Formula 3 kicked off its season with Theophile Nael ‘giving everything’ to take pole position in the first race of the 2026 season in Melbourne.
The Campos Racing Driver narrowly claimed the title, beating his team-mate by under a tenth of a second. However, whilst the session was only interrupted once, Nael described his tense feeling in the car.
“It has been a tough quali for me, really stressful. Didn’t manage to complete the lap at the beginning of the quali. It was a bit out of sequence in the second run as well.
“So I had to give everything in the last run. I did out, push, so a bit out of sequence for F3, but it worked well.”
At the beginning of the session, the Frenchman was unable to get a lap on the board after suffering a track limits violation on his first run, which left him with everything to play for.
“For me, it was a bit frustrating on the pit lane, waiting for the second set of tyres to close the lap because I wanted to be safe. But unfortunately, the second run didn’t go as planned.
“So I had to refocus for the last one. Yeah, it worked well, but it was really stressful until the last lap.” He told Motorsport Week and other media.
Knowing everything was riding on his final run, the Campos driver had to ‘restart’ and focus on one corner at a time.
“The pressure was there, uh, was pushing me the whole quali after that mistake. So I had to just reset my mind, take it easy again, restart from zero, let’s say, and just complete the lap.
“We know that F3 is more like a 98% lap than a 100% lap. I also had quite a bit of sleep stream in the last lap. That’s helped me quite a lot.”
Playing it safe for the Sprint Race
With a Sprint Race up first, Nael will start 12th due to the reverse grid. This requires a change of tactics for the French driver with no pit stop and a more chaotic grid.
Nael said he plans to take it easy and try his best to stay out of trouble.
“I would say my mindset for tomorrow is to see how the tyres develop, to have a clear idea for the Sunday race, Feature race.
“I’m going to try to move up into the standings. But yeah, take it easy, take it safe. The sprint race is always a bit chaotic. So starting from 12, it’s going to be a fun race.”
Ahead of the weekend, the Frenchman admitted he felt confident for the weekend ahead, yet he said he wasn’t expecting to be on pole.
“I think for sure we, we all have to be confident coming into this weekend. It’s the first race of the season. So we have to be confident, but we also have to stay calm.
“As I said, take it easy. I wasn’t expecting to be on pole today, to be honest, uh, during the quali. Now we’ll just take it easy, and I think it’s important to start the season like that.”
READ MORE – Theophile Nael takes first F3 pole of 2026 in Australia
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