Japanese
The climb
Kanato Le is a Japanese single-seater driver, born in Tokyo on 4 July 2007, who reached the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2026 as a rookie with ART Grand Prix. He built his foundation in karting, finishing runner-up in the 2020 IAME Euro Series before taking the X30 Junior title in the 2021 IAME Euro Series and adding second place in that year's IAME Winter Cup.
Junior single-seaters
Le moved into cars in British F4 in 2023 with Hitech Pulse-Eight, scoring two wins — at Brands Hatch and Oulton Park — plus four fastest laps on his way to seventh in the standings with 195 points. He then climbed to the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA). His 2024 FRECA campaign was run with G4 Racing, where he finished 18th on 27 points with a best result of third at Le Castellet. For 2025 he switched to ART Grand Prix in FRECA, ending the year 14th on 30 points with a high point of fourth at Spa-Francorchamps — a season he credited with rebuilding the confidence that earned him the F3 graduation.
Formula 3
The continuity with ART carried into 2026, where Le races car #12 as part of an all-rookie line-up alongside Taito Kato and Maciej Gładysz. He first sampled the F3 machinery at the post-season tests in Jerez, Barcelona and Imola, and spent the winter racing in New Zealand to stay sharp.
2026 season
The rookie year has been a steep learning curve. Through the opening rounds at Melbourne, Monaco and Barcelona, Le's standout result was a ninth place in the Monaco Sprint Race — his first points-scoring finish — which lifted him to 20th in the championship on 2 points. His Melbourne weekend ended with a retirement in the Feature Race, and at Barcelona he came home 14th and 13th in Sprint and Feature. With the calendar heading next to the Red Bull Ring, Le's first F3 season remains a story of accumulation rather than results — a young talent learning the demands of the category alongside two fellow newcomers in a long-established French team. The season is ongoing.