Matteo De Palo takes special maiden F3 victory in Silverstone Feature Race
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Trident's Matteo De Palo took race victory in the Formula 3's Silverstone Feature Race, a maiden F3 win and his first points-scoring weekend of 2026 in the championship.
Campos' Ernesto Rivera took second on the road, ahead of ART's Maciej Gładysz, who took his maiden F3 podium. Pole-sitter Freddie Slater brought down the gap to championship leader Ugo Ugochukwu by only two points, after a late twist in the tale for the Briton, as they finished fifth and sixth.
PREMA's James Wharton finished up in fourth, ahead of Slater and Ugochuwku, with Louis Sharp making it two PREMA cars in the points in Silverstone.
Another strong drive from Noah Strømsted would see him finish eighth, with ART's Kanato Le and MP Motorsport's Alessandro Giusti rounding out the points scorers in F3's annual British weekend.
A chaotic race, and here's how it all played out.
AS IT UNFOLDED - Silverstone's F3 Feature Race
Home hero Freddie Slater started from pole position, having set a scorching lap time, and finished the Friday qualifying session a quarter of a second ahead of Campos' Theophile Naël. PREMA's Louis Sharp secured his best starting position of third for the Feature Race.
There would be a change to the starting procedures, with two formation laps behind the safety car, with race control doing repairs to the main straight. Race control would report a "Change in track condition" on the Hamilton straight, towards the finish line.
As such, the race would be shortened by one lap, to 21 laps of racing. Naël sensed an immediate opportunity off the five red lights, forcing Slater to come across and defend position into Turn 1. The pole-sitter would be able to keep it pinned around the outside of Turn 1, and held position heading into Village corner.
Further back, several drivers would be scrapping away for position, with Red Bull juniors Ernesto Rivera and Fionn McLaughlin scrapping away down to Luffield corner, and the former even skating across the run-off and conceding position.
There would be an off-track excursion to Woodcote corner for Michael Shin, who kicked up plenty of dirt as he went off and lost position, before suffering a puncture. The driver on the attack would be Matteo De Palo, who surged past Sharp, and later Naël, on Lap 3. He would make his way past race leader Slater only a lap later, once again into Stowe.
Further back, championship leader Ugochukwu had made his way into the top 10, and gained a further position by passing AIX's Yevan David into Stowe to sit eighth. The other Trident of Noah Strømsted would be itching to join his teammates up front, as he attempted to make an overtake on ART's Maciej Gładysz for seventh.
There would be an issue for DAMS' Nicola Lacorte, who trundled around slowly, before pulling into the pits. Slater, who had seen Naël's attempts to force his way past in the mirrors, ensured he retook the race lead from teammate De Palo, putting one car between himself and his closest rival.
More scrapping between Gładysz and Rivera would see them lose ground to the top four slightly, while Wharton had managed to climb up to ninth, and past Ugochukwu, who now held the final point into Lap 10.
Rivera, meanwhile, had found a way past both McLaughlin and Gładysz up into fifth, with the Polish driver then pulling off yet another outside move at the Vale chicane. He would maintain position, despite being forced off the track. It would be a tough next lap for McLaughlin, who would lose several positions to sit 10th.
Back at the front, Sharp had an attempt to retake third from Naël, although it would be to no avail on Lap 11. This scrap into the Loop brought Rivera closer, with the Mexican now comfortably in the fight for a podium finish.
Further back, McLaughlin would lose his space in the points, with AIX's David climbing up into the top 10, looking to back up his impressive showing in the sprint.
Having lost the lead, De Palo would retake the position into the Vale chicane, while Sharp's attempts to surpass Naël for third would see him lose momentum, being passed by the likes of Rivera and Gładysz as he lost several positions onto the following lap.
With several drivers closing up, Ugochukwu would move past Sharp, before using the kerbs at Luffield to surpass Strømsted into seventh.
The race would stabilise heading into the final laps, with Slater pushing teammate De Palo along, while Naël had just kept himself within DRS range to the Trident duo up ahead.
A yellow flag would be flown for the stricken AIX of Ricardo Escotto, who had gone into the rear of DAMS' Gerrard Xie, before stopping on track just off Loop corner. This triggered the safety car on Lap 19, potentially sparking hopes of a grandstand finish.
The marshalls were able to push the AIX away from the track, opening up the way for one lap of racing until the chequered flag, with De Palo seeking his first victory of the season, while Slater looked to maximise his points haul and close down championship leader Ugochukwu.
Off the safety car restart, Slater hounded race leader De Palo, shaping up for a move into the Loop, before looking around the outside of Luffield corner. The two Tridents would nearly make contact, as the Briton attempted an overtake around Copse corner. However, he would make contact with De Palo, forcing him off the track and costing several positions.
De Palo, who had managed to fend off his teammate, locked up heavily into the Vale chicane, yet he managed to fend off Naël heading into Club corner, to take his first win of 2026 in F3.
There would be a final twist in the tale, with Naël handed a 10-second time penalty for his off-track excursion when he overtook Sharp's PREMA, dropping him outside the points, and promoting Rivera and Gładysz to the podium positions.
A chaotic race in F3 with a final twist in the tale - and one of firsts for two drivers, and here's how it all panned out at Silverstone.
Classification - F3 Feature Race (Silverstone)
Matteo De Palo (Trident)
Ernesto Rivera (Campos Racing)
Maciej Gładysz (ART Grand Prix)
Freddie Slater (Trident)
Ugo Ugochukwu (Campos Racing)
James Wharton (PREMA Racing)
Louis Sharp (PREMA Racing)
Noah Strømsted (Trident)
Kanato Le (ART Grand Prix)
Alessandro Giusti (MP Motorsport)
Yevan David (AIX Racing)
Hiyu Yamakoshi (VAR)
Pedro Clerot (Rodin Motorsport)
Tuukka Taponen (MP Motorsport)
Fionn McLaughlin (Hitech)
Théophile Naël (Campos Racing)
Jin Nakamura (Hitech)
Enzo Deligny (VAR)
Brando Badoer (Rodin Motorsport)
Bruno del Pino (VAR)
Mattia Colnaghi (MP Motorsport)
José Garfias (PREMA Racing)
Nandhavud Bhirombakdi (DAMS)
Gerrard Xie (DAMS)
Michael Shin (Hitech)
Taito Kato (ART Grand Prix)
Christian Ho (DAMS)
Fernando Barrichello (AIX Racing) - DNF
Ricardo Escotto (AIX Racing) - DNF
Nicola Lacorte (DAMS) - DNF
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