‘I feel ready for next year’ says De Palo after switching to MP for the 2027 season

Matteo De Palo is returning for another season in Formula 3 and is keen to bounce back from a tough rookie campaign with his new team.

The Italian has switched to MP Motorsport for the 2027 campaign, following on from a year where he finished 24th in the Standings with seven points.

But speaking at post-season testing in Jerez, where he started work with his new team, De Palo expressed his excitement for what is to come.

“I'm feeling good,” said De Palo. “We just finished now the first session with the new team and I am feeling really good.

“I’m really enjoying working with them, with the MP team, and also since I’ve been here, we’ve been working quite well together, so let's keep it up.”

Looking back on 2026, De Palo’s season was affected by quite a few difficult moments, with disqualification for technical infringements costing him victory in the Silverstone Feature Race and a front row start in Monza.

Reviewing the year, the 19-year-old believes his individual performance levels were strong but his year was affected by issues outside of his control.

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“If I have to be honest with you, individually I was happy about my performances,” said De Palo. “I felt like when I had the opportunity to perform, I always showed my pace, but then I had too many issues. I cannot even count them.

“The only two times that had everything clean, I don't say that I was lucky or some bad luck, but everything clean without any issues on reliability or stuff like this, I was at the front.

“So I'm happy because it's not about showing it to other people, but just to myself in such a tough year when everything seemed like it was going wrong.

“It felt like I couldn't do anything to change it because everything was out of my control. It was good for me to show myself that I was still there and I am able to perform and to fight for the top position, like we saw in Spa and Monza qualifying.

“Unfortunately, I couldn't keep that result for technical infringements, but it was good for me to show myself that I can be there.”

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Previewing the 2027 campaign, De Palo says his goals are clear but before the season’s start, he and MP have work to do to hit the ground running.

“Yeah of course,” said De Palo on fighting at the front. “We will have another go with MP, and I feel ready for next year.”