Finlay McSporran
Published: 19:54 12 September 2026
The Madring delivered plenty of drama during the penultimate race of the Formula 3 season.
12 points was all that separated Freddie Slater from Ugo Ugochukwu at the top of the F3 standings coming into this race.
With Slater down in 17th, and full feature race points on offer, this was the chance for Ugochukwu to turn things around.
Furthermore, his team, Campos Racing, were on the verge of securing the teams championship.
There was a big 19 laps to come.
Race Report
Taito Kato would start the race from pole position, but he was beaten to the first corner by Pedro Clerot.
Clerot took the lead as the drivers navigated their way through the first few corners, as Ugochukwu maintained his starting position in fourth.
But then, the big incident that we had all been dreading.
The Van Amersfoort pair of Bruno Del Pino and Enzo Deligny collided going up the hill towards turn seven.
What followed was pure chaos, as more drivers became involved in the incident, with Maciej Gladysz’ car being thrown into the air. Thankfully everyone escaped with no major injuries.
Incredibly, despite the carnage, championship leader Freddie Slater managed to navigate his way through.
The red flag was unsurprisingly thrown, with seven cars retiring on the first lap.
The session resumed half an hour later with a rolling start,
Clerot held the lead from Kato and Tuka Taponen in third.
With Ugochukwu fourth, he now had enough points (12) to draw level with Slater at the top of the standings.
But if Slater’s weekend was already a disaster, then what happened next was nothing short of a nighmare.
On lap nine, the Audi junior lost the rear of his Trident through the fast right hander of turn 19. Slater hit the barrier and was out of the race.
That required a safety car, which ended on lap 12 for eight laps of racing as the sun set over Madrid.
Those laps were relatively calm (at least compared to the first half of the race) aside from a few ambitious, DRS assisted, moves into the turn five chicane.
Clerot held his nerve out in front, crossing the line to take his first win in Formula 3, with Kato and Taponen joining him on the podium.
Kato’s podium sees himself jump up to third in the championship.
And with Trident not scoring any points, Campos could celebrate winning the teams championship for the second year in a row.
But they won’t be partying too hard, as they still have a drivers title to win tomorrow.
With Ugochukwu finishing fourth, he finds himself level with Slater at the top of the championship.
The American will start tomorrows race from the front row of the grid, with Slater a few rows back in eighth.
It’s going to be a fascinating finale!
Feature Race 1 Results:
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pedro Clerot | Rodin | 1:7:36.729 |
| 2 | Taito Kato | ART | +1.341s |
| 3 | Tuukka Taponen | MP Motorsport | +2.866s |
| 4 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Campos | +4.633s |
| 5 | Jin Nakamura | Hitech | +5.503s |
| 6 | Alessandro Giusti | MP Motorsport | +6.295s |
| 7 | Alex Powell | Prema | +7.498s |
| 8 | Ernesto Rivera | Campos | +9.670s |
| 9 | Théophile Naël | Campos | +10.149s |
| 10 | James Wharton | Prema | +11.421s |
| 11 | Yevan David | AIX | +13.161s |
| 12 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | +14.887s |
| 13 | Kanato Le | ART | +17.842s |
| 14 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | +19.630s |
| 15 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | Van Amersforot | +20.229s |
| 16 | Noah Stromsted | Trident | +20.986s |
| 17 | Brando Badoer | Rodin | +21.394s |
| 18 | Niccolò Maccagnani | Rodin | +21.816s |
| 19 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | Dams | +22.450s |
| 20 | Nicola Lacorte | Dams | +33.747s |
| NC | Freddie Slater | Trident | DNF |
| NC | Fionn Mclaughlin | Hitech | DNF |
| NC | Enzo Deligny | Van Amersfoort | DNF |
| NC | Bruno Del Pino | Van Amersfoort | DNF |
| NC | Maciej Gladysz | ART | DNF |
| NC | Jose Garfias | Prema | DNF |
| NC | Woohyun Shin | Hitech | DNF |
| NC | Fernando Barrichello | AIX | DNF |
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