Finlay McSporran
Published: 17:37 10 September 2026
Everything you need to know about F3’s title decider in Madrid this weekend.
We are set for a fantastic few days of motorsport this weekend.
Formula 1 heads to Madrid to for the first time, bringing with it both Formula 2 and Formula 3.
It’s a new venue for all three championships, but, more importantly, the final round of the F3 season, with the drivers title still very much on the line.
Briton’s Freddie Slater leads the standings on 141 points, with the American Ugo Ugochukwu 15 behind on 126.
The pair have shared a great championship battle all year long,
But this is no ordinary race track. As mentioned earlier, the Madring is a new venue for motor racing.
It’s first and only real test was three weeks ago, when it hosted F3’s mid – season test.
Across the two days of testing there were 19 red flags!
That should tell you everything you need to know about the nature of this track. It’s fast, demanding, and, at times, dangerous.
That is the challenge facing the drivers this weekend. Add to that the pressure of a title fight, and you’ve got one hell of a show.
Here’s everything you need to know about the championship contenders and the revised format for this weekend.
Freddie Slater: 1st in the Standings (141pts)
18 year old Slater is looking to make it four in a row with Trident. The last three F3 champions, Gabrielle Bortoleto, Leonardo Fornaroli, and Rafael Camara, all drove for the Italian team en route to winning the drivers title.
The Audi junior has driven and won in pretty much everything so far.
It would appear that, like Kimi Antionelli before him, Slater has that Midas touch. Where everything he touches turns to trophies.
The teenager has already won multiple championships including F4 UAE, Italian F4, and Formula Regional. He also competed in the Formula Regional Oceania Trophy at the start of the year, narrowly losing out on the title to… Ugo Uguchukwu.
The Briton has finished on the podium in every single round this season.
At the previous round in Monza, Slater secured pole position for the feature race, and followed that up with a sprint race podium on the Saturday.
Everything seemed to be going perfectly for him, with Ugochukwu out of the points, this was his chance to deliver on knockout blow in the championhip.
It wasn’t to be however. On lap 14 his rear right tyre made a bid for freedom, detaching itself from the car and forcing Slater out of the race.
This weekend presents a new challenge for him. Despite the difficulties faced by some of his fellow drivers, Slater called the Madring an “incredible track”.
He described it as an “old school” circuit after the test, where he set the fasted time on day one.
Day two however was topped by… you guest it, Ugochukwu.
Ugo Ugochukwu: Second in the Standings (126 pts)
Ugo may not have as many titles to his name, but make no mistake about it, he’s still a very quick driver.
Unlike his rival, 2026 is Ugochukwu’s second season in F3, having driven for the struggling Prema outfit last year.
That season he finished an underwhelming 16th in the standings, albeit ahead of his teammates, with a single podium in Hungary being the highlight of his season.
But anyone paying close attention knew that there was more to come from the young American.
Winning the Macau Grand Prix, Euro 4 Championship, and runner up in Italian F4 is no mean feat.
The talent was there, he just needed a good enough team.
As mentioned earlier, Ugo Chukwu won the Formula Regional Oceania Trophy back in February of this year. Beating Slater to the title in the final race of the season.
That kicked off what has been an excellent season so far from the 19 year old.
Two wins and a further three podiums leaves him 15 points behind Slater coming into this weekend.
He could have been further behind, if it wasn’t for a monumental drive from P23 to P8 last time out in Monza.
He cannot afford another poor qualifying like that this weekend.
Madrid is an “unbelievable circuit” according to Ugo, and thankfully for him, it features a revised format for this final round of the season.
The Revised Weekend Format
Traditionally, there are 39 points up for grabs across a Formula 3 weekend. 25 for a feature race win, 10 for the sprint race, two for pole position, and the two fastest lap points.
However, this weekend will have an extra feature race on Saturday evening.
Qualifying on Friday will be split into two sessions, one for each feature race, with the two points for pole position available during both sessions.
That gives a total of 67 points on offer this weekend. Good news for Ugochukwu. Bad news for Slater.
It also means that, technically, Ernesto Rivera and Theophile Nael are both still in contention, however they are 65 and 66 points away respectively, and so would need a miracle weekend to win the title.
But you never know…
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