Freddie Slater made the perfect start to the F3 Budapest Round, topping Free Practice for TRIDENT around the Hungaroring.
The Briton set a 1:33.947 to finish fastest in the opening session, having spent much of the 45 minutes fighting at the front of the field.
However, despite ending the session on top, Slater admitted it was far from a straightforward session from inside the cockpit.
“It was a very difficult session, honestly,” he said afterwards. “A few Red Flags, hopefully everybody’s all good, but it was a tricky session.
“The track is very dusty, very difficult to drive and very windy, very hot, very bumpy. There’s a lot of factors out there and Qualifying is going to be completely different on the medium tyres. It’s going to be a big swing in track evolution, but a positive session overall.”
Closing the gap on the championship battle
The result gives Slater an ideal start to the weekend as he continues his championship fight with Ugo Ugochukwu.
The TRIDENT driver closed the gap to the championship leader to just one point after Spa-Francorchamps and will be aiming to take the lead before the chequered flag falls on Sunday.
However, with the F3 Qualifying session in Budapest set to provide a completely different challenge, Slater is not taking his strong start for granted.
Instead, the Audi Development Driver was focused on using the opening session to build his understanding of the Hungaroring in the FIA Formula 3 car before the all-important Qualifying session.
“It’s super important, especially with some of these tracks I’ve driven in previous categories, but not in this car.
“So, it’s very important for me in Free Practice to get that understanding of what’s underneath me and feel the car underneath me and just get used to this car on this track and then maximise the pace at that point.
“That gives us a good advantage, let’s say, or stepping stone into Qualifying.”
Being consistent from round to round for Slater
He also topped Free Practice at Spa-Francorchamps the previous weekend before going on to claim Pole Position for the Feature Race.
However, Slater is not reading too much into his F3 Budapest Free Practice result, with the switch to the Medium tyre and the evolution of the track expected to change the order in Qualifying.
“For me, it’s not overanalysing too much because I think it’s going to swing so much that you just need to keep it simple and do the job and feel the grip out there when you go out in Qualifying.
“It’s going to be completely different, so we’ll just have to adapt when we get out of there. A good result is really important before getting to the summer break, but I wouldn’t say it’s make-or-break.
“I think we just need to maximise the potential and maximise the opportunities that are given this weekend and then see where we end up.”
