Theophile Nael secured his second victory of the season as he crossed the finish line first at the Formula 3 Hungarian GP Sprint Race.
The Sprint Race had a frantic first lap with several changes of the lead and an early Safety Car. While Nael lined up sixth on the grid, he showed determination to fight his way through the field.
The first lap saw the Campos driver take advantage of the opportunity given to him when the cars in front were scuffling. The Frenchman flew between the cars ahead to grab second place. From then on, he was tuned in and taking every little opportunity to push ahead.
When he made a move on Kanato Le to grab the lead, he managed to hold onto first place from Lap 9 on and across the finish line.
Speaking to the media, including Motorsport Week, about his victory in the press conference, Nael said: “It feels really good. Obviously, starting from P6, this victory is pretty good.
“The pace was really good, struggling a bit with the front tyres, some graining, but I think that was for the whole field. Tricky to manage the tyres, but at the end, I think I did it well, and I managed to push quite hard the two last laps as well and to create a gap, so well managed.”
A surprise lead and learnings
The Frenchman has shown consistent pace and performance with the Campos Racing team this season. The driver is in his second season in F3, but his first season with Campos. The team have looked immensely strong in 2026, having all three drivers in the top five of the Drivers’ Standings.
Asked about the job that Campos has done this season, and in particular with the car this Sprint, Nael reflected: “I mean, we set up the car to be in the dirty air today. So the plan wasn’t to be leading, to be honest, but from P2 the pace was really good.
“I managed to stay close to Kanato, and then I built my overtake for T1, so extremely happy. Struggling a bit more when I was leading at the beginning with the car, but at the end, the balance was good.”
When asked about learnings from today to take with him to the Feature Race, Nael said:
“I learned a lot. Obviously, the start was really good, so I need to have a look why and try to replicate it for tomorrow. That will be the main goal, and then tyre saving once again. We had no Safety Car today [while leading], so looking at the pace today, looking forward to tomorrow.”
Sunday’s Feature Race will see Nael line up seventh on the grid. With only one position difference from the Sprint line-up, the Frenchman has a great chance of repeating his strong performance.
The Campos environment
Asked about the difficulty of following another car for several laps around the circuit and the importance of getting to the front early on, Nael explained: “For me, once you are behind, the graining is coming super easily on the front, so it’s really important to take it easy with that.
“Then if we have the opportunity to overtake, we have to take it. If not, it’s better to wait a bit and to prepare for the end of the race. For me today, I had the opportunity, so I went for it, but if I hadn’t, I would just stay behind, stay calm, and preserve the front tyres.”
Furthermore, Nael was asked about the environment within Campos. With Ugo Ugochukwu having led the Drivers’ Championship, Nael finding himself third, and Ernesto Rivera fourth, all three drivers have been showing up this season.
The Spanish outfit also leads the Teams Standings, having gathered 243 points before the Hungarian GP weekend. The Campos team have looked immensely solid thus far and can only hope their strong momentum continues.
“The environment is super good. We are all three in the team pushing hard to be in the top three in the Championship.” Nael said.
“The atmosphere is super nice. We are extremely fast, all of us in the team, so it pushes us to the top. I hope we can still be fighting together with the Campos guys, but staying clean and calm. And for many points, I suppose, for the team as well.”
Tyre management and driver improvements
As tyre management played a significant role in the Sprint Race today, Nael was asked about tyre wear in the Feature Race and whether he will try to be less aggressive.
“I think we still have some potential to find in the setup for tomorrow,” he said. “So, that’s a good sign. I mean, starting from P6, P7, and P8, the Campos car, so the main point will be to have a clean start for all of us.
“Don’t disrupt, don’t have contact, stay on track, and push each other to the top for the end of the race and maximise point.”
As the Feature Race consists of 24 laps as opposed to the 19 conducted in the Sprint, the tyre graining will be another battle to tackle. Still, Nael believes tyre management is one area he has improved on since the beginning of the season.
“I think the race pace has been improving quite a lot from the beginning of the season. I was struggling a bit in Round one in Melbourne, and then we started from there.
“We worked from there, and now it’s getting better and better. More consistency in the races, managing to have less degradation on the tyres, so I think that’s a really good step.”
READ MORE: Theophile Nael rockets to F3 victory in Hungarian GP Sprint Race
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