Ugo Ugochukwu ready for ‘good fight to the end’ as F3 reaches business end

Ugochukwu loses championship lead in Hungary

Ugo Ugochukwu’s second Formula 3 campaign has entered a new phase after the Campos driver surrendered his championship lead to Freddie Slater at the Hungarian GP. The pair arrived in Budapest separated in the standings, but the Sprint Race left them level on points heading into the Feature Race.

Despite the setback, the American remains encouraged by the wider picture. “I’m feeling good still. It’s been a pretty consistent, straightforward year,” he said. “I had scored points at every round pretty much up until Spa.”

Spa setback provides a clear lesson

The Campos driver pointed to qualifying and grid penalties as key factors in a difficult weekend, particularly as drivers fought for slipstream. He now believes the response must begin earlier in the event.

“You need to try to maximise Fridays because in F3, a good quali just makes the weekend a lot easier,” Ugochukwu explained.* “So we have to look into it, and we’ll try to have a strong Fridays to put ourselves in a good position.”*

Budapest offered a partial recovery, but second place was not enough to keep Slater behind. Ugochukwu’s assessment is therefore focused on execution rather than the points deficit: “We can definitely learn and take a lot of stuff from the last few weekends.”

Final rounds could decide everything

Only two rounds remain, but the Madrid event will carry more than 50 points with two Feature Races. That makes the championship far from settled and places a premium on qualifying, consistency and avoiding costly incidents. The Formula 2 title fight remains wide open, reflecting the same late-season tension seen across junior single-seater racing.

Ugochukwu says the rivalry has been productive, with both drivers pushing each other to improve. “I think every weekend we push each other to be better, to be faster,” he said.

His approach for the closing rounds is straightforward: focus on his own performance, return to the front consistently and fight for wins. “I’m sure it will come down to the wire anyway,” Ugochukwu added. “The doubleheader in Madrid will make the difference, so it’s just about being in the fight going into it.”