PREMA Racing rookie Ugo Ugochukwu currently sits 16th in the 2025 F3 Drivers Championship, after claiming two sprint race podiums and six top ten qualifying finishes across the 9 races so far in 2025.
The 18-year-old American-born driver started in single-seaters in 2022, debuting in British F4 and finishing third overall. He entered the Italian F4 series the following year, finishing second, and then went on to secure the Euro F4 title, finishing third in the UAE F4 Championship. Ugochukwu then signed with PREMA Racing as part of the McLaren Driver Development Programme for the 2025 Formula 3 season.
Season Overview
Looking through Ugochukwu’s F3 season so far, the young American driver has finished on the podium twice, coming second both times in the sprint races at Spielberg and Budapest. He showed strong pace and was on for a possible podium during the most recent feature race in Budapest before coming together with Gerrard Xie.
After his 2nd place in the sprint race at Budapest, Ugochukwu said,
“It was definitely a little bit frustrating there, to be honest, it was pretty difficult to pass in the dirty air. Tas was doing a good job through the middle sector, it was tricky to get close but obviously the Safety Car made things more difficult, only one lap at the end with no DRS is almost impossible to overtake around here, but nevertheless it’s still a really good race”
The young American driver, clearly expressing his confidence this early into his F3 career, shows the potential he has to continue moving through the open-wheel ranks.
Consitency is key
Ugochukwu has shown a strong pace across the season, with notable qualifying performances at Silverstone, finishing second, 0.023 seconds behind pole and consistent top 10 finishes in Melbourne, Imola, Spielberg, Silverstone, Spa and Budapest. Finishing in the top 10 six times out of the nine rounds so far in the 2025 F3 season, Ugochukwu has certainly shown a consistent pace even in difficult conditions throughout race weekends.
When speaking at Spa earlier in the season, Ugochukwu said, “Red Bull Ring pace was really good and at Silverstone as well to be honest, but unfortunately for the Feature Race, we made the wrong decision on the tyre strategy, and starting P2, I felt I could have scored a lot of points.”
“But we have to look at the positives, and the pace was good. Qualifying pace was good too, and also in the Sprint Race, I was able to have a good race pace and make a couple of positions. So we’ll see how it is in Spa.”
The American rookie has also proved he can make up places even when qualifying in low positions. During the Austrian GP weekend, the PREMA driver qualified in P8 before making his way through the field to finish in P4, for his highest finish in a feature race to date.
Stacking up against his teammates
Ugochukwu’s two PREMA teammates during the 2025 F3 season have been Noel Leon and Brando Badoer. Leon previously raced during the 2024 F3 season with Van Amersfoot Racing, finishing 10th in the overall standings. Badoer is also a rookie in F3 for this season, currently sitting 23rd in the championship with a total of 13 points, 28 points behind Ugochukwu, who sits in 16th with 41 points, with one race remaining in the 2025 season.
PREMA Racing are the reigning Formula 3 champions after Leonardo Fornaroli took the Driver Championship, with the team also comfortably taking the Constructors Championship. This season, Ugochukwu and his less experienced teammates are not experiencing the same dominance, currently ranked 8th out of 10 teams in F3.
The young American driver will certainly not be disappointed with his season so far, though, finishing ahead of both teammates in his rookie season in F3. The PREMA driver has also proved himself across the season, showing consistent pace and scoring over half the team’s points with 1 race to go in the 2025 season.
Things to improve heading into final race weekend
Although there have been many positives about the young rookie’s season, there are also things to improve coming into the final race weekend, as well as looking ahead to the 2026 season.
Although being quick during qualifying sessions, Ugochukwu has tended to drop places throughout the feature races on Sunday. Examples of this have been at races such as Imola, where he crossed the line in P14 despite qualifying in P7.
The American has also been off the pace consistently across the 9 races this season so far, being edged out by the top drivers like Camara, Tsolov and Boya. Coming into the final race of the season, Ugochukwu will be hoping to get as much experience before the end of the F3 season and further gain confidence before starting the 2026 season next year.
Ugochukwu will be hoping to continue his strong pace into next season if the young American stays in Formula 3. The McLaren-backed driver will have his sights firmly set on an F2 seat in the future and possibly follow in Rafael Câmara’s footsteps, the reigning 2023 champion.
