From P6 on the grid, Theophile Nael took victory at the F3 Sprint Race at the 2026 Hungarian GP for Campos Racing.
Kanato Le lined up on Pole position, with Maciej Gladysz joining him on the front row. Gerrard Xie started in third for DAMS Lucas Oil.
A Chaotic Start
From the second row, Xie got away perfectly and momentarily took the lead.
However, Le picked up the pieces from a brief mistake at the exit of Turn 1, overtaking the driver once again.
Going into Turn 2, there was contact between Xie, Gladysz and Jin Nakamura, with the latter two stranded in the gravel.
The Safety Car was deployed.
Green Flags
Le lead the field as the Safety Car collected the pack, followed by Theophile Nael and Ernesto Rivera respectively.
Xie was able to get going again yet fell into P28 with a puncture.
Championship-leader Ugo Ugochukwu was keen to try and make up places, edging closer to Nicola Lacorte in sixth.
By lap five, DRS was enabled, with Nael immediately closing in on Le.
Ugochukwu suffered front-wing damage, after going into the back of Lacorte when attempting an overtake at the exit of Turn 2. On lap seven, he successfully dived to the inside at Turn 1, securing sixth position.
By lap eight, the American was progressing once again, overtaking Brando Badoer for fifth at the same corner.
A Change of Lead
Lap nine saw a change of lead, with Nael diving to the inside of Le at Turn 1.
Elsewhere, Ugochukwu was thinking about his next move, edging closer to Mattia Colnaghi. However, the Campos Racing driver was under investigation for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
It was a disastrous Lap 12 for the American driver, whose pace had seemingly fallen off, with the addition of a five-second penalty diminishing his progress today.
Five Laps Remaining
With five laps remaining, Nael lead Le by 0.6s.
Badoer, Lacorte and Tuuka Taponen had formed a DRS train behind Ugochukwu. The Rodin driver was able to successfully overtake for fifth, with Lacorte also attempting to sneak through. However, contact with Ugochukwu saw them both lose a position to Taponen, who slotted into sixth.
With two laps remaining, Le began weaving to try and break the tow to Rivera in third. The fight for P2 was separated by just 0.2s.
Ugochukwu had fallen to tenth, tactically backing Freddie Slater up as much as possible to deny the British driver any further points.
Theophile Nael took victory at the F3 Sprint Race at the 2026 Hungarian GP for Campos Racing. Kanato Le held onto second for ART Grand Prix, with Ernesto Rivera making it a double Campos podium in third.
Formula 3 will return tomorrow for the Feature Race at 08:40 local time.
Featured Image Credit: Formula 3 on X