Freddie Slater (racing driver): Difference between revisions

British racing driver (born 2008)

Freddie Slater (; born 9 August 2008) is a British racing driver who is set to compete in the FIA Formula 3 Championship for Trident as part of the Audi Driver Development Programme.

Born and raised in Warwickshire, Slater began competitive kart racing aged seven. During his successful karting career—culminating in his victories at the World Championship in 2020 and the European Championship in 2021 (OK-J) and 2023 (KZ2)—Slater graduated to sportscar racing, aged 14. Following multiple titles in Ginettas,^{[note 1]} Slater progressed to junior formulae with his record-breaking 2024 campaign in Italian F4, alongside his victory in F4 UAE. Graduating to Formula Regional in 2025, he won the European Championship and finished runner-up in the Middle East.

Slater was born on 9 August 2008 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.^[1] His father, Adrian Slater, is the owner and managing director of luxury toiletries company Baylis & Harding, which was founded by his paternal grandparents, David Slater and Marcia Simmons, in 1968; his aunt, Tania Fossey (née Slater), also manages the company.^[2] The company previously sponsored Nick Yelloly in the 2015 GP2 Series and the return of Billy Monger in the 2018 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship.^[3][4] His godfather, Mark Sumpter, competed under the Porsche marquee alongside his father.^[5] Slater was raised in Henley-in-Arden alongside his mother, Olivia Slater (née Meredith), two younger brothers—Alfie and Bobby—and two younger sisters—Daisy and Dottie.^[2]

Having grown up with a long-term Porsche competitor as a father, Slater was introduced to karting at an early age and immediately excelled. After receiving his first go-kart aged five, he fell in love with racing and began competitive karting.^[5] Throughout his karting career, Slater won no fewer than nine titles in competitive karting in his native country and on an international level.^[6] Most notably, Slater won the 2020 Junior World Karting Championship, beating the likes of Arvid Lindblad and Ugo Ugochukwu to the title,^[5][7] and the 2021 FIA Karting European Championship by over 30 points.^[8]

Aged 14, Slater debuted in sportscar racing at the Ginetta Junior Championship in 2022. After becoming the youngest-ever driver to win the Winter Trophy,^[9] he also dominated the 2023 championship.^[10]

Slater made his single-seater debut in August 2023 for Double R Racing, in the British Formula 4 Championship, where he finished 4th on his debut establishing the fastest race lap on his third race.^[11] In September, Slater entered the Euro 4 Championship for rounds 2 and 3 with Prema Racing. ^[12] Marking his debut with the team, Slater scored 10th place in the championship with 30 points and one pole-position to his name. Later that month, Slater participated in the Italian F4 Championship during Rounds 6 and 7 with Van Amersfoort Racing.^[13]

In preparation for a full season in Italian F4, Slater competed in Formula 4 UAE with Mumbai Falcons.^[14] Slater ended up taking the championship victory by beating teammate Kean Nakamura-Berta to the title.^[15] In 2024, Slater would race in the Italian F4 Championship full-time with Prema Racing.^[16] With his early-season successes, Autosport listed him as one of five “drivers who could become Britain’s next [Formula One] winners”.^[17] He was crowned as the season’s champion during Race 2 of Round 6 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.^[18]

Slater finished the season with a monumental 15 wins, eleven pole positions, and ten fastest laps. This broke the series record for most wins in a season, which was previously held by Andrea Kimi Antonelli with 13 wins in 2022.^[19] He would also have the largest points margin in the series’ history, with 143 points separating him and runner up Jack Beeton. Slater also raced in the Euro 4 Championship, also with Prema Racing. He finished the season in second, while acquiring two race wins and 106 points.^[16]

In September 2024, Slater was announced to be making his GB3 debut at Donington Park with Rodin Motorsport.^[20] Slater made his Formula Regional debut with SJM Theodore Prema Racing in the 2024 Macau Grand Prix.^[21] Slater would not finish the race due to a final lap crash, but was classified in 13th since he completed over 85% of the race.^[22] Slater was in 4th for most of the race, but crashed into the barriers while attempting a divebomb overtake on Noel León, who was 3rd.^[23]

In preparation for his 2025 FRECA campaign, Slater competed in the Formula Regional Middle East Championship with Mumbai Falcons.^[24] He had a successful start to the season, winning two out of three races and both pole positions during round 1 at the Yas Marina Circuit.^[25][26] During round 4, which was also held at Yas Marina, Slater claimed two more wins and during races one and three.^[27][28] Throughout the season, he was engaged in a title fight with Evan Giltaire of ART Grand Prix, ultimately finishing second in the standings and first in the Rookie Cup, with a total of 228 points and four wins.^[29] Slater stepped up to the Formula Regional European Championship for 2025, continuing with Prema Racing.^[30]

Along with his main campaigns, Slater competed in selected rounds of the 2025 GB3 Championship with Hillspeed.^[31] During the first round at Silverstone Circuit, Slater set the GB3 lap record at the track in qualifying, earning both pole-positions for the round. He proceeded to win two of the three races held, earning the fastest lap for both, with the third race ending in a 13th place finish following a collision with Nikita Johnson.^[32] After skipping the second round, Slater returned for the third round at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. After claiming the fastest laps for Race 1 and Race 2, Slater won the third race from last on the grid following a decision to wear dry-weather tyres on the drying track.^[33]

At the start of 2026, in preparation for his Formula 3 campaign, Slater will contest the Formula Regional Oceania Trophy with M2 Competition.^[34]

In October 2024, Slater partook in the post-season tests in Jerez and Barcelona with Rodin Motorsport.^[35][36] In March 2025, Slater joined AIX Racing to partake in the Bahrain in-season test.^[37] He debuted for the team in Sakhir,^[38] qualifying tenth and finishing second in the reverse-grid sprint race,^{[note 2]} amidst a battle for the lead with Nikola Tsolov;^[40] he retired from the feature race due to damage sustained from an opening-lap collision with Alessandro Giusti.^[41] Slater returned during the eighth round at Spa-Francorchamps with Hitech TGR;^[42] he qualified twelfth, earning him pole position for the sprint, where he struggled with tyre wear and dropped to tenth before receiving 20 seconds of track limits penalties.^[43]

Slater is set to make a full step to FIA Formula 3 for the 2026 season with Trident.^[44]

In January 2026, Slater became the first member of the Audi Driver Development Programme.^[45]

Year	Entrant	Class	Circuit	QH	SH	F
2020	Ricky Flynn Motorsport	OK-J	Portimão	3rd	—N/a	1st
2021	Ricky Flynn Motorsport	OK-J	Campillos	13th	—N/a	2nd
2022	Ricky Flynn Motorsport	OK	Sarno	10th	9th	5th
Source:[48][49][50]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Pos	Points
2020	Ricky Flynn Motorsport	OK-J	ZUE QH 12	ZUE F 12	SAR QH 9	SAR F 2	WAC QH 24	WAC F Ret			7th	26
2021	Ricky Flynn Motorsport	OK-J	GEN QH 2	GEN F 1	ESS QH 1	ESS F (10)	SAR QH 12	SAR F 2	ZUE QH 1	ZUE F 1	1st	99
2022	Ricky Flynn Motorsport	OK	POR SH 14	POR F 7	ZUE SH 31	ZUE F 28	KRI SH 23	KRI F Ret	FRN SH 19	FRN F 19	21st	9
2023	Birel ART Racing	KZ2	ZUE QH 1	ZUE SH 2	ZUE F 2	SAR QH 2	SAR SH 1	SAR F 1			1st	150
Source:[51][52][53][54]

* Season still in progress.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap; ^superscript indicates points for positions gained)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.
^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† As Slater was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap; ^superscript indicates points for positions gained)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of the top-10 finishers)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

* Season still in progress.