Ugo Ugochukwu, the new F3 champion, sets his sights on Formula 2
The 19-year-old son of Nigerian supermodel Oluchi Onweagba won the FIA Formula 3 title in Madrid and says F2 is the next step.
By SitesNG Sports Desk · · 2 min read
Ugo Ugochukwu is the 2026 FIA Formula 3 champion. Driving for Campos Racing, the 19-year-old sealed the title at the Madring circuit in Madrid on Sunday 13 September, finishing second in the season's final feature race to beat Freddie Slater by 159 points to 145.
He is the first American to win the championship, and Campos's first F3 drivers' champion; the Spanish team also took the teams' title.
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“I took the opportunity with both hands.”
Ugo Ugochukwu, speaking to Formula1.com
A comeback season
Ugochukwu won the season opener in Melbourne and added a second victory later in the year. At one stage he was well behind Slater in the standings; the turning point came at Monza, where he recovered from a spin to eighth while his rival retired. In Madrid, Slater's weekend unravelled with a technical problem in qualifying, while Ugochukwu qualified second, just 0.022 seconds off pole.
Next: Formula 2
"Formula 2 is the next logical step," he told Formula1.com on 21 September. No deal has been announced yet. A McLaren junior from 2021 until November 2025, he has been linked with interest from several Formula 1 teams.
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From a hard year to a title
The title is all the more remarkable because 2025 was a difficult debut season in Formula 3: Ugochukwu finished 16th for Prema without a win, and McLaren released him from its junior programme in November 2025. He rebuilt by winning the Formula Regional Oceania Trophy in New Zealand at the start of 2026, again beating Slater, this time by 16 points.
In the Madrid finale Finland's Tuukka Taponen won from pole and Brazil's Pedro Clerot was third, but second place was all Ugochukwu needed. "I'm super happy as well to be the first American to do it," he said.
His rise gives Nigeria a new name to follow in single-seaters. Read more on our Ugo Ugochukwu profile and our motorsports section.
Reporting by the SitesNG Sports Desk, based on reports from Formula1.com, FIA Formula 3, Autosport, RACER. Published 21 September 2026 in the African Sports News weekly edition of 30 September 2026.
