‘We’ve been incredible all season’ says Slater as he reflects on 2026 campaign and title loss

Freddie Slater admitted he was gutted to have not fought for the title in the way he wanted in Madrid. But he also paid tribute to rival Ugo Ugochukwu, Campos Racing and his team TRIDENT.

The British driver went into the weekend with a 15-point lead over Ugochukwu in the Standings, but was 17th in Qualifying 1 and eighth in Qualifying 2 after dealing with an issue on his car.

Ugochukwu, on the other hand, was fourth and second, and on a track where it is tough to overtake, Slater could not do much to catch up with his rival in all three races.

Both drivers were tied going into Sunday’s final Feature Race, and with Ugochukwu second and Slater seventh, the American took the title.

Reflecting on it all afterwards, Slater said: “Obviously a little bit gutted with the end result, but fundamentally we had too many things go wrong. The Feature Race in Monza, that was the start of it, and then this weekend in qualifying we had too many issues.

“On a track like this it's very difficult to overtake as well, so when you're at the back or in the mid-pack it's always going to be difficult. To be fair, fair play to Ugo and Campos, they had a good weekend.

“But we didn't really get the fight we wanted with the issues we had but overall it doesn't detract from the season we've had.

“We've done an amazing job all year to be a rookie with the performances we've had, we’ve been incredible all year. So it's just a shame that sometimes motorsport is like that, but that's how it is sometimes.”

Reflecting on the season as a whole, Slater had one win, three pole positions and eight podiums in total. Despite it not leading to the title, he views the year with a huge amount of positivity.

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“I think as a rookie, trying to gain the experience and get on level with the second-year drivers as quick as I could has been really well managed,” he said.

“The pace has been incredible all year, very consistent, and executed all the time. Unfortunately there's some variables that went the wrong way out of our control, and those affect the results.

“They came at the worst possible time if I'm honest, because obviously there's no time now to catch up, it's over. So a little bit gutted the way we couldn't really finish the job off and really fight for it and show what we have been all season.

“But it doesn't take away what we've done all year. We've done an amazing job, and I couldn't have done that without my team, TRIDENT. So a massive thank you to them.”

Slater’s 2027 plans have already been announced as he will step up to FIA Formula 2 with Invicta Racing. His goal now is to make sure he is ready for the challenges that lie ahead.

“We’ve still been fighting for another championship,” he continued. "It's another year done and another championship nearly won. So it's been an impressive career so far.

“But now there's some exciting things hopefully to come in the future. Still a steep hill to climb, that's for sure. So I need to continue to keep pushing and try and develop into a better driver, that's the aim of the game.

“So we're going to have a nice off-season, mostly with friends and family, and relax a little bit. But also get ready for next year to see what that holds.”