Freddie Slater claimed his maiden pole position during the 2026 FIA Formula 3 (F3) Qualifying session at Silverstone ahead of the British GP weekend. See the full report below.
In the earlier Free Practice session on Friday, TRIDENT’s Freddie Slater topped the timings, with team mate Matteo De Palo having one of his best session results, sitting in P2. Campos Racing’s Ernesto Rivera split the two, with his strong form fully on display at the Silverstone Circuit.
Slater was later disqualified from the Free Practice classification after his car was unable to provide the mandatory 0.8kg fuel sample following the session.
This happened due to a miscalculation of the fuel required, following the revised end-of-session procedure that included a Virtual Safety Car test and a practice start. As a result, Slater’s lap times were deleted from the final classification.
Green lights for Qualifying
Drivers were quick to head out onto the Silverstone Circuit for the F3 British GP Qualifying session, all eager to bank competitive lap times in the fight for pole position. With the tyre allocation limiting drivers to three push laps, making the most of every run was crucial during the 30-minute Qualifying session.
Hitech and PREMA Racing were the first teams to send their drivers out on flying laps. Initial benchmark times were in the 2:06s, but as the field brought the tyres up to temperature and gained confidence around the circuit, the pace rapidly improved into the 1:47s.
José Garfias became the first driver to break into the 1:46s, setting a 1:46.988. The times continued to tumble as more drivers completed their laps, before Ernesto Rivera moved to the top of the order with a 1:46.479.
TRIDENT continuing their strong pace
Freddie Slater immediately went to the top of the timesheets with a 1:46.281, but his lap was quickly deleted for exceeding track limits. That promoted TRIDENT teammate Matteo De Palo to the top of the order with a 1:46.383.
Track limits continued to catch out several drivers during the opening runs, with Championship leader Ugo Ugochukwu and teammate Théophile Naël among those to have lap times deleted. After completing their first runs, the field returned to the pits to prepare for their next attempts at pole position.
Drivers back out for another attempt
With 15 minutes remaining, the field returned for second final runs, looking either to improve their lap times or get a representative time on the board after having earlier efforts deleted.
Louis Sharp jumped up to third with a 1:46.509 on his second push lap, before the times continued to tumble. Maciej Gładysz then claimed provisional pole with a 1:46.294, only for Taito Kato to move into third with a 1:46.381.
However, it was Slater who once again proved to be the benchmark, reclaiming provisional pole with a 1:46.233.
Track limits continued to play a major role in the session. Naël briefly moved into ninth on his second attempt, but his lap was deleted, while Ugochukwu also had his lap time removed after climbing to 11th, with no representative lap time for both drivers with 5 minutes on the clock.
Slater claims provisional pole in the F3 Silverstone Round Qualifying
As the field headed out for their final push laps, the TRIDENT trio lit up the timing screens with purple sectors. Naël was the first to complete his lap, jumping to provisional pole with a 1:45.880, but his time at the top was short-lived. Moments later, Slater delivered an even quicker 1:45.620 to secure provisional pole, while Sharp improved again to move into third with a 1:45.881.
Rivera ended the session fourth ahead of De Palo, who secured his best Formula 3 qualifying result in fifth. McLaughlin also enjoyed a career-best qualifying performance, taking sixth.
Strømsted qualified seventh, with Gładysz eighth, Wharton ninth and Giusti rounding out the top 10.
Yevan David also achieved his best Formula 3 qualifying result, finishing 11th. With the reverse-grid format, the AIX Racing driver will start Saturday’s Sprint Race from the front row alongside Championship leader Ugochukwu, who Qualified in P12.
See the full F3 Qualifying results from the Silverstone Round here.
