New paintjob helps McLaren junior turn around his F3 results

Ugo Ugochukwu, a member of the McLaren Driver Academy, made his debut in F3 this year with Prema Racing.

But the results across the opening rounds fell short of his expectations, with four points in the first five weekends and an average qualifying deficit of 0.827s. 

This was partly explained by his Prema team’s early-season struggles with the new-for-2025 F3 car. Brando Badoer (also a McLaren junior) didn’t register a point and Noel Leon’s tally of four points meant the team sat 10th out of 10 teams in the standings.

Ugochukwu, the tallest driver on the 2025 F3 grid, was also being hampered by being above the minimum combined weight limit for driver and car.

All single-seater racing drivers have a strict training regime to keep their weight down, but taller drivers can only do so much while still maintaining a healthy weight and muscle mass required to drive the cars.

This extra weight would have carried a performance penalty, but two things changed for him before the Austrian Grand Prix.

Ugochukwu arrived in Austria with a new look on his car - the distinctive black and orange carried by McLaren juniors had been replaced with a bare black livery with sponsor stickers.

“We have managed not to be over the weight limit, which is definitely a positive,” Ugochukwu said in Austria.

“It's not an advantage, as it just puts us on a level playing field with the others, so it's a good step.”

This also coincided with a mid-season change in the F2 technical regulations, with the minimum weight limit being raised from 722kg to 725kg, meaning Ugochukwu was on more of a level playing field with the other drivers.

Ugochukwu’s average gap to pole reduced from 0.827s to 0.204s across the next three rounds (Austria, Silverstone and Spa).

He enjoyed a fourth-place finish in the Austrian feature race and took a podium finish in Belgium, with P2 in the sprint race. 

Did the new paintjob contribute to his renewed pace, or has the team found some set-up gains?

“I think it was probably a bit of both,” Ugochukwu said when asked that by Raceteq.

“The team has been doing a good job as a whole, and we’ve been much more competitive.

“We’ve definitely found something just to put us more in the fight, especially in the races where we’re struggling more at the beginning of the year.

“It’s really good that we’ve got on top of that, just time to make back some of the points that we lost earlier in the championship.”

Prema has undoubtedly taken a step forward in its understanding of the new car with Leon finishing on the podium in the Silverstone feature race and Badoer scoring his first points at Spa.

But that, allied with the paint-stripping and weight limit change, have all combined to build some much-needed momentum for Ugochukwu, who has found more confidence in no longer carrying a deficit out of his control.