Matteo De Palo took a sensational victory in the Formula 3 feature race at Silverstone after a thrilling last-lap shootout that saw him fend off both Freddie Slater and Théophile Naël’s attacks. Ultimately, however, it was Ernesto Rivera and Maciej Gładysz who joined De Palo on the podium.

By Daniele Spadi

“It’s been a really hard start of the season, obviously not getting the results for things out of my control. It was not easy, also mentally, but I managed to always keep focusing on myself and believing in myself, and that was the most important thing for me.

“For sure it’s the most special [win] of my career, because of course it’s in F3, but also for this big relief that I had. I think these have been the most difficult four months in my life, but after today I feel much, much better.”

Thirty minutes after the race had ended, Matteo De Palo could still barely believe what happened as he spoke to Feeder Series about his emotional feature race win at the Silverstone Circuit.

The Italian had endured a troublesome start to his rookie F3 campaign – to put it mildly. After a strong 2025 in which he had fought tooth and nail for the FRegional Europe title with Freddie Slater and picked up the support of F1 teams’ champions McLaren, De Palo faced high expectations as he prepared for his F3 debut with Trident in 2026.

The team had led the previous three drivers’ champions to the crown and fought for victories every year since the championship’s inception. De Palo and Slater, now teammates at the Italian squad, were the two rookies believed most likely to continue the trend – but things did not go as planned from the start.

A crash in the opening qualifying of the season in Melbourne left De Palo effectively out of contention for the points in the first two races. He was then unable to bounce back after the unexpectedly long three-month break from Melbourne to Monaco, where he finished the sprint race down in 14th – his best result up until then.

The tune didn’t change in the following two rounds at Barcelona and Spielberg, and he could do no better than another 14th-place finish in the feature race at the latter.

So, four rounds in, Slater was second in the standings. Strømsted, fresh off his first win of 2026 in that same feature race, was sixth. De Palo, once a formidable frontrunner in FR Europe, was now 26th on a glaring zero points. His was the worst start to a season for any Trident F3 driver in the team’s history.

Silverstone offered a chance to right those wrongs. De Palo had never raced at the 5.891-kilometre track that Slater calls home, but novelty proved no obstacle to renaissance. Friday already showed promise, as he was second in practice before taking the fifth-fastest time in qualifying. His best showing yet, and one that preceded an inspired sprint race in which he only lost out on a podium at the very last corner.

De Palo would have one more chance to chase a podium spot on Sunday, but he and his 29 rivals had to wait a little bit longer than usual to do so. A spillage on the exit of the final corner forced race direction to add a second formation lap to ensure the track was suitable for racing, trimming the race length from 22 to 21 laps.

When the lights finally went out, Théophile Naël enjoyed a great getaway from second, challenging Freddie Slater on the run to Turn 1. The home hero was able to defend around the outside, the two almost making contact but making it through unscathed. Louis Sharp and De Palo maintained third and fourth place.

Behind them, Campos Racing’s Ernesto Rivera lost grip exiting Brooklands and dipped two wheels into the grass, thus gifting fifth to fellow Red Bull junior Fionn McLaughlin. Championship leader and dominant sprint race winner Ugo Ugochukwu was also on the move, gaining two spots on the opening lap on his way to 10th.

On lap two, De Palo took third from Sharp at Vale as he began his quest to avenge the podium lost to Naël on the final corner of the final lap on Saturday.

De Palo seemed to have electric pace in the first section of the race. The Italian wasted no time and attacked the Frenchman for second on lap three on the Hangar Straight before doing the same to his teammate Slater the next time around.

After moving into first, however, he was unable to create a gap over his teammate, as everyone from first down to 25th remained under a second behind the car in front by the end of lap six.

Slater went on the attack the next time around, overtaking De Palo at the same section of the circuit where he had previously lost the lead. Behind them, a stellar move on Rivera around the outside of Vale promoted Maciej Gładysz to sixth, though the Mexican then replicated the move on the Pole a lap later to restore the order from before.

Rivera wasn’t done yet, going on the attack on McLaughlin and taking fifth away from the Irishman at Stowe on lap nine. Next in line was Gładysz, who again went around the outside at Vale to take sixth as McLaughlin went deep on exit.

The Hitech driver lost a spot to Strømsted at Club and two more spots to James Wharton and Ugochukwu into Brooklands. The American then rose to eighth a lap later after overtaking James Wharton at The Loop.

The action kicked off at the end of lap 12 once again. De Palo shaped for a move on Slater and made it through with a dive down the inside at Vale; simultaneously, Sharp went for a pass around the outside of Naël but failed to make it stick. As a result, he got a bad exit out of the final corner, which shuffled him down to sixth into Turn 1. Strømsted, Wharton and Ugochukwu were all through by the time they reached Brooklands.

By the end of lap 14, De Palo and Slater were then able to create a one-second gap over Naël, who thus lost the possibility of using DRS to attack the Trident pair and defend effectively from his teammate Rivera.

A pivotal moment in the race came on lap 18, as Ricardo Escotto, substituting for the injured Brad Benavides, came to a halt after hitting the back of Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi into Village.

The marshals’ quick work to recover the Mexican’s stranded AIX set up a last-lap showdown. De Palo, though, was unable to shake off Slater, and things inevitably got tense between the Trident teammates. The pair first touched at the Loop, Slater’s front wing glancing the back of De Palo’s car, and when the Italian was forced to defend the position into Brooklands, he locked up and ran deep, compromising his line.

As Slater tried the cutback on the exit of Luffield, the two teammates made front-to-rear contact again. The Briton was slowed but undeterred as he went to the outside towards Copse, and as De Palo squeezed him to the far left of the track, the two made contact for a third time, which unsettled Slater and sent him wide at Copse. He dropped outside the podium places, with Campos’ Naël and Rivera taking advantage.

The Frenchman, who had been the prime spectator of the monumental fight between the two Trident teammates, then went on the attack at Vale, reenacting the fight that had given him a podium place at De Palo’s expense in yesterday’s sprint.

This time, the Italian made sure not to repeat Saturday’s mistake despite a big lock-up at the entry of Vale, successfully protecting the inside line at the exit. From there he only had to accelerate forward to earn not just his maiden F3 podium but his first win in the series too. It was a well-deserved, much-needed result.

“In the past months, the long break didn’t help,” De Palo told Feeder Series, “[but] I feel much lighter now. It feels more like confirmation for me, and also for all the people, that Matteo is still here and that it didn’t change anything from last year.”

Naël was second at the finish – but only for a few seconds. Just after crossing the line, he received a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when fighting for third against Sharp on lap 12. This dropped him to 15th and outside of the points-paying positions.

Rivera thus inherited second, which marked his best feature race result of the season, while also setting the fastest lap of the race. Racing onto the podium – literally – was also Gładysz, who jumped to third after Naël’s penalty to take his first podium in the series. So late was the call that the ART Grand Prix driver reportedly pulled into the support paddock first before being rushed to the F1 pit lane, where he arrived just as the podium ceremony got underway.

Fourth was Wharton, while Slater had to settle for fifth after the intense fight with his teammate. Sixth was Ugochukwu, who retained the championship lead by 19 points over the Briton.

After fighting for the podium in the first half of the race, Sharp finished down in seventh, ahead of Noah Strømsted and Kanato Le, with Alessandro Giusti rounding out the top 10.

Thanks to De Palo’s success, as well as Slater’s and Strømsted’s points, Trident have overtaken Van Amersfoort Racing for second in the teams’ standings, while also cutting the gap to leaders Campos Racing from 53 to 41 points.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency