Australia

Melbourne opened the 2026 F3 season with chaos. Naël put his Campos on pole ahead of teammate Ugochukwu and Slater. The reverse-grid Sprint belonged to Del Pino, who converted pole into the lead at Turn 1 and pulled clear for a maiden F3 win and a Van Amersfoort one-two, with teammate Deligny second and Badoer climbing to third. The race was red-flagged and not resumed after Prema teammates Wharton and Sharp collided into the barriers, leaving Strømsted and Kato to round out the points-scoring top five. The Feature swung Campos's way. Naël led away from pole but Ugochukwu, after a slow getaway, carved back through Slater and then the leader to seize the front and build a commanding gap. A late Safety Car for a stranded car couldn't be cleared, so the race finished behind it. Naël had crossed the line third on track but a five-second penalty for a false start dropped him out of the points to twelfth. That handed Ugochukwu a dominant maiden victory, with Slater recovering to second and Kato completing the podium ahead of Del Pino and Gładysz. Ugochukwu left Australia leading the standings.