Barcelona Trials – Day 1: Freddie Slater sets the tone

The first student of the Audi Academy, Freddie Slater, confirmed on Tuesday his place among the favorites for the title of F3 2026, by setting the fastest time on the first day of testing. Quiet in the morning, as rain made the first few hours of running largely unrepresentative, Slater moved to the top of the timesheets in the afternoon. In the final minutes of the day, the Briton left no doubt with a time of 1:28.411, eclipsing Kanato Le's mark by more than three tenths of a second.

Fresh from his FRECA title win and with one of the championship's best teams behind him at Trident, Freddie Slater will clearly be one to watch throughout the F3 season. While only 19 drivers set a time in the morning, the 30 drivers present for these Barcelona tests were able to run in the afternoon, but they had to contend with numerous red flags, each finding their feet and the limits of a car that a good half of the field was discovering.

The French drivers got back into the swing of things gradually, with Alessandro Giusti posting the best result in 18th place, one position ahead of Théophile Naël. The Campos driver had been more competitive earlier in the afternoon, before the drivers had started pushing hard on new tires. Enzo Deligny, who made a last-minute switch from Prema to Van Amersfoort Racing, finished 25th on the timesheets.

The tests continue in Barcelona until February 13th.

F3 – Barcelona Tests – Day 1
The ranking of the morning

F3 – Barcelona Tests – Day 1
The afternoon ranking

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