (#24) makes the jump straight to F3 after a phenomenal season at the F4 level with Hitech. After finishing third in Formula Winter Series, the 18-year-old from Northern Ireland took home the British F4 title thanks to five wins and 14 total podiums. As a result of his victory, he earned an invitation to the FIA F4 World Cup in Macau last November, placing 13th after a difficult weekend. McLaughlin also contested the FR Oceania season earlier this year, finishing 13th.

Jin Nakamura (#25) completes Hitech’s 2026 line-up after a strong 2025 across multiple FR championships. Driving for R-ace GP, he finished 10th in both FR Middle East and FR Europe, taking a win and a third place in the former and a single podium in the latter. The 20-year-old Toyota junior raced in Macau for the FR World Cup at the end of 2025, though he crashed out on the penultimate lap of the main race and was classified in 19th. He started his 2026 partnership with Hitech in FR Oceania, taking six podiums in 15 races en route to fourth in the standings.

AIX Racing

AIX Racing’s 2025 F3 season included just six points finishes across 10 race weekends, but they were able to crack the top six on five occasions, including in Bahrain, where Slater scored a podium. The team also took pole twice, something they had never done before under any guise in F3. Still, they finished ninth in the standings, the same position they occupied in 2024, with 52 points.

American Brad Benavides (#26) is sticking with the team for a second F3 season after joining from round three onwards last year. He was the one to take surprise poles in Spa and Monza in 2025, though he was unable to capitalise in Belgium through no fault of his own when adverse weather conditions caused the race to be abandoned two laps in. The 24-year-old eventually placed 20th with 18 points, with his best finish being fourth in the final race at Monza from his second pole.

The two rookies partnering him come straight from Euroformula Open, the series Benavides won back in 2024. Last year, Yevan David (#27) looked to be the American’s likely successor early on, though a more complicated second half of the season forced him to settle for second by the end of the campaign. Still, the 18-year-old driver from Sri Lanka showed flashes of brilliance between daring overtakes and impressive lap times throughout the season, carrying that on in FR Oceania earlier this year, in which he finished in 10th.

Joining AIX is also Fernando Barrichello (#28), the son of former Ferrari F1 driver Rubens Barrichello. The 20-year-old was the very first driver to be signed for the 2026 season – an announcement that came before he made his F3 debut in last year’s season finale in Monza, where he finished 17th in the sprint and retired from the feature. In his 2025 Euroformula Open campaign, he was unable to improve on his third-place finish from the year before, settling for seventh with one win and five further podium finishes.

DAMS

DAMS were a new team on last year’s grid, having taken over from Jenzer Motorsport after the Swiss team left the series at the end of 2024. Though the French outfit finished their maiden season in last, they were still able to score 30 points in six different races, with a best result of fourth in the sprint race at Monza.

Staying on with the team after 2025 is 18-year-old Nicola Lacorte (#29). The Italian, who was infamously suspended from the Red Bull Ring round for accumulating too many penalty points in the first five rounds, was one of the series’ two full-time drivers who did not score a point throughout the season. The Alpine Academy driver had a best finish of 15th in both the sprint race at Imola and the feature at Silverstone.

Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi (#30) is set to make his series debut in 2026, taking over from Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak as the sole Thai driver on the F3 grid. The 19-year-old has been a stable presence on the FR Europe grid in the past two seasons. He showcased big improvements from 2024 to 2025, going from not scoring in 2024 to taking home 24 points en route to 16th in the standings in 2025 with a best finish of fifth.

Rounding out DAMS’ line-up is Gerrard Xie (#31), who comes back for a second F3 season after completing his rookie campaign with Hitech. With a 10th-place finish in the sprint race at the Hungaroring, the 19-year-old from Shenzhen was the first Chinese driver to score points in an F3 race since Yifei Ye in 2019. This year, he raced in the opening two rounds of FR Middle East with R-ace GP, taking home a single point in six races.

The grid at a glance

Team	#	Driver
Campos Racing	1	Théophile Naël
	2	Ugo Ugochukwu
	3	Ernesto Rivera (R)
Trident	4	Noah Strømsted
	5	Freddie Slater (R)
	6	Matteo De Palo (R)
MP Motorsport	7	Mattia Colnaghi (R)
	8	Tuukka Taponen
	9	Alessandro Giusti
ART Grand Prix	10	Taito Kato (R)
	11	Maciej Gładysz (R)
	12	Kanato Le (R)
Van Amersfoort Racing	14	Hiyu Yamakoshi (R)
	15	Enzo Deligny (R)
	16	Bruno Del Pino
Rodin Motorsport	17	Pedro Clerot (R)
	18	Brando Badoer
	19	Christian Ho
Prema Racing	20	Louis Sharp
	21	James Wharton
	22	José Garfias (R)
Hitech	23	Michael Shin
	24	Fionn McLaughlin (R)
	25	Jin Nakamura (R)
AIX Racing	26	Brad Benavides
	27	Yevan David (R)
	28	Fernando Barrichello (R)
DAMS	29	Nicola Lacorte
	30	Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi (R)
	31	Gerrard Xie

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency