Interview
Slater hails ‘productive’ opening day in Barcelona after topping the times
Freddie Slater made a good start to the Barcelona pre-season test, as the TRIDENT driver set the pace on Day 1 of the 2026 campaign.
The drivers and teams were greeted with a wet track in the morning, meaning that running was limited, Slater just one of several drivers not to register a lap.
But with the track dry in the afternoon, and with the new Hard tyre at his disposal, Slater left it until late in the session to complete a 1:28.411.
This was not only good enough for the British driver not only to go fastest, but it also put him ahead of his ART Grand Prix rival Kanato Le by some 0.331s.
Speaking just after his debrief, Slater said he was happy with the improvements he made throughout the day.
“Obviously, a little bit of a slow morning here in Barcelona with the weather, but then a productive afternoon,” started Slater. “I think we got a lot of good data and a lot of good running in.
“There were good improvements on my side especially, I made a really big step and that's what we've got to do, finesse my driving to the absolute best we can before we get to Melbourne.
“So, I think a productive day, two more days to go. The weather is obviously a little bit unpredictable as well and very cold, but no, I think it’s positive.”
When asked how he went about improving his driving across the day, Slater says that it is about using the data to confirm what he can feel already in the car.
READ MORE
- AS IT HAPPENED: Follow the action from Day 1 of pre-season testing in Barcelona
- How to follow F3 pre-season testing: Barcelona session times, live blog and coverage
“I'd say I am quite strong mental side of things,” he explained. “I think with my driving, I understand where I've lost time quite quickly and I need the data just to confirm it, not always find it.
“So, I'm always trying to adapt my driving, make it even faster throughout the lap, obviously whenever you go on track, it's never the same every single time. So, you have to adapt to the car you've got at that given time.
“So, it's my job to do that when I'm out there and I think we've done a decent job today, but there's obviously many more days to come and we need to keep pushing.”
With two days of running left before the start of the season in Melbourne, Slater also knows how important these tests are for him and TRIDENT – a team he has never driven for before this year – to get to know more about each other.
“I think it's about learning,” he said when asked about testing. “I think the team are learning more about me as well. We're working together better, they know what I want, I know what they want as well.
“So, we're getting to know each other better and better by day and obviously Melbourne is going to be very tricky, especially with a track I don't know.
“So, it's going to be very important to get a good feeling here to make it easier for when we go there, but it’s been a good time so far with TRIDENT and we keep pushing.”
Looking ahead to the final two days, with temperatures quite cool, especially in the morning, Slater says it can be hard to get the Hard tyres up to temperature well before a push lap.
The 17-year-old acknowledges that he is still learning about the tyre, and says these two days are important for him to learn about them, as well as many other things he wants to improve.
“There's definitely things I want to work on,” he said. “There's a lot of things I want to work on. There's a lot of simple stuff that we can work on, a bit more technical stuff, so there's a range of stuff.
“Obviously, I can't share that sort of thing, but it's pretty clear what I need to do to give myself the best opportunity this year. We will try and maximise that.”