Trident’s Freddie Slater was a man on a mission in Formula 3 qualifying at the Silverstone Circuit, taking his first pole position in the series by 0.260s over Théophile Naël, with Louis Sharp behind them in third. Feeder Series spoke to Slater and Sharp after qualifying about how their extensive experience at the track aided them in their efforts.

By Daniele Spadi

Slater had showcased electric pace throughout the session on a track with notoriously high degradation levels, with drivers going out for three runs rather than the customary two and generally only getting one flying lap each time.

On his first flying lap, the Audi junior posted a 1:46.281 to top the standings with 22 minutes remaining. Moments later, however, his lap time was deleted as he exceeded track limits at Copse, thus dropping him to last with no competitive time set. Campos Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu and Naël were in the same situation, sitting outside the top 20.

Slater’s teammate Matteo De Palo benefitted from the situation to inherit first place with a 1:46.383, with Ernesto Rivera and Maciej Gładysz behind him. Hiyu Yamakoshi was fourth and Mattia Colnaghi fifth.

Everyone went back out on track for their second runs halfway through the session. Plenty of drivers improved, including Slater, who slingshotted from last to first with a 1:46.233 with just under 10 minutes remaining. Gładysz rose to second, just 0.061s behind the home favourite, with Rivera in third. Deposed pacesetter De Palo had improved as well to slot in ahead of Rivera and briefly regain the lead, though his new best lap time was soon deleted for track limits.

Critically, the same happened to both Ugochukwu and Naël – again. The championship leader went over the white lines at Becketts, the latter at Vale after he lost control of the back end of his car. The two found themselves at the bottom two spots of the timesheets before the final run of the session.

However, the Frenchman was not fazed by the tough situation before him, banging in a 1:45.880 on his final run to top the standings just after the chequered flag fell. But Slater was a man on a mission, going fastest by 0.260s just a few seconds later.

That lap proved to be impossible to beat for the rest of the field, thus granting Slater his first pole of the season on his home circuit. With that, he emulated what his compatriot and current Formula 1 driver Arvid Lindblad did back in 2024 before taking a historic double victory.

Less than half the field has raced at Silverstone in other categories, and few of those drivers have Slater’s track record of success. He took a double victory in the 2025 GB3 season opener at this circuit as well as six victories while competing in Ginetta Junior.

“For sure,” Slater told Feeder Series when asked whether his previous experience at Silverstone helped him achieve pole today.

“Coming here was also a bit more normal for me. I understood when things were happening throughout the session. In practice and qualifying, I kind of understood a bit more why they were happening because I have a bit more track knowledge here. They’re normal things that happen when you come to a track that you probably know a little bit better,” he continued.

“That still doesn’t mean you’re going to be easily fastest, and in this car, it’s completely different to what I’ve driven previously. You have to adapt to these sort of feelings and how the corner should be approached, but that’s what we did this weekend. I think we maximised the learnings I’ve already had here from previous years and categories, and then fine/tuned the bits we needed for this F3 car.”

Naël settled for second, bouncing back in style after a troublesome weekend at the Red Bull Ring seven days ago. With a last-lap effort, third place went to Prema Racing’s Louis Sharp. The Nottingham-born New Zealander capitalised on his knowledge of the circuit to put himself in a strong position to add to his tally of one win and four additional podium finishes at the track across his single-seater career.

“I’ve raced in British F4 and GB3 here,” Sharp told Feeder Series. “Obviously I raced here last year in F3 as well, so I definitely know the circuit better than the rest. 
I haven’t done much in Europe, but I’ve done quite a lot in the UK, so I definitely know this track, and obviously being born in the UK and being part of the BRDC, I know this place, so that’s definitely helped.”

Sharp knows all too well that experience does not guarantee results, especially at the 5.891-kilometre track. In his rookie F3 season in 2025, he qualified 23rd and finished the sprint race 21st before crashing out late on in a truncated feature race.

“Maybe you’ve got a little bit more history [on this track], so you know how to manage the situations better, but just because you know the circuit, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be fast,” he said.

“It’s still important to be open-minded and to take it as it comes because a circuit is so dependent on track conditions, and that can change so easily. Knowing the circuit can help, but if you’re too stuck in your own way, it can definitely bite you, so you still need to be adaptable and you need to be open to the changing conditions all the time.”

Rivera was the second-best Campos Racing driver in the classification, claiming fourth ahead of a rejuvenated De Palo, who looked mighty competitive throughout the session to take fifth and set himself up well to take his first points of the year.

Another surprise came from reigning British F4 champion Fionn McLaughlin, who took his best qualifying result of the season to finish sixth. Noah Strømsted was right behind him to make it three Trident cars inside the top seven.

Eighth was Gładysz, ahead of the second Prema Racing car of James Wharton, with Alessandro Giusti rounding out the top 10.

Behind them, British-born Sri Lankan driver Yevan David took AIX’s best result of the season to finish in 11th, while Ugochukwu was able to set a lap time good enough for 12th. The two drivers will therefore start tomorrow’s sprint on the front row of the grid.

A tough session for Van Amersfoort Racing left Bruno Del Pino and Yamakoshi on the ninth row of the grid, while Enzo Deligny finished down in 24th. The same can be said for Rodin Motorsport, with Pedro Clerot and Brando Badoer qualifying down in 21st and 22nd respectively and Christian Ho finishing in 26th.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency