French
Théophile Guy Yannick Naël (born 22 June 2007 in Saint-Étienne) is a French racing driver and, as the reigning Macau Grand Prix winner, one of the standout names of the 2026 FIA Formula 3 grid. A born qualifier with a gift for one-lap pace, he carries the number 1 in 2026 and has openly declared the F3 title his "main objective."
The climb
Naël came through karting — a 2018 French national title and a 2020 IAME Series crown among his results — before stepping into single-seaters with Saintéloc Racing. After learning seasons in Spanish and UAE F4, he dominated the 2023 F4 Spanish Championship with eight wins, five poles and 14 podiums. He kept the Saintéloc relationship through Formula Regional, taking race wins in both the Middle East and European series in 2024 (9th in FRECA).
Formula 3
Naël joined Van Amersfoort Racing for his rookie FIA F3 season in 2025 and made an immediate impression: a podium on his very first start in a wet Melbourne feature, followed by runner-up finishes at Barcelona and Silverstone, ending the year 8th and helping VAR to their best-ever F3 teams' result of fifth. He capped 2025 by winning the prestigious Macau Grand Prix outright — pole, qualifying race and main race — the standout result that earned him the coveted #1.
2026 / current season
For 2026 Naël switched to reigning teams' champions Campos Racing, and the move has unlocked front-running form. He opened the year with three consecutive poles — Melbourne, Monaco and Barcelona — converting the first into a feature-race win and very nearly winning at Monaco, before taking a commanding lights-to-flag maiden championship victory at Barcelona, leading every lap on home soil for the Spanish squad. After three rounds he sits second in the standings on 52 points, just six behind his Campos teammate Ugo Ugochukwu, making the 2026 title fight an all-Campos affair between the two. With searing qualifying speed and a Macau crown already on his CV, Naël has positioned himself as a genuine championship contender in his second F3 year.