Practice-
Freddie Slater was on it from the green light at Silverstone, setting a 1:46.161 to end Free Practice fastest overall for Trident.
The Briton set his first flying lap time, and his benchmark remained unbeaten throughout, as he was followed by Campos Racing’s Ernesto Rivera and teammate Matteo De Palo in third.
Tuukka Taponen set the initial benchmark time to beat early on, logging a 1:47.652 inside the opening 10 minutes before the track got busier.
Jin Nakamura was next to lead the way, 1:47.337 putting him ahead of Taponen’s initial effort with 30 minutes to run.
Slater was flying from the first lap of his weekend as he went to the top on a 1:46.161, over a half second quicker than next-best Rivera.
The Mexican driver cut the deficit to 0.266s on his next flying lap, with de Palo a further two-tenths back in third place with over 20 minutes to go.
Both Rivera and De Palo delivered improvements with 12 minutes to go, but neither could better Slater’s initial time, closing the gap down to 0.15s and 0.212s respectively whilst staying P2 and P3.
Van Amersfoort Racing teammates Hiyu Yamakoshi and Enzo Deligny continued the team’s impressive performances of late, slotting into fourth and fifth at the midway stage.
Campos Racing teammates Theophile Nael and Ugo Ugochukwu looked set to deliver an improvement in the final five minutes, but a Virtual Safety Car test meant they had to abandon their laps.
Qualifying-
Freddie Slater delivered when it mattered, earning his maiden Aramco Pole Position Award in the Championship and Trident’s first of the 2026 season.
Theophile Nael wound up to P2 with a late lap under pressure having been down in P29 ahead of the final run. Louis Sharp secured third place on the grid for PREMA Racing.
Tyre prep complete and it was an early PREMA 1-2-3 headed by Jose Garfias, but the Trident’s of Slater and Matteo de Palo topped the times after several improvements from others.
The home driver lost his effort though for exceeding track limits at Copse corner to leave the Italian P1 on a 1:46.383, with Ernesto Rivera 0.096s behind in P2.
After a short stint in the pitlane, the drivers returned to the track and De Palo improved to a 1:46.334. But that was shortly beaten by Rivera, who went 0.031s clear to go to provisional pole.
The fast times were coming in thick and fast, as Maciej Gladysz took over at the top with a 1:46.293. But a few moments later Slater beat that time by just 0.061s to take P1.
In the fight for the championship, once again Ugo Ugochukwu and Nael lost their times for breaching track limits, leaving them at the back ahead of their final lap of the day.
With the pressure laps underway, Nael and Slater found time, but it was De Palo who went purple through the first sector.
Through Sector 2 and Slater delivered a session-best middle sector. Nael crossed the line first to go provisional pole, until Slater delivered a 1:45.620 to take top sot on home soil.
Jordan's Track Talk 
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