WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The key talking points heading into Monza

This weekend’s action will be the penultimate race weekend of the 2026 FIA Formula 3 campaign, and the Championship fight could hardly be closer.

Freddie Slater leads Ugo Ugochukwu by eight points going into Round 8, and the duo will be hoping for a big weekend to boost their hopes of glory.

Here are a few key items you’ll want to pay close attention to this weekend in Monza.

SPLIT QUALIFYING

This weekend will see Qualifying split into two groups in the same manner as Monte Carlo earlier this season.

Group A and Group B will be decided ahead of on-track running, with the drivers split into two groups of 15 cars based on odd and even numbers. The order in which the groups will run will be randomly drawn prior to Friday’s session.

With the layout of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, drivers will still be eager to gain a slipstream to the car ahead in order to maximise their flying laps down the numerous straight-line sections of the famous venue.

With 15 cars on track at one time, you can still expect things to get busy with the fight for ideal track position, but is grid position as crucial as you might think?

WHY POLE ISN’T EVERYTHING

Since the first FIA F3 race at Monza back in 2019, the driver to start from pole position has never converted their grid spot into Feature Race victory.

In fact, fourth place is the most successful grid position in terms of victories in the Feature event, with three different winners going from P4 to the top step of the podium.

2024 Champion Leonardo Fornaroli’s P2 finish at home in Monza in his title-clinching race is the best finish for a polesitter. Brad Benavides (P4, 2025) and Liam Lawson (P7, 2020) are the only other occasions in which the driver on pole has finished in the points at Monza in the Feature Race.

A front row start around Monza therefore isn’t a critical factor, and overtaking is very possible and we could see even more this year with a new addition to the circuit...

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NEW DRS ZONE

There will be a new DRS zone for drivers to contend with this weekend, with an additional zone added between Turns 10 and 11.

The run to the final corner and Parabolica will now be an area of the track drivers can use the Drag Reduction System and offers a great chance of overtaking into the final right-hand sweep.

Fornaroli proved that overtaking is possible into the final turn, ultimately winning his Championship crown with a final-lap overtake at the final corner of the season.

This change to the track offers drivers even more of an incentive to shape for a pass, and the prospect of wheel-to-wheel battles lasting even longer around Monza is a tantalising prospect.

Don’t forget, the next DRS zone down the main straight offers an immediate right of reply for drivers to attack into Turn 1.

TITLE CONTENDERS

The title cannot be won this weekend with the Madring finale hosting two Feature Races, but Slater and Ugochukwu will both be looking to stamp their authority on the title fight going into that final round.

Monza has hosted plenty of F3 title-deciding drama in the past. Victor Martins won the 2022 title in the pit lane after a thrilling race on a weekend that had seven different drivers vying for the crown entering the round.

The aforementioned final-lap pass by Fornaroli capped off an incredible 2024 campaign, but this season the Italian venue will not see an F3 Champion crowned.

With that said, both Campos and TRIDENT have enjoyed victories around Monza. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak won for the Spanish outfit last year, while Sami Meguetounif secured 2024 honours for TRIDENT on home soil.

Slater is riding a wave of momentum having overturned the points deficit back in Budapest to lead the Standings, but Ugochukwu struck back in Madring testing, winding up fastest of all across the two-day event ahead of Slater, both topping two sessions apiece.

Monza won’t be the scene of a coronation for either driver, but both will have it in the back of their mind a big result here could set the tone going into the decider in Madrid.