Reacting to My 2026 FIA Formula 3 Predictions
Over 6 months ago, I made my predictions ahead of the 2026 FIA Formula 3 Season! Now that the season has officially concluded, it’s time to take a look back at my predictions to see just how terribly I did! Funnily enough, I only got 1 prediction correct in last year’s article, and that was the Champion, so let’s see how I do this time around!
P30: Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi
I have absolutely no idea how, but I managed to get this right! Nandhavud failed to score a single point all season, with a highest finish of P12 in the Monaco Sprint Race! Whatever happens with the next 29 predictions, I’ve already tied last year’s score!
P29: Nicola Lacorte
From a good prediction to a poor one, Nicolas Lacorte did much better than I expected as he finished 19th overall! Incredibly, Nicola managed to win a Race this season, and that was the Monza Feature Race, so he got 25 points just for that! Insane; fair play to Lacorte!
P28: Gerrard Xie
Three points-scoring finishes across 2026 allowed Gerrard Xie to finish 22nd overall, as he appeared on the Podium twice, including handing DAMS Lucas Oil their first-ever Formula 3 victory in the Monaco Sprint Race! Sadly for Xie, he missed the final triple header in Madrid due to injury!
P27: Fernando Barrichello
I came pretty close to getting this one spot on, as Fernando Barrichello finished 28th overall with only 2 points to his name (thanks to a P9 in the Hungarian Sprint Race)! I was correct that Barrichello would finish last out of the 3 starting AIX’s drivers, and boy did he do that!
P26: Brando Badoer
My goodness me, this is a shocking prediction! Brando Badoer finished 8th in Formula 3 this year, meaning I was 18 places off! Yikes! Anyway, Brando had a great season at Rodin, achieving 3 Podiums, which included a Feature Race Win in Monaco! Nice!
P25: Jose Garfias
I didn’t have high expectations for Jose Garfias after being a late pre-season addition to the 2026 Formula 3 Grid, but even I went slightly too high as Garfias finished 29th overall, scoring just 1 point all season (in the Monaco Sprint Race)! I can’t see Jose getting another season at Prema, if at all any team in F3!
P24: Yevan David
I thought Yevan David would do alright for AIX this season, but he actually did better than alright, finishing 18th overall in a season that included a P2 finish in the Silverstone Sprint Race! David was also AIX’s best-performing driver in 2026, so props should go to the Sri Lankan!
P23: Kanato Le
Kanato Le ended up finishing 20th overall, but I’m pretty happy with this prediction as I was correct when it came to both Kanato being both ART and Japan’s worst driver in the series! Le’s highlight of the season came when he finished 2nd in the Hungarian Sprint Race!
P22: Hiyu Yamakoshi
I got Hiyu Yamakoshi completely wrong in these predictions, as the young Japanese driver finished 9th overall, achieving 3 Podium finishes across 2026! On top of that, Yamakoshi wasn’t Van Amersfoort Racing’s worst driver; he was their best! Bad prediction!
P21: Bruno Del Pino
Bruno Del Pino was another Van Amersfoort Racing driver that overperformed my expectations, finishing 11th in the Championship after winning the season opener in Australia! These last two predictions have shown me that VAR were a lot better than I thought they’d be!
P20: Maciej Gladysz
Once again, I was nowhere near with this prediction as Maciej Gladysz finished 12th for ART! Gladysz also achieved a Feature Race Win at Silverstone at the age of 18, so he did pretty well!
P19: Brad Benavides
Unfortunately for Brad Benavides, a crash in the Monaco Sprint Race took him out of racing for the rest of the season, meaning the American only made the F3 Starting Grid three times in 2026! It’s actually kind of impressive that Benavides still managed to finish 25th overall, following a P7 finish in Melbourne!
P18: Jin Nakamura
Everything about this prediction is wrong! Firstly, Jin Nakamura finished 14th in the Drivers’ Standings in a season that included a Sprint Race Win in Belgium! Secondly, I had Nakamura to finish last of the three Hitech drivers, and he ended up smashing both of his teammates! Good job from Jin!
P17: Pedro Clerot
My predictions aren’t getting any better! Pedro Clerot had a brilliant Rookie F3 campaign, finishing 6th in the Championship with 5 Podiums to his name! That included a victory in Madrid, whilst 40 points from the final two Feature Races in Madrid helped Clerot achieve Rodin’s highest-ever finish in a Formula 3 Championship (in the Drivers’ Standings)!
P16: Michael Shin
I went completely the wrong way here, as Michael Shin ended up 33rd overall, failing to score a single point! In fact, Michael was the worst driver out of the original 30, with Shin’s highest result being just P18 in the Monaco Sprint Race! Yikes!
P15: Ernesto Rivera
In fairness to me, this was a very hard prediction to get right! Before the season started, Ernesto Rivera suffered an injury that meant he was unable to compete in the opening round of the season, and because of this, it would’ve been very easy to have predicted Ernesto to finish pretty low down in the standings! Ultimately, despite giving him the benefit of the doubt, I was still wrong as Rivera ended up finishing 7th in the Championship with 2 wins to his name (including the Belgian Feature Race)! It’s even crazier to think that Rivera was just 1 point off finishing 5th – a good achievement!
P14: James Wharton
Once again, James Wharton failed to match expectations, finishing down in 17th place! However, having said that, James was the best of the three Prema drivers, in a year that included a Sprint Race win in Barcelona! Amazingly, Wharton’s actually gotten a promotion to F2 with Trident, so I guess this year was semi-successful!
P13: Louis Sharp
Louis Sharp hype has almost completely evaporated since arriving in FIA Formula 3, with the young New Zealander finishing just 21st overall! In fact, Sharp failed to appear on the Podium once all season, whilst he actually left Prema with 2 rounds still to go! What a disaster for everyone involved!
P12: Christian Ho
This is a shocking prediction! I thoroughly expected Christian Ho to be Rodin’s top driver in 2026, and instead, whilst his two teammates both broke into the Top 8, Ho would only finish 26th in the standings! Christian only scored 2 points all season, whilst he missed the final round in Madrid due to “Mandatory National Service” in his homeland of Singapore! A terrible year!
P11: Taito Kato
So I was correct in my prediction that Taito Kato would be ART Grand Prix’s number 1 driver in 2026! However, I was wrong about his finishing position, as Kato ended up 4th in the 2026 F3 Drivers’ Championship! Taito achieved 4 Podiums across the season, including a double Podium weekend in Monza that saw him take victory in the Sprint Race, and yeah, what a brilliant season for the young Japanese driver!
P10: Fionn McLaughlin
This is an awful prediction, as Fionn McLaughlin ended up finishing 27th overall, 17 places lower than I predicted! In fact McLaughlin only managed to score 2 points all season, 51 points less than a teammate I expected him to beat, so I’m honestly very surprised that Fionn has managed to remain in the Red Bull Junior Programme (at least for now, anyway)!
P9: Enzo Deligny
The only positive that Enzo Deligny can take out of 2026 is the fact that he finished ahead of all three Prema drivers, with his decision to move to Van Amersfoort Racing clearly being a smart one! However, Deligny only finished 16th in the Championship; the worst of the three VAR drivers! A Podium in the opening Sprint Race of the season is great, but Enzo didn’t get another one all year, so that’s disappointing!
P8: Alessandro Guisti
My hype with Alessandro Guisti has proven to be incorrect, as the Williams-backed driver could only finish 15th overall, failing to score a single Podium, let alone a first win that I was anticipating! However, the one saving grace with my prediction is that I was correct in that Guisti would finish last out of the three MP Motorsport drivers!
P7: Matteo De Palo
Oh my! Matteo De Palo had a terrible year in Formula 3, finishing all the way down in 24th after scoring points in just 1 Race all season (P4 in the Silverstone Sprint Race)! That’s absolutely horrific, and I’m stunned that De Palo is still a McLaren Junior Driver!
P6: Mattia Colnaghi
Mattia Colnaghi was another driver who performed to a lower level than I expected him to, with the young Italian-Argentine finishing down in 13th! Colnaghi was unable to appear on the Podium all season, but honestly, the thing that let Mattia down is his consistency, as 6 of his 7 points-scoring finishes across the season saw him finish inside the Top 6 (including 4 consecutive P4’s)! At least Colnaghi wasn’t last of the three MP drivers!
P5: Noah Stromsted
2026 didn’t go to plan for Noah Stromsted, as the Danish driver ultimately finished 10th in the Drivers’ Standings, 5 places lower than I thought he would! Stromsted was able to achieve a victory in the Austrian Feature Race, which is good going, but otherwise, he undelivered massively in comparison to his Rookie campaign!
P4: Tuukka Taponen
I was within 5 points of getting this prediction correct, as Tuukka Taponen managed to finish on third in the 2026 FIA Formula 3 Championship! After a tricky start to the year, Tuukka found his best form at the end of the year, finishing on the Podium in each of the last 3 Feature Races, including a victory in the Madrid Season Finale! The end to his 2026 season might just open the door for Taponen to appear in Formula 2 in 2027!
P3: Theophile Nael
I slightly overestimated Theophile Nael in 2026, although he still did a pretty decent job to finish 5th overall! Theophile picked up 3 wins across this season, including a Feature Race Win in Barcelona, whilst I was at least correct in my assessment that Nael wouldn’t be the top Campos Racing driver! However, he was further behind than I anticipated!
P2: Ugo Ugochukwu
I got the top 2 the wrong around! After a difficult Rookie campaign, a move to Campos Racing was exactly what Ugo Ugochukwu needed, as the young American achieved 2 Wins and another 4 Podiums to become the 2026 FIA Formula 3 Champion! I’m glad I had Ugo this high up, but clearly, it still wasn’t enough!
P1: Freddie Slater
Everything about this prediction was going to be correct, up until the final weekend in Madrid! For most of the season, Freddie Slater felt like the driver to beat, with 8 Podiums to his name, including a Feature Race Win in Budapest! However, Slater managed to score just 4 points in the remaining 3 Feature Races after Hungary, which was ultimately enough for him to miss out on the F3 Title entirely! Freddie will absolutely appear in Formula 2 next season; this won’t hurt his progress as an Audi Development Driver one bit, but still, this one got away from Slater!
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