Mattia Colnaghi will stay with MP Motorsport for his move up into the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2026, while joining the Red Bull Junior Team for his further progression up the single-seater ladder. The talented Italo-Argentine driver currently leads the competitive Eurocup-3 championship for the Dutch team.

Colnaghi is one of the first drivers to be announced for the 2026 FIA F3 Championship, the early news of his promotion coming on the back of another convincing season in the junior single-seater categories. In only his second year in motor racing, the 17-year-old from Monza tops the Eurocup-3 standings, in the process having so far clinched four wins, six podiums, three pole positions and four fastest laps. With two rounds still remaining in the series, the Red Bull Junior Team is happy to welcome the youngster to its programme and hand him the opportunity to graduate to FIA F3 for 2026. Colnaghi will remain with MP Motorsport for his promotion.

“I’m super excited about the opportunity handed to me by MP Motorsport and the Red Bull Junior Team”, said Colnaghi. “Joining the Grand Prix weekends as a Formula 3 driver is a dream come true, and I’m looking to forward to building on the amazing working relationship that MP and I have developed in the past two seasons. I’m truly grateful to Helmut Marko and Red Bull for allowing me to demonstrate my racing skills in FIA F3, while staying with MP is the obvious choice. They have become my family in the past two years and have helped me grow as a driver. I believe that working with them in Formula 3 will be just as enjoyable and successful.”

Colnaghi has been a faithful campaigner with MP Motorsport, having made his single-seater debut with the Dutch team in the Formula Winter Series in 2024 after winning the Richard Mille Young Talent Shootout in 2023. Claiming his first pole for only his third race in the 2024 F4 Spanish Championship, Colnaghi went on to crown his debut season in motorsport by lifting the Spanish title with six wins, 12 podiums, five poles and five fastest laps. A further step up the ladder to Eurocup-3 soon followed, once again with MP.

“Moving up to FIA F3 with Mattia is a proud moment for us as a team”, said Sander Dorsman, MP Motorsport’s team principal. “We immediately recognised his talent when he joined us as a young teenager in the winter of 2023-’24, and it was a joy to see that talent truly accelerate in Spanish F4, resulting in title-winning glory in his first year out of karts. This year, he has been outstanding again, also proving his qualities as a sportsman when the going got tough. We will continue to work hard for our Eurocup-3 title contenders this year, including Mattia, before we head towards the 2026 season with the confidence that his immediate future is now firmly set in stone.”

Colnaghi first shone in karts in 2020, taking seventh in the Trofeo Italiano of the Easykart 60 category. Moving up to OK Junior level in 2022, the teenager claimed 12th in the 50th Trofeo delle Industrie while making his debut in the CIK-FIA World Championship. Colnaghi then had a breakout debut season in OK in 2023, first finishing 15th in the CIK-FIA European Championship before claiming a strong sixth in the CIK-FIA World Championship.