Matteo De Palo is determined to return to the front of the FIA Formula 3 (F3) field in 2027 after a difficult rookie campaign that saw the Italian finish 24th in the Drivers’ Championship. Having switched from TRIDENT to MP Motorsport, the 19-year-old believes his performances throughout 2026 demonstrated greater potential than his final results suggested.
De Palo scored just seven points during his first F3 season, with technical disqualifications at Silverstone and Monza denying him opportunities to secure significantly stronger results. Nevertheless, the McLaren junior remains confident in his ability to compete at the front, having demonstrated race-winning pace on several occasions.
The Italian has already begun working with MP Motorsport during post-season testing at Jerez, where he expressed satisfaction with his early experiences alongside the Dutch outfit. With another year of F3 experience behind him, De Palo hopes to translate his underlying pace into more consistent results during the 2027 campaign.
De Palo makes positive start with MP Motorsport during Jerez testing
De Palo’s move to MP Motorsport for the 2027 F3 season was confirmed following a challenging year with TRIDENT. The Italian will race alongside Maciej Gładysz and Zhenrui Chi, joining a team that finished third in the 2026 Teams’ Championship.
The Dutch outfit enjoyed an increasingly competitive second half of the previous campaign, providing De Palo with confidence as he prepares for his second year in the category.
His first opportunity to work with his new team came during the official post-season test at Circuito de Jerez, where drivers began their preparations for the following championship.
Speaking after his opening session, De Palo was positive about his early experiences and the working relationship he had already established with the team.
“I’m feeling good,” said De Palo. “We just finished now the first session with the new team and I am feeling really good.
“I’m really enjoying working with them, with the MP team, and also since I’ve been here, we’ve been working quite well together, so let’s keep it up.”
The initial testing programme provided an opportunity for De Palo to become familiar with MP Motorsport’s engineering approach while beginning to establish the working relationships required for a successful second campaign.
Silverstone and Monza disqualifications compromise promising 2026 campaign
De Palo entered the 2026 season with considerable expectations after finishing runner-up in the 2025 Formula Regional European Championship, securing four victories and 11 podiums.
However, his first year in F3 proved considerably more challenging. The TRIDENT driver struggled to translate his previous competitiveness into consistent points finishes, eventually ending the campaign 24th with just seven points.
His strongest weekend came at Silverstone, where he finished fourth in the Sprint Race before crossing the line first in Sunday’s Feature Race following a closely contested battle with teammate Freddie Slater.
Nevertheless, post-race scrutineering resulted in De Palo’s disqualification. Officials determined that his car’s diffuser failed to meet the minimum permitted height, denying him what would have been his maiden F3 victory.
Another technical infringement followed at Monza. De Palo topped his qualifying group and appeared set to start from the front row before officials discovered that his diffuser was three millimetres below the minimum permitted height on its left-hand side.
The resulting qualifying disqualification removed another opportunity to challenge for a significant result.
De Palo believes individual performances demonstrated his potential
Despite finishing considerably lower in the championship than anticipated, De Palo remains satisfied with aspects of his individual performance throughout 2026.
The Italian believes his results did not accurately reflect his competitiveness, particularly during weekends when technical difficulties or other setbacks compromised his opportunities.
“If I have to be honest with you, individually I was happy about my performances,” said De Palo. “I felt like when I had the opportunity to perform, I always showed my pace, but then I had too many issues. I cannot even count them.
“The only two times that had everything clean, I don’t say that I was lucky or some bad luck, but everything clean without any issues on reliability or stuff like this, I was at the front.
“So I’m happy because it’s not about showing it to other people, but just to myself in such a tough year when everything seemed like it was going wrong.”
Although his rookie season review highlighted several missed opportunities, Silverstone provided particularly strong evidence of his ability to compete against the championship’s leading drivers.
His pace at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza also offered encouragement, even though those performances did not translate into the results he had hoped to achieve.
Technical setbacks reinforce De Palo’s confidence in race-winning ability
De Palo acknowledged the frustration of encountering repeated problems during his rookie campaign, particularly when he felt capable of challenging for leading positions.
However, the Italian believes those difficult experiences also reinforced his confidence in his underlying ability. Rather than focusing exclusively on the championship standings, he has taken encouragement from the occasions when he demonstrated competitive pace.
“It felt like I couldn’t do anything to change it because everything was out of my control. It was good for me to show myself that I was still there and I am able to perform and to fight for the top position, like we saw in Spa and Monza qualifying.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t keep that result for technical infringements, but it was good for me to show myself that I can be there.”
The setbacks at Silverstone and Monza were particularly costly because they occurred during two of his strongest weekends. Nevertheless, De Palo’s assessment suggests that his confidence has remained intact despite the difficulties of adapting to F3.
His move to MP Motorsport will now provide an opportunity to build on those performances while attempting to avoid the circumstances that prevented him from securing stronger results in 2026.
De Palo targets return to the front in 2027 with MP Motorsport
With his first F3 campaign complete, De Palo is focused on preparing for a more competitive second season.
His new team enters 2027 with an experienced driver pairing in De Palo and Gładysz, alongside rookie Chi. Gładysz finished 12th in the 2026 Drivers’ Championship and secured victory in the Silverstone Feature Race following De Palo’s disqualification.
MP Motorsport will therefore have two drivers familiar with the demands of the championship, while Chi prepares to make his debut following his progression through Formula Regional.
For De Palo, the immediate priority is to continue developing his relationship with the team and ensure that its preparations translate into stronger performances when racing resumes.
Asked whether he expects to fight at the front in 2027, the Italian made his ambitions clear.
“Yeah of course,” said De Palo. “We will have another go with MP, and I feel ready for next year.”
After a rookie season defined by missed opportunities, De Palo will enter his second F3 campaign determined to convert the pace he demonstrated at Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps and Monza into competitive results. His early experiences with MP Motorsport have provided an encouraging start, although the true test will come when the 2027 championship gets underway.
