It was the last qualifying of the 2026 season, wrapped up in an exciting three-race weekend, all eyes on championship leader Freddie Slater and championship contender Ugo Ugochukwu.
Reminder: Escotto and Xie withdrew for medical reasons and newcomer Niccolò Maccagnani made his debut this weekend, replacing Christian Ho for Rodin Motorsport.
Q1: Chaos From the Start
The start of the session saw Stromstead’s side pod had a massive hole and the cover blowing in the wind, possibly from contact with the wall. As Kato flew across the track setting purple sectors, a lap time of 1:50.639, knocking Powell from the provisional pole. Ugochukwu followed close behind but it wasn’t enough; he sat P8.
A small incident between Giusti and Slater was noted by the FIA but marked as no further investigation. Following this, Slater ran close to barriers with each turn, setting a purple sector but a small lockup and brush with the wall; he jumped up from P13 to P3.
Close Battles & Fast Laps
Nakamura took P3 as Clerot snatched P1 from Kato with a 1:50.547. Kato, chasing after Clerot’s lap time, brushed the wall and took provisional pole 1:50.535. Ugochukwu jumped to P4 as Rivera moved up eight positions into P6. Slater dropped down to P14 as Badoer, sitting in P20, wrapped up his session following contact with the wall.
Kato continued to send it on track but the near brush with the wall could spell disaster for this weekend. Giusti wrestled with his car staying P7, and Rivera narrowly avoided the wall, staying P6 as Ede jumped into P4.
Slater finished this session, P17, as Kato took his first pole position in F3 as we wrapped up the first half of qualifying for the sprint race and first feature race. Taito Kato, Pedro Clerot, and Tuukka Taponen are the pole sitters for qualifying 1.
Q2: Slater’s Lead Slipping
Slater started the session off with a strong pace, setting all three purple sectors at 1:49.972 and taking pole. Ugochukwu jumped to P2 briefly but dropped back down to P6 as more laps came in.
Clerot snatched P2 with 1:50.188, and Nakamura closed behind in P3. Wharton claimed P11, as Kato, on a flying lap, nearly went into the wall but set a purple sector 2, taking P1 from Slater.
Edge of Victory
Badoer jumped to P8, as Powell claimed P11. Ugochukwu on the attack stole the provisional pole with a 1:49.901 briefly as Clerot snatched it with 1.49.830. Slater and Taponen were improving but Slater backed out of the lap, staying P8 as Ugochukwu set a purple sector. Taponen took P5 as Ugochukwu soared into P1 with 1:49.771, as Clerot had a near miss with the wall; he stays P2.
Kato’s sliding through turns as the session finished up; Taponen, taking pole as Clerot, who had pushed too hard, risked too much slamming into the barrier of turn 22, bringing out a yellow. As Rivera had to act quickly to avoid colliding with Clerot.
The session wrapped up with Taponen, Ugochukwu, and Cleort sitting on pole for the 2nd feature race this weekend. Stay tuned for more following the 2026 season finale for Formula 3 to see who takes home the championship here at the Madrid Grand Prix.