Two weeks on from an eventful round of Formula 3 action in Barcelona, the feeder series returned for the next leg of the 2026 season in Austria. The fourth round of the season proved to be an eventful one with two new race winners making it eight different winners from eight races so far this season. But that was just the tip of the iceberg for Formula 3 last weekend.
Here are The Paddock Chronicle’s Key Takeaways from Formula 3 in Austria.
Freddie Slater’s Rollercoaster Weekend in Austria
Having qualified down in fifth place for Sunday’s Feature Race, the reverse format for Saturday’s Sprint meant that Championship contender Freddie Slater would be starting the first race of the weekend from P8 on the grid. This ultimately didn’t matter though as on the exit of the first turn on the opening lap of the race, Slater made contact with teammate Noah Strømsted that sent him spinning around and out of the race.
While it was not the result he would have wanted, the silver lining came from the fact that of the other principal protagonists for the Championship, only Ugo Ugochukwu and Bruno del Pino scored a handful of points in ninth and tenth respectively.
On Sunday, things went better for Slater as he ended up crossing the line at the end of the race in third. However, Ugochukwu and Strømsted were there again to spoil his party with both drivers ahead of him on the podium. His teammate snuck past both Slater and Ugochukwu as the Championship rivals proceeded to fight each other tooth and nail for what would ultimately be second and third. Sixteen points separate Slater and Ugochukwu as Formula 3 heads from Austria to Great Britain.
Japan’s Rise to the Top
Hiyu Yamakoshi became the first Japanese driver in history on Friday to claim a pole position in Formula 3. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver proceeded to finish in P8 in the Sprint Race and converted his pole position on Sunday into another P8 finish after being swamped by a horde of drivers in the dying stages of the race. Still, between this weekend in Austria and last time out in Spain, Yamakoshi is making incredible progress in Formula 3 this season.
Jin Nakamura kept the good times rolling for Japan as he finished in third place in Saturday’s Sprint Race. Behind him, Kanato Le had initially finished in P7 in the same race, only to be disqualified for having an underweight car. Nakamura followed this up with a fifth place finish on Sunday with Le in tenth. Taito Kato, the fourth and final Japanese driver on the grid this year, finished in P7 on Saturday and in P6 on Sunday.
Sprint Race Storylines from Austria
Ernesto Rivera took home the win for Campos Racing in Saturday’s Sprint Race. The Mexican put on a sterling performance to stay just ahead of Pedro Clerot in second place.
James Wharton started from Reverse Pole for the race but narrowly missed out on the podium as he tumbled down from the podium positions towards the end of the race to ultimately finish in fourth. Strømsted completed the top five. Taponen, Kato, Yamakoshi and Ugochukwu rounded out the top nine. Bruno del Pino then snuck into the top ten thanks to Le’s DSQ which meant that the Spanish driver could keep his 100% scoring record for the season so far alive for a seventh race in a row.
Feature Race Drama
Bruno del Pino’s streak came to an end on Sunday though as he finished in a lowly seventeenth place. Two other Championship contenders of Nael and Badoer also has Feature Races to forget in Austria as they finished in fifteenth and twenty-first respectively in uncharacteristic weekends for both.
Pedro Clerot however had a fantastic Feature Race as he followed up his Sprint Race podium with a P4 finish. Taponen in seventh had his best weekend of the year as he made it his first double points finish of the year. Nicola Lacorta also had his best result of the year so far by claiming ninth place and his first points of 2026.
Further down the order, Bhirombhakdi, McLaughlin, de Palo, Ho, Barrichello, Shin and David continued their pointless streaks for the season by either DNFing or finishing outside the points in both races across the weekend.
The Emergence of Noah Strømsted
The Danish Driver racing for Trident in his second full season in both the team and the series hasn’t had a bad year so far. A P4 finish in the Sprint Race in Australia was followed up by back-to-back points finishes in Monaco. In Spain he missed out with two P11 results. But in Austria, as mentioned, he’s come back swinging. He’s shot up from thirteenth place overall to sixth and is level on points with Brando Badoer.
Having been on the podium three times last year, including a win in the Sprint Race in Spa, his Feature Race victory here speaks to a marked improvement for the Dane. If he can keep this consistency up, he could have an outside shot at the Championship. After all, he took full advantage of the Championship heavyweights in Austria and beat both of them while they were busy being distracted with one another. Maybe that’s how he achieves the ultimate victory this year in Formula 3.
Final Thoughts from Austria
From the opening lap drama in the Sprint Race to the final free for all in the Feature Race that saw every driver on track leave nothing on the table as they battled each other, Austria delivered for Formula 3 once again this year. There is a little more of a spread at the top of the table now between the Championship contenders. But with Slater’s home race at Silverstone up next and the British driver not having won a race yet this season, could there be yet another twist in this season’s story for Formula 3? Fourteen drivers (almost half of the grid) have already stepped onto the podium at least once this season and with eight different drivers from eight different races, there’s a lot of potential for the remainder of the season. We can’t wait.
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Formula 3 returns July 3rd at Silverstone.