Leader of the Formula 3 championship, Freddie Slater secured pole position this Friday (4) for the penultimate round of the 2026 season. In the qualifying session held at the Monza National Circuit in Italy, the Trident driver recorded his best lap time of 1min38s114, earning the honor position for Sunday’s race, as well as 12th place due to the grid inversion for the Sprint.
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The session was held with the 30 drivers divided into two groups, and saw Matteo de Palo, with another Trident car, take second position by leading his group with a time of 1min38s143. From there, the positions are determined by alternating the positions of each group. Nicola Lacorte, with a DAMS car, starts third, with Kanato Le, from ART Grand Prix, in fourth. Ernesto Rivera, from Campos Racing, and Taiyo Kato, from ART Grand Prix, complete the top 6.
Fastest in free practice, Alessandro Giusti starts seventh in Sunday’s race with MP Motorsport, sharing the fourth row with Hiyu Yamakoshi, from Van Amersfoort. Mattia Colnaghi, from MP Motorsport, starts ninth, followed by Fernando Barrichello, tenth with AIX Racing in his best qualifying of the year. Pedro Clerot, from Rodin Motorsport, starts 11th, while Tuukka Taponen, from MP Motorsport, was 12th and starts at the front in the Sprint.
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Who had a disastrous qualifying was the championship runner-up, Ugo Ugochukwu. The American from Campos Racing made a mistake on his fastest lap and was only tenth in his group, which would place him 20th on the grid. However, the owner of car number 2 has a five-position penalty to serve on the grid for both races, and will start 25th in both the Sprint and the main race.
Formula 3 returns to the track in Monza this Saturday (4), starting at 4:30 AM, for the Sprint race. The main race of the penultimate round of the 2026 season is scheduled for Sunday, starting at 3:15 AM.
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