Thai
Nandhavud "Jem" Bhirombhakdi (born 7 June 2006) is a Thai racing driver who steps up to the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2026 with DAMS Lucas Oil, part of a notable wave of Thai talent reaching the upper rungs of single-seater racing.
The climb
Bhirombhakdi built his foundation in karting, collecting Thai national titles before crossing to Europe and the Middle East for the jump into cars. His Formula 4 apprenticeship spanned a busy 2022–2023 across the UAE, ADAC, Italian, Euro 4 and Central European Zone (CEZ) championships, with an early single-seater podium coming in the 2023 F4 CEZ at the Red Bull Ring. He then moved to the Formula Regional European Championship (FRECA), failing to score as a rookie with KIC Motorsport in 2024 before a more settled 2025 with Trident yielded six points finishes and 16th in the standings — the experience that earned him the F3 promotion.
Formula 3
For 2026 Bhirombhakdi joined DAMS Lucas Oil as the team's first announced F3 driver of the season, carrying car #30. He completed the post-season FIA F3 tests at Jerez, Barcelona and Imola with the squad before his rookie campaign. The early rounds have been a steep introduction: he sits without points after the Barcelona round, his best finish a 12th place in the Monaco Sprint as he learns one of motorsport's most demanding junior fields.
2026 / current season
The wider storyline of his year is one of representation. Bhirombhakdi has spoken of his pride in carrying the Thai flag in 2026 alongside Alexander Albon in Formula 1 and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak in Formula 2 — a simultaneous Thai presence across the top three rungs of the single-seater pyramid. His family's business runs Ferrari's Thai distribution, a commercial link rather than an academy affiliation, and he comes to F3 without a manufacturer junior programme behind him. With a DAMS seat secured and a full rookie campaign ahead, the measure of 2026 is steady progress — converting laps and learning into the first points of an F3 career, while flying the flag for a nation enjoying its strongest motorsport moment in a generation.