If there was one driver who exceeded expectations to start their sophomore season in Formula 3, it was Bruno Del Pino – but an auspicious early start with a field-high run of points finishes faded into a run of non-scores in July. The Spaniard sat down with Feeder Series in Budapest before the summer break to discuss his 2026 season, his switch to Van Amersfoort Racing and the changes he’s implemented to help boost his racing results.

By Tori Turner and Michael McClure

For most junior single-seater drivers, endurance racing connotes a career path. Perhaps it’s the one they pursue when their F1 dreams fall away, with hours-long races stretching deep into the night across hundreds of kilometres.

Bruno Del Pino has a slightly different take on the term. For just under six hours on a warm May day in Spain, he ran another kind of endurance race, trading four wheels and a steering wheel for two wheels, a wetsuit and a pair of running shoes.

His race time across the 100 kilometres? Five hours, 41 minutes and 24 seconds – a figure so significant that when Feeder Series sits down with him exactly two months after the triathlon, the 05:41:24 tattoo below his left elbow already appears healed. 

“It was something that I wanted to do for – well, not fun. It’s not fun!” he says. “It helped me for the mental side because it makes you be really strong, really aligned, be also very strict with what you do day by day. It helped me on that side for racing.

“It also kept me really fit, which is of course the main goal of [a triathlon], so I only took positives from that. The time when I was running, biking and swimming wasn’t the most enjoyable time, but once you end it, it’s very, very good and made me really want to do it again, so hopefully I’ll do another one soon.”

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After the opening round of the F3 season in March in Melbourne – where Del Pino snatched his maiden series victory in the sprint race and rose to fourth place in the feature race – drivers were left to wait until June to resume their seasons following the cancellation of the April round in Bahrain. The unplanned three-month gap in racing gave them time to explore other ventures, and Del Pino chose to train for and partake in a triathlon, a form of endurance competition that combines swimming, cycling and running. He competed in the Spain T100 triathlon in the Navarre province in the north of the country on 23 May, completing a 2 km swim, an 80 km bike ride and an 18 km run. 

His preparation for the triathlon, run just two days after F3’s in-season test in Spielberg, formed part of his training for the rest of his main campaign. He therefore returned to racing in Monaco in peak physical condition not even two weeks after pushing himself to the limit.

Since then, the intensity of his routine has attenuated with the demands of the busy calendar, though he still finds time for shorter workouts.

“These last nine weeks, I barely had time to focus on doing long sessions,” Del Pino said. “I always take time to do some exercise when I’m back in Madrid. I’ll go to the centre, work out, do an afternoon session as well. It’s much warmer, so it also makes it a bit more difficult.

“Overall, I keep myself in shape. After the season, we’ll have much more time to work out and prepare for another one, but racing is a goal.”

At first, Del Pino was riding the wave of strong results on track. After the high of his maiden F3 victory in Melbourne, Del Pino finished second in the sprint race at Monaco and sixth in the feature race, putting him second in the championship.

The result on Saturday was the Spaniard’s last podium to date, however. He still scored points in the next three races, but his excellent run of points finishes ended after he wound up 17th in the Spielberg feature race. Since then, he has been unable to score points, undoing much of the hard work of the early-season charge that set him up for a potential championship assault.

There have been strong drives, such as a charge from 25th on the grid to 11th in the Spa feature race that saw him finish just 0.903s away from 10th and thus points. Even with the recent difficulties in mind, Del Pino said he was pleased with his season on the whole.

“We’ve shown that we have what it takes to be up there week in, week out, so I’m satisfied. Of course, if I managed to get points in the last few rounds, I would be more satisfied,” Del Pino said. “Without points for the last two rounds and only one point in Spielberg, it would have been a different story. Some external factors from my side could have been better, but overall I’m happy.”

The 20-year-old is now ninth overall, hanging on to a top-10 placement in the standings by only three points after a gruelling run of six rounds in seven weeks. It’s not just the physical strain of competing in 12 races in eight weeks that takes a toll on the drivers – it’s also the mental aspect of dealing with performances that don’t go to plan.

“It’s difficult,” he said. “Different drivers take it a different way. I started really good, so it was also really good for me, from the mental side, to be happy that you’re doing good results. The last few weeks were not great, so it pushes you down a bit. It’s mentally really tough.”

Achieving optimum performance both mentally and physically has involved more than just individual progress, however. Alongside his new training regimen, Del Pino has also pushed for alterations elsewhere in his career, including in the mindsets of those who surround him. 

“I was the only guy in the car, but I also changed my performance team and the people working around me. My family also has helped me. They also needed to improve in some way because it’s a big part of my day-to-day life. I changed a bit of everything,” he said, “and considering that, it went well. Also with the team, they helped me a lot to see what to improve, and so far it’s showed.”

Over the winter, Del Pino made his first team change since the end of 2022, moving to Van Amersfoort Racing from MP Motorsport. He had progressed through Eurocup-3 and F3 with MP and achieved his career-best championship result of third in the former series with the team in 2024, but his rookie F3 season in 2025 wasn’t such smooth sailing. He failed to find the consistency he displayed at the start of 2026 and accumulated only four points finishes, the highlight being his first podium in the Imola sprint race. He finished 23rd in the drivers’ standings on 16 points, comprehensively outscored by teammates Tim Tramnitz and Alessandro Giusti.

Moving to Van Amersfoort as the sole F3 returnee alongside two new rookies, Enzo Deligny and Hiyu Yamakoshi, offered Del Pino an opportunity to start anew.

“We connected really quick. With the time we had from Melbourne to Monaco, I went to the factory a couple of times just to be there,” he said. “The pre-season testing made me bring myself close to them and them also with me, and we bonded really [well] together. Every day we learn new things about each other, but as time goes by, we get bonded. We created also a way for me to express the car. They learned quickly, and it helped me to be comfortable.”

“It was also me being more prepared, learning from what didn’t go well, which also helped me,” he added. “I’ve matured a lot, which also helped me towards the inside of racing. The change to VAR also helped me a lot. I’ve learned from everything from last year. I took a deep realisation to try to figure out the ways to improve, and I think it showed. Some races haven’t been as planned this year, but even when it didn’t go as planned, I think I showed that I’m up there.”

Drivers are currently enjoying a reprieve in the form of a five-week break between the Hungaroring and Monza rounds. There isn’t any triathlon in Del Pino’s plans this time, though the 20-year-old continues to keep himself fit for the final two rounds while enjoying the summer holidays and travelling with family and friends.

“I would like to continue, but also a break is needed sometimes, not only for me but for all the staff that deserve a break,” he said. “They’ve been working very hard.

“It’s not only the eight weeks of racing, but it’s also the nine weeks in total because we’ve spent three or four days in Holland in between races, which is also quite demanding. We’ve barely had time for rest, and when we did we were always focusing on the next ones, so you never had time to fully disconnect, which is the way to go because you have more races to come.

“After Hungary, I’ll have some time to turn off the phone for at least a week because we have to come back soon to do some prep for Madrid and then have the test there.”

F3’s second in-season test is set to take place at the newly constructed Madring on 24 and 25 August. The test precedes the final two rounds of the season in September in Monza and Madrid, and Del Pino’s focus will be on returning to the points-paying positions regularly to ensure he finishes in the top 10 overall. 

Having the season finale in Madrid, his home city, will offer him extra motivation to succeed. 

“I’m happy that it’s in Madrid,” Del Pino said about the new Spanish circuit. “I’ll be happier if I’m fast!”

The Madring round will feature an unusual weekend format, with drivers partaking in two consecutive qualifying sessions that each set the grid for Saturday’s and Sunday’s feature races. The sprint race, which opens the weekend, follows the normal format of using a partially reversed grid from the first qualifying session.

“It depends on how fast we are and what the starting position is for both races, so of course it will be a challenge. Physically, we are good. I have never struggled this season so far at any point,” he said. “On the mental [side], it will be tough because  three races a weekend, especially in F3, will be difficult.”

But not impossible. After all, Del Pino already proved he could conquer one unexpected 100-kilometre race in Spain. This time, he’ll have 380 horsepower and many thousands of fans behind him in his sprint to the finish line.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency