LEWIS HAMILTON has given his congratulations to rising motorsport star Ugo Ugochukwu after he was crowned Formula Three world champion.
The 19-year-old won the world championship for the Formula One feeder series on Sunday during the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring.
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Ugochukwu, who was born in New York City, USA, to Nigerian fashion model, Oluchi Onweagba, and her Italian husband and fashion designer, Luca Orlandi, won two races and claimed a further five podiums across the season to win the title.
The Campos Racing speedster stands at an incredible 6ft 4in, which is unusual for a racecar driver in open-wheel series as most tend to be on the smaller side.
Seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton is no exception as he stands at around 5ft 8in.
But the 41-year-old didn’t shy away from getting a snap alongside Ugochukwu during the weekend in Madrid.
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Hamilton took to his Instagram story to praise the teenager for his championship winning campaign.
He shared a picture with the American, who made history as the first from his country to win the title, alongside the caption: “Massive congrats to Ugo Ugochukwu on his F3 championship.
“Enjoy it, so well deserved.”
Ugochukwu responded to Hamilton’s message in kind on his own story, replying with a courteous: “Thank you.”
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Ugochukwu earned his stripes by winning several regional and European championship titles in karting between 2015 and 2021 before making the leap to open-wheel racing.
Despite the leap he has not lost his pace, finishing third in the F4 British Championship in 2022 before coming third in the F4 UAE Championship, second in Italian F4 and then winning the Euro 4 Championship.
In 2024 he added a win at the Macau Grand Prix and before landing an F3 seat in 2025 originally with Prema Racing – who he had raced with since 2022.
He then joined Campos Racing for the 2026 season and won the title with 159 points to his name.
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And his motorsport career looks set to progress into F2 from next season with backing from Red Bull Racing, according to PlanetF1.
The Red Bull Racing junior programme has seen a number of drivers move up into F1, with no fewer than seven of the 22 racers on the current grid coming through the Red Bull academy.
Should Ugochukwu succeed in F2 and move into one of the highly-coveted seats in F1, he could be the tallest driver to ever grace the sport.
Currently the tallest driver on the grid is Brit Ollie Bearman, who drives for Haas and stands at 6ft 2in, with Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon and George Russell close behind all on 6ft 1in.
However, Ugochukwu would dwarf all of them thanks to his 6ft 4in frame.
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German racing driver, Hans-Joachim Stuck, is credited as the tallest ever F1 star, having competed in the series in the 1970s standing at 6ft 4in – although official records before the turn of the century are somewhat unreliable.
Though due to only being 19, Ugochukwu could yet grow taller, and could therefore earn the accolade as F1’s tallest driver.
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Monday 14 September
Moreirense
3 – 1
PRL
Marítimo
Braga
1 – 0
PRL
Estoril
Tuesday 15 September
Bahia
00:00
SEA
Remo
Genoa
17:00
COI
Südtirol
GC Zürich
18:00
SUL
Sion
Rayo
18:00
PRD
Espanyol
Monday 14 September
Braga
1 – 0
PRL
Estoril
Moreirense
3 – 1
PRL
Marítimo
Villarreal
1 – 2
PRD
Betis
Leeds
4 – 1
EPL
Newcastle
Inter
5 – 3
SEA
Udinese
FCSB
2 – 2
L1
Petrolul 52
Rio Ave
3 – 3
PRL
Estrela
Standings currently unavailable.