Monaco, good points with Strømsted in the principality
The FIA Formula 3 Championship returned to the Monaco street circuit, home to the second round of the 2026 season and the category's first European race. In the qualifying session, the thirty drivers were divided into two groups to avoid potential risks due to traffic on the track.
The Trident Motorsport drivers had mixed fortunes. Freddie Slater, second fastest in Group B, was the fastest for the Milan-based team based in Ossona. Noah Strømsted posted the fourth fastest time in Group A, only to be penalized three places on the grid for impeding, while Matteo De Palo posted the twelfth fastest time.
Combining the two rankings and by virtue of the reversal of the top twelve qualifying positions on the Sprint Race starting grid, Noah Strømsted and Freddie Slater started from third and tenth place, respectively, in the shorter race of the Monaco weekend, while Matteo De Palo was forced to start from twenty-fourth.
At the start of the Sprint Race, Strømsted did well to avoid possible contact at the first corner. The eighteen-year-old from Copenhagen managed to pass unscathed, maintaining sixth place at the end of the first lap. Freddie Slater had a good start, gaining a position before the red flag was shown, due to contact at the Loews hairpin.
Matteo De Palo also took advantage of this. The eighteen-year-old from Rome skillfully climbed the order, taking advantage of the first-lap mix-up to move up to fifteenth place.
The restart saw Noah Strømsted maintain sixth place, while Freddie Slater, attempting to overtake at the Lowes braking point, touched a rival, bringing out the safety car. Having slipped to the back of the grid, the seventeen-year-old Englishman was penalized with an additional ten seconds at the end of the race.
Strømsted thus crossed the finish line sixth, while Matteo De Palo concluded his comeback with a solid twelfth place. Now the Trident Motorsport drivers will analyze today's events with the technical staff in the usual preparation work for the Feature Race, scheduled for tomorrow at 7:45 a.m.
Giacomo Ricci: “A Sprint Race held between two neutralizations didn't allow us to fully express our potential. Noah Strømsted's sixth-place finish is a decent result, in line with expectations on a track where the qualifying outcome is crucial. It's a shame about Freddie Slater's contact at the hairpin. Matteo De Palo showed good progression, managing to make up twelve positions over the course of the race. Now we need to be fully focused on preparing for tomorrow's Feature Race, the main race of the weekend.”