‘We push each other’ – Ugochukwu reflects on 2026 title fight with Freddie Slater

Ugo Ugochukwu has talked about his title fight with Freddie Slater and expects the championship to be decided at the final race weekend in Madrid.

The Campos Racing driver has had a strong second campaign in Formula 3, winning the opening Feature Race of the year in Melbourne and the Silverstone Sprint Race.

Ugochukwu had also been top of the Drivers’ Championship after every race weekend until the most recent round in Budapest.

The American went into Sunday’s Feature Race tied on points with Slater, but finished second behind his rival, and is now eight points behind in the Standings going into the break.

Reflecting on the season so far, Ugochukwu said: “I’m feeling good still. It's been a pretty consistent, straightforward year. I had scored points at every round pretty much up until Spa.

“Spa was the one weekend which didn't really go our way. A messy qualifying as we expected and a few grid penalties didn't help as everyone was fighting for slipstream. So it was just trying to bounce back after that one.”

Ugochukwu’s strong start to the season was built on the back of strong qualifying results, where he qualified in the top four at every round.

But at the last three race weekends, the Campos driver’s form has dipped a little, finishing 12th at Silverstone and ninth at Spa – before taking a three-place grid penalty.

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In Budapest, Ugochukwu qualified in P6 but only after he found himself outside of the top 12 going into his final lap.

Reflecting on the recent struggles, the 19-year-old said: “I think we can definitely learn and take a lot of stuff from the last few weekends.

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

“Yes, Spa was very messy. We knew Budapest would be much more straightforward. So we'll try to maximise Fridays and then see how the weekend goes.”

Ugochukwu and Slater have been fighting for titles all year, having gone toe-to-toe in New Zealand at the start of 2026 – the Campos driver winning the championship on that occasion.

While the American has lost the lead for the first time this season, he admits he has enjoyed going up against the TRIDENT driver this year.

“I think it's good to be honest,” he said on the title fight. “It's actually been a really enjoyable year.

“I think every weekend we push each other to be better, to be faster. I'm sure it's going to be a really good fight to the end. Every weekend, we're trying to score as many points as possible.

“I think we've got to focus on ourselves a bit, do our job and do our good performance. We'll see where all the points add up at the end of the season.

“I'm sure it will come down to the wire anyway. The doubleheader in Madrid will make the difference, so it’s just about being in the fight going into it.

“I just need to try to perform as well as possible, to be back in the front consistently like we had been, fighting for podiums, and fighting for wins.”

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