Round 2 Of The F3 Championship Arrives: Monaco Preview

After a 3-month long break, the Formula 3 championship is ready for its second round of the 2026 season. Here is everything you need to know.

(Image credit to La Gazette de Monaco)

The Track

The 3.337 km long track featuring 19 turns and notable sections like the iconic Grand Hotel Hairpin and the Casino Square, makes the Circuit de Monaco one of the highly anticipated rounds on the F3 calendar.

Special Rules For This Weekend:

Because of the 30-car grid, the usual 30-minute qualifying session will be split into two groups, each group getting 14 minutes to set their times 

For the feature race on Sunday, the driver with the absolute fastest time across both groups claims pole position. The fastest from the other group then starts from second. The starting positions then alternate back and forth from the two groups in order of pace.

Whereas for the sprint race on Saturday, the top 12 finishers from the combined qualifying results are reversed to set the grid. 

However, because qualifying is split into two groups, a crossover system is used that allows a driver from the slower qualifying group to start on pole. Here the driver who finished sixth in the slower group will be starting on pole for the sprint, while the driver who finished sixth in the faster group lines up in second.

Drivers To Look For:

After a dominating first round in Melbourne, the American driver, Ugo Ugochukwu, will be looking to extend his championship lead. The McLaren junior’s growing experience will be a huge asset on the unforgiving streets of Monaco. 

Bruno del Pino is another driver to look for this weekend. He excels at adapting to tight and technical street circuits, like Monaco and is hoping to compete for the championship lead. 

Théophile Naël is currently 12th in the standings with 2 points after the first round and is often known as a ‘Dark Horse’ and his experience on highly technical tracks puts him in a good spot ahead of this weekend.

Schedule (All timings in CEST):

Thursday:

Free Practice - 13:25 - 14:10

Friday:

Qualifying Group A - 10:05 - 10:19

Qualifying Group B - 11:29 - 11:43

Saturday:

Sprint Race - 10:45 - 11:25

Sunday:

Feature Race - 07:55 - 08:40

Article written by Laura Friis