Pedro Clerot Season Review: Patience, adaptation and victory

It took until the final round of the season, but Pedro Clerot made sure his obvious speed counted for a victory in FIA Formula 3 2026.

The Rodin Motorsport driver claimed the Madrid Feature Race 1 win, an emotional milestone and one he was fully deserving of after an impressive campaign as a rookie.

His five podium finishes helped him to sixth in the Championship, level on points with Théophile Nael in fifth and behind only on countback.

Reflecting on his efforts across the season, Clerot said that he was happy to have achieved the important results in a tricky year, capped off with his finest round in the Championship to date.

"I think up and down," he surmised. "For sure it was not maybe the year that we deserve and maybe wanted, with some things out of our control, some others went off, but overall I'm proud with the team.

"We achieved five podiums, including a win, which is quite remarkable. We got the first one in Monaco, then a very good round in Spielberg with almost a double podium, really good, really strong weekend and to top it off Spa, which is a special track.

"(Madrid) was a really special, really special weekend. It is really good to finally show what we had I'd say the whole year in terms of pace.

"It's unfortunate that Monza didn't go away, I think we were set to fight for at least another podium."

Clerot says that he and the Rodin team were able to build momentum in the middle of the season despite a tough run of results. Podiums in Monte Carlo, Spielberg and Spa gave way to a run of six races out of the points.

He believes rebounding in Madrid was proof of his learnings as a rookie, with the team showing a decent ability to bounce back from tougher results.

"I focus on what I can control and what I've done. We had a lot of moments in the season that were out of our control. Monza for example where two really strong results got thrown in the bin for situations that we cannot control, one a technical issue and the second a crash.

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"In the end I think it's about maximising the things I can control and what we can control as a team. I think we've been up there, we showed that we can for sure fight, we come back even when we sometimes start a bit further away from points. I'm proud of what the team has achieved."

Overall, Clerot points to the team's impressive pace as their main strength across the 2026 campaign. His ability to move forward in races after tougher Qualifying outcomes was evidence of this, adding that better results could have been on the cards had Fridays gone more smoothly.

"Race pace in general has been really strong. We've come back to the field multiple times starting outside the top 20 to score some points.

"I think the team have given me a lot of help to understand degradation and what we can do in the races to actually make a difference and I think it stands out.

"Red Bull Ring, two races that we showed that we were one of the quickest, if not the quickest on track, pace has never been an issue.

"I think it's difficult to say that the pace was not there on a single lap either because I think we had the pace to be inside the top 12 every qualifying, it's just sometimes being a bit unlucky with things out of our control, put us out of that top 12.

"For sure there's work to be done everywhere, things that maybe we could have done better as a driver and also maybe as a team but anyway, I'm proud of what we achieved."

Reflecting on his rookie season and after having been confirmed to return with Rodin in 2027, Clerot will be carrying vital experience with him into next year.

Picking out the most important aspects however, he looks at how the team were able to remain calm despite results not arriving as expected and the ability to refocus quickly as vital elements he'll take into '27.

"Patience and resetting. During the race weekend, everything happens so quick. The season happens so fast with the summer races that you just have to reset after every race and come back with a fresh mindset, focus on each weekend and not the big picture.

"That is what we learn in this championship – adapting. You do 2-3 laps in FP, 2-3 push in Quali and then that's it. That's your weekend set. Sometimes you can turn things around and sometimes push those results even better but sometimes not."