Meet Ugo Ugochukwu, the 19-year-old son of Nigerian supermodel Oluchi Onweagba who just made F3 history

• Ugo Ugochukwu, the 19-year-old son of Nigerian supermodel Oluchi Onweagba, has made history in motorsport.

• The American driver won the 2026 FIA Formula 3 championship after a dramatic title battle in Madrid, Spain.

• Here’s what to know about the young racer, his Nigerian roots and his journey from karting to becoming an F3 champion.

At 19, Ugo Ugochukwu made American motorsport history as the first driver from the United States to win the FIA Formula 3 championship.

The Nigerian-American racing driver has won the 2026 FIA Formula 3 Drivers’ Championship after a dramatic final race in Madrid, Spain.

Ugochukwu is the son of Nigerian supermodel Oluchi Onweagba, who became one of Africa's most recognisable models after winning the inaugural Face of Africa competition in 1998. While his mother made her name on international runways, Ugochukwu has been building his own career on the racetrack.

Ugochukwu was born in New York and is the son of Nigerian supermodel Oluchi Onweagba and Italian fashion designer Luca Orlandi. He races for Campos Racing and represents the United States.

Ugochukwu entered the final round of the 2026 FIA Formula 3 season at the new Madring circuit in Madrid, locked in a tight championship battle with British driver Freddie Slater.

Slater had arrived at the final weekend with a 15-point advantage, but Ugochukwu overturned that deficit and put himself in control before Sunday's deciding Feature Race.

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Starting second, Ugochukwu stayed out of trouble and finished the race in second place behind Finland's Tuukka Taponen. Slater finished eighth, leaving Ugochukwu with 159 points, compared with Slater's 145.

“I knew we just had to keep it clean to clinch the title, and that’s what we did,” Ugochukwu said after the race. “No mistakes, brought it home and super pleased.”

The championship is particularly impressive because this was only Ugochukwu's second season in Formula 3. His first, in 2025, was a much quieter campaign. Driving for PREMA Racing, he finished 16th in the championship after recording two podium finishes.

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He made a major step forward this season, however, collecting seven podium finishes, including two victories, on his way to the title.

Before reaching F3, Ugochukwu had already built an impressive junior record. He won the Euro 4 Championship in 2023 and the Macau Grand Prix in 2024, becoming the first American winner of the prestigious race in more than four decades.

He also spent several years in McLaren's driver development programme before moving on from the programme.

FIA Formula 3 sits on the ladder towards Formula 1, with drivers using the championship as one of the key steps towards reaching F2 and, eventually, the world's biggest motorsport series.