Keeping it calm in Qualifying and the art of defending: How I Race with Ugo Ugochukwu

12 June 2025

Each driver on the grid has their own way of going about things and Ugo Ugochukwu is no different. Recently we sat down with the PREMA Racing rookie to tell us all about his racing style.

The American gave us the lowdown on it all, from how he approaches his Qualifying laps, to how he prefers to attack and defend when going wheel-to-wheel with his rivals.

“I'll say my driving style is quite calm. I'm a pretty smooth driver overall, which is definitely important on a quali lap, especially in these F3 cars.

“For me adaptation is really important as well, it's another feature that you need, just for different conditions, and also if you're going between different types of cars, that adaptation is key.

“In racing, I am quite aggressive. I think it's important, because it puts you on the front foot in the races.

“I also think I am definitely someone who likes to attack the braking on entry, try and gain a lot of time, and the rest of the corner you try to manage things.

Ugochukwu opts for a calm approach when in the car for Qualifying

“I think that's also a good step you can do from Free Practice to Qualifying because we are after Formula 1. This means there's more grip, so every time you need to push the entry a bit more and more just to find more time.

“In essence, I think my driving style has been the pretty similar from F4, to Regional to now. But I think in F3, you have to trust the downforce a lot more, mainly in the high speed corners, because you are just carrying so much more speed through the corners.

“In terms of defending, the DRS effect can be really strong. So if you side by side before braking, the main thing has to be to try to out-brake your rival into the corner to be able to be ahead of him for the apex, that's part of the job done.

“For overtaking, in Imola for example, Turn 2 is an overtaking spot, so you to try and be later on the brakes, to be ahead at the apex, so that way you have the right to the corner.

“Obviously, you need to be careful forcing someone off the track because you don't really want to get a penalty, and the field here is very close, so a five-second penalty will push you down a lot of places, so you try to avoid that.

“Also, dirty air doesn't help the tyres as well. So, again for example in Imola, pushing hard through the middle sector, through all the high speed corners is definitely where you are going to damage the tyres the most.

The PREMA driver talked through his approach to defending from the cars behind him

“But it depends on what your approach is at that moment. If you are planning to overtake on the main straight, you kind of need to use a bit more of the tyre to get yourself closer at the last corner.

“If you are in a phase of tyre management, you can probably stay a little further back, to keep the DRS but without using your tyres too much.

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“Looking back, I think my driving style these days is made up of karting and single seaters. In karting, you learn the basics, just the normal stuff that you need in car racing, the racing lines, the braking points, and just how to approach a corner in general.

“But then in single seaters, everything is a bit more in detail, and I think the little things can make a bigger impact here.

“You have a bit more tools to manage, brake bias, tyre management, the tyre warmup, so definitely, these are things that are most important in single seaters.”