Trident’s Freddie Slater heads into the sixth round of the 2026 F3 season at Spa-Francorchamps with momentum after an impressive home race at Silverstone. The Briton continued his strong run of form by securing his maiden F3 pole position and inherited a Feature Race podium after post-race penalties were applied.
Slater heads into the Spa-Francorchamps round sitting 2nd in the Drivers’ Standings with 86 points, where he trails current championship leader Ugo Ugochukwu by 18 points. Ahead of on-track action tomorrow, the Audi Junior spoke to Pit Debrief and other media outlets during a virtual media session, discussing his season so far and the upcoming round.
When asked by Pit Debrief what he had underestimated most before the season began, the Briton echoed similar sentiments shared by Yevan David and Kanato Le, highlighting the early start times and the importance of maximising each day and race as it comes.
“Yeah, I agree. I think the early starts are pretty questionable, let’s say, but it’s part of the job.”, Slater said. “I think for me, the biggest thing probably I underestimated was just the variables and the things out of our control as drivers, how much you have to take that on the chin and just kind of maximise your performance and yourself, and just try and maximise what you have on that day, on that session.”
“So I think that was probably my biggest, let’s say, learning point I overestimated for most going into the season.”
Slater: “It’s been the same approach since race one”
The 17 year-old has continued to impress throughout his rookie season with consistency, having secured a podium finish in every round so far. Slater’s talent has been evident throughout his junior career, having already claimed several major titles in just his fourth full year of racing cars.
With his championship position continuing to strengthen, Pit Debrief asked Slater if his approach to each race weekend has changed now that he finds himself near the top of the Drivers’ Standings, to which he explained: “No, nothing’s changed since Melbourne. It’s been the same approach since race one, and I think it’s been the same thing I’ve been always thinking since coming into this championship, and also in other championships I’ve raced in previously.”
“So for me, it’s just about maximising every weekend, not taking too much risk where it’s not worth it, and just trying to bring as many points as I can away from the Sprint and the Feature Race, and then see where we end up towards the end of the year.”
However, as the season continues to unfold, he explained that his focus remains on maximising every opportunity that comes their way.
“Also going into, let’s say, Monza-Madrid time, because that’s when obviously things can get a bit more, you have to be a bit more understanding of where you position.”, the Audi Junior noted. “But up to this point now, it’s just continue to what we’re doing and keep maximising the results and keep getting them podiums and wins, hopefully at some point, and that’s the goal.”
Open to the prospect of a wet weekend
Explaining how he factors the possibility of rain into his preparation ahead of the F3 Spa-Francorchamps weekend, Slater said: “For me, I love the rain, so it’s not a scared factor, let’s say. I wouldn’t mind the rain. It creates lots of opportunities, and for me, you can spice things up, which is always enjoyable and puts the pressure on, let’s say, on the team and the drivers.”
“I think it’s probably more difficult probably for the teams, especially if, let’s say, practise is wet and then qualifying is dry. I think that probably puts a lot more pressure on the teams, let’s say, to get everything in the right window and adapt to the situation going into qualifying.”
While he admitted that rain can add an element of uncertainty and challenge a driver’s confidence on track, the 17 year-old believes that wet conditions create a greater task for the teams than the drivers.
“Of course, it’s hard for us drivers, but you just have to trust the feeling you get when you go out on track and adapt to the situation you’re in. Hopefully, the team have given you a decent car and a good window that you can go out there and perform. I’d say it’s probably a little bit more difficult for the team than it is more for us.”
Views each weekend as a “prime opportunity” to maximise results
Although the 17 year-old finds himself in a strong position to challenge for the championship lead, Slater is not taking anything for granted.
The Briton explained that he approaches every weekend as an opportunity to capitalise and maximise, regardless of his position in the Drivers’ Standings. With several teams closing the performance gap to Trident this season, Slater believes the finer details will ultimately determine the outcome of how this weekend will unfold.
“To be honest, I look at every weekend as a prime opportunity to either lead the championship, maximise the result or whatever it is. But I think if you look at last year compared to this year, everything is so much closer. All the teams have made a big step forward in terms of all their cars’ performance, and everyone’s up there now.”
“So it’s not such a, let’s say, walk in the park maybe that it looked like last year. So I think this year, it’s a lot closer. It comes down to the fine details.”, he admitted. “So we’re going to have to be on it with all those little things, especially if the weather spices things up. We’re going to have to try and maximise this opportunity.”
Nonetheless, the opportunity to race at one of the most iconic circuits in the world has Slater excited to get back on track and he hopes to continue using each weekend as an opportunity to close the gap to Ugochukwu.
“And I’m just excited. It’s one of the greatest tracks in the world to drive. One of the greatest weekends, very passionate fans, a good vibe here. And yeah, hopefully we can close down the points and that’s the goal every weekend. So I’m very much looking forward to it.”
Slater on the challenges and excitement of Spa-Francorchamps
“I’m definitely not looking forward to the track position in qualifying and the fight on the out laps. That’s one thing I’m not looking forward to. But it’s got to be done around here.”, Slater said.
“And I think this track is one of them special tracks because you’ve got such long straights, you have to run quite low downforce. But then when you get to the middle sector, where there’s lots of high speed corners, it’s very difficult to get in that perfect kind of window of being either in the perfect window of not being too over the limit or being too under the limit.”
Highlighting the challenges created by the circuit’s high-speed nature, Slater explained that finding the narrow setup window is what makes the circuit so special, describing it as both an “interesting” and “enjoyable” track.
“So it’s one of them tricky tracks that requires a lot of kind of precision feeling, let’s say because yeah, I say the downforce levels are made for the straights and not really for the middle sector where all the corners are. So it’s definitely an interesting track and one of the most enjoyable.”
Looking to find success in Sprint Races
While Slater has undoubtedly impressed during his rookie season, Sprint Races have remained the biggest Achilles’ heel of his campaign so far. Despite scoring points in two of the five Sprint Races this year, including a podium finish, the Briton explained that difficult Saturday’s have stemmed from factors beyond his control.
“I think if I look at my season back and I look at some key moments that went wrong outside our control, I think there’s been a lot of instances, safety cars being taken out, whatever it has been, that’s kind of affected us quite a lot.”
“And I think, you know, Red Bull Ring getting taken out in the Sprint Race meant missing out on valuable data on tyre degradation and tyre setup. Going into the Feature Race, we were a little bit disadvantaged, let’s say.”
Looking to build on a positive Sprint Race performance in Silverstone, Slater hopes to carry that momentum on Saturdays moving forward.
“So I think there’s just been some key things that haven’t quite gone right in those sort of races, especially when it’s very chaotic.”, he admitted.
“And hopefully now we can kind of get a bit more of a foundation, which we did at Silverstone. We had a really positive Sprint Race, very well managed and a lot of good data received for the Feature. So we’ve just got to continue to do that and stay out of trouble.”
A new venue and finale for the 2026 F3 season
With three rounds remaining after this weekend, the 2026 F3 season will conclude at a new venue: the MADRING. The Madrid street circuit will present a fresh new challenge for the grid, while the championship has also announced an additional Qualifying session and Feature Race to the finale to compensate for the cancelled Bahrain round earlier this year.
“Yeah, Madrid should be very interesting. This championship is very long and now it’s even longer. Lots of points up for grabbing in Madrid as well. It’s never over until the fat lady sings. That’s the saying that I always think about in a championship.”, Slater said.
He added: “I think as you go into Madrid with two Feature Races, that’s a lot of points that you could take in just one weekend by having a mega weekend. So it’s all to play for, especially when we get there.”
“And yeah, it should be a very exciting weekend, learning a completely new track that no one’s driven on and it’s going to be interesting for sure. It’s nice to be going to Madrid for the first time.”
Despite five podium finishes so far, the Audi Junior continues to search for his maiden F3 win. Slater will aim to extend his strong run of form and potentially close the gap to Ugochukwu at the 2026 F3 Spa-Francorchamps round this weekend.
