Ugo Ugochukwu leads the way in F3 with a dominant win in Melbourne

In a chaotic season-opening Melbourne round of the 2026 FIA F3 season, Ugo Ugochukwu made his mark by winning the feature race and taking the points lead in his first weekend with Campos Racing.

The weekend started off on a highly positive note for Ugo, as he posted the second-best time in Friday’s qualifying session, earning him a front row start for Sunday’s feature race.

Whereas for the following day’s Sprint race, which featured a partially-reversed grid, Ugo started 11th but quickly made his way up to ninth before the race was stopped due to a crash just ahead of him. As the race wasn’t resumed as extensive repairs were required, Ugo jumped to eighth in the final classification after another driver was given a post-race penalty.

On Sunday, Ugo fought valiantly to keep second in the opening laps, before taking over the lead on lap four and never looking back. The American rising star then cruised to his first win of the season, as the race ended behind the safety car, to exit Melbourne as the points leader heading into Bahrain.

A promising weekend for Ugo, who aims to continue his strong form into the next round of the FIA Formula 3 season in Bahrain, on 11-12 April.