Naël claims maiden FIA Formula 3 victory in Barcelona. Ugochukwu joins him on the podium
Campos Racing enjoyed another successful weekend as FIA Formula 3 visited Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the third round of the 2026 season. Théophile Naël, who had finished second in Monaco just a few days earlier, claimed his first victory in the category with a flawless performance after securing pole position in qualifying. However, the Frenchman was not the only Campos Racing driver to stand on the podium, as Ugo Ugochukwu finished third on Sunday to collect another valuable haul of points in the title fight. Ernesto Rivera, competing in just his second FIA Formula 3 event, once again ran among the frontrunners and secured another points-finish for the Red Bull Junior Team member.
Friday morning’s free practice session saw the Campos Racing trio immediately set the pace. Despite drivers reporting very low grip levels around the circuit, all three Campos Racing cars occupied the top three positions on the timing sheets at the end of the session. Naël was the fastest with a lap of 1m28.422s, ahead of Ugochukwu and Rivera, who posted times of 1m28.645s and 1m28.787s respectively.
Could they repeat that performance in qualifying later in the afternoon? With track temperatures soaring above 50ºC, Ugochukwu immediately lowered last year’s pole position benchmark on his first attempt with a lap of 1m28.707s. Shortly afterwards, Naël launched his attack and produced a stunning 1m28.263s with ten minutes remaining, a time that ultimately proved unbeatable, even for his teammate. Ugochukwu managed a 1m28.302s lap that left him extremely close to the Frenchman but unable to deny Naël his third pole position of the season and the two championship points awarded for it. Rivera also delivered an excellent performance, the Mexican driver setting the seventh-fastest time with a lap of 1m28.628s.
Saturday’s Sprint Race got underway shortly after 10:00 a.m., with the top twelve positions from qualifying reversed on the grid. As a result, Rivera started sixth and led the Campos Racing charge, while Ugochukwu and Naël lined up further back in the pack. When the lights went out, all three Campos Racing drivers avoided trouble during the opening laps, with Rivera running seventh, Ugochukwu tenth and Naël eleventh. Ugochukwu soon gained another place after overtaking Hiyu Yamakoshi to move into ninth. Unfortunately, Campos Racing suffered its first retirement on lap four. Rivera came to a halt on the main straight due to a technical issue and was unable to return to the pits, prompting first a Virtual Safety Car and then a full Safety Car intervention. Racing resumed on lap ten, but shortly after the restart another Campos Racing driver was eliminated from contention. Ugochukwu attempted to pass Enzo Deligny around the outside at Turn 4, but after running onto the dirty part of the track, his car snapped away from him and ended up in the gravel. Following another Safety Car period, green-flag racing resumed on lap 17. From there to the finish, Naël opted not to take unnecessary risks and crossed the line in eighth place.
Sunday offered a fresh opportunity. With the Feature Race scheduled before 9:00 a.m., teams were confident that tyre management over the 25-lap distance would not be a major concern. At the start, Naël retained the lead, while Ugochukwu lost a position after starting from the dirtier side of the grid. Rivera, battling with Freddie Slater, ran sixth during the opening laps. By lap nine, after two brief Virtual Safety Car periods to clear debris from the circuit, Naël continued to lead ahead of Yamakoshi. Ugochukwu, running third, put a wheel onto the dirty line through the fast final corner leading onto the main straight, briefly running through the gravel and losing a position as a result. However, the Campos Racing driver kept his composure and, just five laps later, reclaimed third place by overtaking Bruno del Pino. Meanwhile, Naël remained firmly in control at the front and eventually took the chequered flag to secure his first FIA Formula 3 victory. Ugochukwu finished third, while Rivera crossed the line in seventh position.
After the opening three rounds of the season, Ugochukwu leads the Drivers’ Championship with 58 points, while Naël moves up to second place on 52 points. Rivera sits eleventh with 16 points. In the Teams’ Championship, Campos Racing continues to lead the standings with a total of 126 points.
The next round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship will take place at the Red Bull Ring on 27–28 June.
