It was P9 in the 2026 Championship Standings for Hiyu Yamakoshi and a season he was happy with overall. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver's debut FIA Formula 3 campaign was 'better than expected' after securing a maiden pole position and multiple podiums across the year.
Reflecting on the season, Yamakoshi gave his campaign a 9 out of 10 rating. Most of the things he achieved were not expected prior to the season getting underway, especially after the opening round.
"I think it's like 9 out of 10, I'd say. Most of the things I achieved I didn't expect before the season, especially after the first round," Yamakoshi said. "We had a three-month break and we learned a lot, we improved a lot from Monaco all the way to the end. For me, the results were way more than what we expected."
Following the opening round in Melbourne where he struggled to P22 while teammates finished P11 and P12, a three-month break proved pivotal. Yamakoshi and the team adapted well, returning to Monte Carlo with a better understanding of race optimization. Although podiums were secured in Monte Carlo initially, a disqualification took that result away. He responded immediately in Barcelona with P2 in the Feature Race, a weekend that pushed him into the top three in the championship after gaining around 23 points.
A pole position followed at the Red Bull Ring, before returning to the podium in Spa and taking third in the Monza Sprint Race as his final rostrum visit. Yamakoshi admitted he expected to fight in the sprint races, but was surprised by his pace in the Feature Races, fighting for the win four times across Barcelona, Spa, Red Bull Ring, and Monza.
Race management became his strongest point, learning crucial skills like tyre management, track conditions, and securing DRS at the right time. That success has already propelled him further up the single-seater ladder, competing with VAR in FIA Formula 2 and debuting at Round 12 of the season in Baku.
