Freddie Slater took pole position for the Formula 3 Feature Race at the British Grand Prix, with Theophile Nael crossing the line to take reverse pole for the Sprint Race.
Slater topped the practice session earlier in the morning while his championship rival Ugo Ugochukwu struggled.
However, the results only matter in qualifying; everything before that becomes null and void as the chequered flag is waved.
Jin Nakamura led the field out of the pit lane. The opening laps were comfortably over 2 minutes, which is significantly off the 1:46s the drivers posted in practice.
Campos have been strong around Silverstone in F3 historically, coming into Friday as the favourites to take that top spot.
Track limits issues
With over twenty minutes of qualifying left, the field began flying laps. As the times came in, Freddie Slater posted the initial faster time in the low 1:46s. Unfortunately for Slater, he lost the time for crossing the track limits in Turn 9.
It wasn’t just Slater falling victim to track limits, with Ugochukwu and Theophile Nael both having their slates wiped clean at Turns 9 or 13. The top 3 in the Championship going into the second phase of the session with no times.
It was Matteo de Palo who took first place in the opening stages instead, his time of 1:46.383 putting him marginally ahead of Ernesto Rivera.
As the clock ticked down, the field came into the pits to put on new tyres and make any set-up changes before their final runs.
In the final fifteen minutes, drivers began to emerge, with Rivera looking to get out on track first. The Campos driver is sitting more comfortably than his teammates because he got a banker lap.
Rivera crossed the line and jumped to first, but the margins were fine with just 0.03s between them. Maciej Gladysz took the top spot next, before Slater put in a blinding lap at 1:46.233. Notably faster than his earlier deleted lap time.
Ugochukwu crossed the line but was only fast enough to go seventh. However, it was another disaster for the Campos driver, who ran wide in Turn 13 and had his lap time deleted. The Championship leader sat dead last in the order with seven minutes left.
Taito Kato slid into fourth, with the ART driver continuing his strong run of form from the first half of the 2026 season.
Nael also struggled in the second run, getting a lap on the board but only sitting ninth. Leaving it down to the wire for the Campos duo, which sits first and third in the Championship.
With four minutes left in the session, there wasn’t much time to fight for pole.
Slater going for pole
In the final moments, the track was busy as the entire field filed out, looking for that extra time to put them in contention for pole.
De Palo was close behind Nael on his flying lap, with the TRIDENT putting in an impressive first sector. His middle sector wasn’t as fast as his teammate’s, but he managed to cross the line fourth.
Nael crossed the line second, behind Slater, who put in a blinding 1:45.620s with 0.2 seconds separating him from the rest of the field.
Ugochukwu only managed a time fast enough for 12th, putting him in pole position for the Sprint Race with the reverse grid. However, it was celebrations for Slater taking his maiden pole position around his home Grand Prix.
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