Trident’s Freddie Slater arrives to the 2026 F3 grid as one of the most highly regarded prospects and a driver many will watch closely this season. The 17 year-old comes off a championship-winning campaign in the Formula Regional European Championship (FREC), where he secured eight victories and four additional podiums to narrowly beat Matteo De Palo to the title.
This year, Slater joins the team that has claimed the Drivers’ title for the past three seasons and consistently enjoyed success in the championship. The young Briton will partner his 2025 rival, De Palo, and returning driver Noah Strømsted, who continues with the team for his second campaign.
Speaking during a recent virtual media session, Slater addressed Pit Debrief and other media outlets about entering the 2026 F3 season with significant hype surrounding his name, saying: “Yeah, to be honest, I’ve not really seen the hype so much. For me, I’m just focussing on myself, you know, it’s another year for myself with some new team members on my side, a new team for me as well, a very challenging championship as well with very limited running.”
“So for me, I’m just very focused on just doing the best I can. It doesn’t change if you have hype or not. So yeah, it’s just focused on myself and then see where we end up at the end of the year.”
Slater hits the ground running during pre-season testing in Barcelona
The 17 year-old topped the timings on the first and second day of the pre-season test in Barcelona. He’d admitted it was difficult to gauge whether his performance came as a surprise, as he knew they were in a strong position but didn’t expect to be as quick as they ultimately proved to be.
“Hard to say if we’re surprised or not. I knew we were in a good place, but I didn’t expect to maybe be as fast as we were. And I think honestly, I did quite a good job in myself and I was pretty happy with the way I drove and the way I did complete my lap. So honestly, it was quite a strong test for myself and also from the team.”
The Briton elaborated further, explaining: “The team gave me a great car straight away to try and improve my driving straight away because at the end of the day, every lap counts. And if we don’t make the most of it now, we’re going to get to Melbourne and be unprepared. So it’s very important to be on it straight away. And I think the test went well. So yeah, it’s very productive and I look forward to Melbourne.”
Teaming up with his 2025 title rival, Matteo De Palo
Trident field two drivers who enjoyed strong success in the Formula Regional European Championship last year. Alongside Slater, his main title rival De Palo also steps up to Formula 3 with the team. The pair battled intensely throughout the season, but in the end, the 17 year-old Briton came out on top with a 36 point lead.
When asked about how their dynamic might evolve this year as teammates, Slater said: “Yeah, I think obviously, me and Matteo [De Palo] together in a team is obviously, people must think it’s a bit bitter, let’s say, but it’s kind of been the opposite. We’ve had some good times off the track as well and we’ve enjoyed on track as well. Our job as drivers is to try and give the team as much data as possible and give the team the best results. And we’re trying to do exactly that.”
“So I think we’re all working together, all three drivers, me, Noah [Strømsted] and Matteo. So yeah, hopefully, we can obviously, ourselves fight for the driver’s championship, but also bring the team championship back to Trident.”
Looking to continue Trident’s F3 success
Despite Trident’s recent string of success in Formula 3, Slater isn’t getting complacent and knows he’ll have to fight hard to add another title to his growing list of achievements. The 17 year-old acknowledged Trident’s success but stressed that the team never settles for anything less. He praised their constant drive to improve and emphasised that staying competitive will be key as rivals inevitably catch up.
“Yeah, we’ll see. Like Noah and Matteo said, the team did an amazing job. I’ll see the last couple of years. They’ve had awesome results. But the thing is, everybody catches it up and everybody gets better. So we can’t sit back and relax. And that’s what I really like about Trident is they’ve not done that. Even with all the success they’ve had, they just keep on pushing.”
“We’re always trying to find 1% more. And that suits me as well as a driver because I’m pretty similar like that. So it’s very cool the way they keep on pushing. And yeah, we’re going to need to try and win. So as you know, everybody catches up at some point.”
Proud of his championship-winning comeback
When Pit Debrief asked what the Trident drivers had proven to themselves in 2025, Slater explained: “Well, it’s hard to say what we proved to ourselves, I guess, for the 2026 season, from what we did in 2025. I think, obviously, for me, in myself, was just the amount of issues we had at the start. And then to still bring it back like we did, I think, was very special and obviously very good. And that’s going to have to be the key in Formula 3 as well. You know, it’s not going to be plain sailing at all at any point.”
“So yeah, I guess there’s multiple things we learned that obviously proved that we could have a shot in Formula 3 and obviously get the trust from Trident to put me in their car.”
Audi’s expectations for Slater
Ahead of the 2026 F3 season, Slater was announced as the first member of the Audi Driver Development Programme. As the season opener slowly approaches, the Briton explained that Audi isn’t placing specific expectations on him. He added that joining the programme felt like the right choice, working with the right people while also keeping in mind the limited opportunities available to reach Formula 1.
“No, it’s definitely no expectations or anything like that. That’s not the way we work as a team. You know, every time I go out on track, I’m trying to do the best I can. And I’m harder on myself than anyone else. So the end of the day, they know I’m pushing hard, and they know I can deliver.”
“So and yeah, for me, it was just the right choice. It was the right people. Also, probability is a big thing of joining an academy, I guess, as well to get into Formula One, because you know, there’s only 22 seats. And also, they’re not always open.”
Slater added: “So at the end of the day, it’s probability and also the right people around you. Obviously, you’ve got very cool people like Alan McNish, people like this, which are very special people. So yeah, there were many key reasons of why we joined them. And yeah, I can’t wait to kind of start building, building my future through with them.”
