The 2026 FIA Formula 3 Championship was a motor racing championship for Formula 3 cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was the seventeenth season of Formula 3 racing since the inception of the GP3 Series and the eighth season run under the FIA Formula 3 Championship moniker. FIA Formula 3 is an open-wheel racing category serving as the third tier of formula racing in the FIA Global Pathway. The category was run in support of selected rounds of the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship. As the championship is a spec series, all teams and drivers who competed in the championship ran the same car, the Dallara F3 2025.
Ugo Ugochukwu won the Drivers' Championship with Campos Racing in his second season of the FIA Formula 3 Championship after finishing second in the final race of the season in Madrid.
Campos Racing entered the season as the reigning Teams' Champions, having secured their inaugural title at the final race of the 2025 season at Monza Circuit. They also secured the Teams' Championship title in 2026.
Entries The following teams and drivers competed in the 2026 FIA Formula 3 Championship. As the championship is a spec series, all teams competed with an identical Dallara F3 2025 chassis with a naturally-aspirated V6 engine developed by Mecachrome. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli. EntrantDriver nameRounds Campos Racing1 Théophile NaëlAll2 Ugo UgochukwuAll3 Patrick Heuzenroeder1 Ernesto Rivera2–9 Trident4 Noah StrømstedAll5 Freddie SlaterAll6 Matteo De PaloAll MP Motorsport7 Mattia ColnaghiAll8 Tuukka TaponenAll9 Alessandro GiustiAll ART Grand Prix10 Taito KatoAll11 Maciej GładyszAll12 Kanato LeAll Van Amersfoort Racing14 Hiyu YamakoshiAll15 Enzo DelignyAll16 Bruno del PinoAll Rodin Motorsport17 Pedro ClerotAll18 Brando BadoerAll19 Christian Ho1–8 Niccolò Maccagnani9 Prema Racing20 Louis Sharp1–7 Alex Powell8–921 James Wharton All22 José GarfiasAll Hitech23 Michael ShinAll24 Fionn McLaughlinAll25 Jin NakamuraAll AIX Racing26 Brad Benavides1–2 Ricardo Escotto3, 5–6, 8 Salim Hanna4, 727 Yevan DavidAll28 Fernando BarrichelloAll DAMS Lucas Oil29 Nicola LacorteAll30 Nandhavud BhirombhakdiAll31 Gerrard Xie1–8Source:Official entry lists:
Team changes Hitech ended their partnership with Toyota Gazoo Racing after one season, dropping the 'TGR' moniker from its name.
Driver changes
Campos Racing had an all-new lineup after Nikola Tsolov, Mari Boya and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak left the team, all graduating to Formula 2, with Tsolov remaining with Campos, Boya moving to Prema Racing and Inthraphuvasak joining ART Grand Prix. The team signed two sophomore drivers in 2025 Macau Grand Prix winner Théophile Naël, who left Van Amersfoort Racing after finishing eighth with the team in 2025, and Ugo Ugochukwu, who left Prema Racing after ending the 2025 season 16th. Red Bull Junior driver Ernesto Rivera completed Campos' lineup on his graduation from their Eurocup-3 outfit.
Reigning champion Rafael Câmara stepped up to Formula 2 with Invicta Racing, while Charlie Wurz left the series to compete in Super Formula with Team Goh. The team signed FRECA champion Freddie Slater and promoted runner-up Matteo De Palo for their full-season debut after Slater already deputised for two rounds for AIX Racing and Hitech in 2025.
Both Bruno del Pino and Tim Tramnitz left MP Motorsport, with Del Pino joining Van Amersfoort Racing, and Tramnitz moving to GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with ROWE Racing. To replace them, the team signed reigning Eurocup-3 champion Mattia Colnaghi, who also joined the Red Bull Junior Team, as well as Ferrari junior driver Tuukka Taponen, who departed ART Grand Prix after coming ninth in 2025.
ART Grand Prix reset their lineup as Tuukka Taponen joined MP Motorsport, James Wharton joined Prema Racing and Laurens van Hoepen moved to Formula 2 with Trident. The team signed Eurocup-3 winter series champion Maciej Gładysz, who finished tenth in Eurocup-3, and promoted 2024 French F4 Champion Taito Kato and Kanato Le from their FRECA outfit, where they finished the 2025 season in seventh and 14th, respectively.
Van Amersfoort Racing had an all-new line-up, as Théophile Naël moved to Campos Racing while Santiago Ramos and Ivan Domingues left the team. They promoted Hiyu Yamakoshi from its FRECA outfit, who finished ninth, and signed Bruno del Pino, who left MP Motorsport after finishing the 2025 season in 23rd. In September 2025, it was announced that Jesse Carrasquedo Jr., who deputised for Hitech for two rounds in 2025, would drive for the team in 2026. However, he vacated his seat indefinitely for personal reasons ahead of the start of the season, and was replaced by Enzo Deligny, who finished third with R-ace GP.
Rodin Motorsport also had three new drivers with Louis Sharp moving to Prema, Callum Voisin competing in Porsche Carrera Cup GB with Century Motorsport and Roman Bilinski graduating to Formula 2 with DAMS. The team signed Brando Badoer, who in turn left Prema after finishing his debut season with the team in 25th, 2024 Eurocup-3 champion Christian Ho, who departed DAMS after coming 22nd in 2025, and Pedro Clerot graduated from FRECA, where he finished fourth with Van Amersfoort Racing.
Brando Badoer, Ugo Ugochukwu, and Noel León all left Prema Racing as Badoer and Ugochukwu moved to Rodin Motorsport and Campos Racing respectively, while León stepped up to Formula 2 with Campos Racing. James Wharton returned to Prema, departing ART Grand Prix after finishing his full-time debut season in 18th. 2024 GB3 Champion Louis Sharp joined Prema for his sophomore season after a 26th place with Rodin Motorsport in 2025. The team initially signed Enzo Deligny, but he left the team ahead of the start of the season to join Van Amersfoort Racing instead. The seat was taken by José Garfias, who finished fourth in Euroformula Open with Motopark, and made a one-round appearance in 2025 with AIX Racing.
Hitech also renewed their lineup after Martinius Stenshorne stepped up to Formula 2 with Rodin Motorsport, Gerrard Xie moved to DAMS and none of the team's four part-time competitors returned. Hitech signed a returnee and two championship debutants: Genesis Magma Racing's Trajectory Program driver Michael Shin who made his FIA F3 debut in 2023 with PHM Racing by Charouz and has since been competing in Euroformula Open with Team Motopark where he finished 3rd, TGR protégé Jin Nakamura stepped up from FRECA, where he finished 10th with R-ace GP, and Red Bull junior Fionn McLaughlin entered FIA F3 after winning the 2025 F4 British Championship with Hitech's outfit.
AIX Racing had two new drivers as neither James Hedley nor Nicola Marinangeli returned to the team. To replace them, AIX signed two Euroformula Open graduates: Yevan David, the series runner-up who became the first Sri Lankan driver to compete in FIA Formula 3, and 7th placed Fernando Barrichello, who already deputised for Hedley at the team in the last round of the 2025 season.
DAMS Lucas Oil saw Christian Ho join Rodin Motorsport and Matías Zagazeta leave the series to compete in GT World Challenge Europe with AF Corse. To replace them, the team signed Thai driver Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi from FRECA, where he finished 16th with Trident, and Gerrard Xie, who joined the team after finishing last season in 29th driving for Hitech.
In-season changes
Ernesto Rivera suffered a vertebral injury while competing in Formula Regional Oceania earlier this year, which meant that he was unable to compete at the opening round in Melbourne. He was replaced by Eurocup-3 competitor and FIA F3 debutant Patrick Heuzenroeder, who already deputised for Rivera in pre-season testing.
Brad Benavides sustained injuries following a crash in the sprint race of the Monte Carlo round, which forced him to take a break from racing. Indy NXT driver Ricardo Escotto replaced him for the round at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. FREC driver Salim Hanna then took over the car for the round at the Red Bull Ring, before Escotto then piloted the car in the Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps rounds. Hanna again returned to drive the car for the round at the Hungaroring, before Escotto concluded the season by taking over the seat for the Monza and Madrid rounds.
Louis Sharp left Prema Racing ahead of the Monza round to focus on his 2027 commitments. He was replaced for the final two rounds of the season by Alex Powell, who stepped up from Eurocup-3, where he claimed two podiums in the first four rounds.
Christian Ho left Rodin Motorsport ahead of the Madrid round to focus on his enlistment for the mandatory National Service in Singapore. He was replaced by Ferrari junior driver Niccolò Maccagnani, who stepped up from Italian F4, where he claimed two wins. Ricardo Escotto and Gerrard Xie also missed the event due to a road traffic collision and an injury from Monza, respectively. Their AIX Racing and DAMS Lucas Oil seats, however, were left unentered.
Race calendar RoundCircuitSprint raceFeature race(s)1 Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne7 March8 March2 Circuit de Monaco, Monaco6 June7 June3 Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló13 June14 June4 Red Bull Ring, Spielberg27 June28 June5 Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone4 July5 July6 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot18 July19 July7 Hungaroring, Mogyoród25 July26 July8 Monza Circuit, Monza5 September6 September9 Madring, Madrid12 September12–13 SeptemberSource:
Calendar changes
Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 followed Formula One in replacing the round at Imola Circuit with a second round in Spain held at the newly-built Madring. A round was set to be held at Bahrain International Circuit, but was cancelled due to the Iran war. To compensate for the loss of the two races, the season finale at the Madring held an additional qualifying session and a second feature race.
Regulation changes
2025 saw the championship use Aramco-supplied fuel containing 70% sustainable components, and a further increase in sustainability was planned for 2026 ahead of the series' goal of adopting fully synthetic fuels in 2027.
Season report Round 1: Australia
The season began at Albert Park Circuit with a Campos Racing one-two in qualifying; Théophile Naël on pole position, Ugo Ugochukwu second and Trident's Freddie Slater third.
Bruno del Pino started the reverse-grid sprint race from pole position by virtue of having qualified twelfth. Del Pino and teammate Enzo Deligny, who started second, held their positions at the start, whilst Noah Strømsted lost third place to Brando Badoer. On lap eight of twenty, Prema Racing teammates James Wharton and Louis Sharp collided heavily whilst battling for seventh place. The race was red-flagged and not resumed due to the damage to the barriers. The result was taken from the end of lap seven and points were only awarded to the top five finishers. Del Pino claimed his first Formula 3 victory and Deligny and Badoer achieved their first podiums in the series. Wharton and Sharp were withdrawn from the following day's feature race on medical grounds.