Finlay McSporran
Published: 18:29 27th October 2025
The 17-year-old took the title at the final round of the season at Monza, as the series marked it’s 100th race at the weekend.
Slater came into the weekend with a narrow lead of just four points over his rival Matteo De Palo, who needed at least a top seven finish to keep the title alive.
Unfortunately, the Italian received a two-place grid drop for race 1 after impeding another car in qualifying, leaving him in ninth place with a lot of work to do.
Slater, on the other hand, had qualified second behind pole-sitter Evan Giltaire, who beat Slater to the Formula Regional Middle – Eastern championship earlier in the year.
A nightmare start for De Palo in race one saw him pick up front wing damage during the opening skirmishes, which forced him into an unexpected pit-stop.
The only saving grace for the Italian was the deployment of the safety car a few laps into the race, after a big incident which took out Michael Belov, James Egozi, and Hiyu Yamakoshi.
That allowed De Palo to at least re-join the back of the field in P20, but denying Slater the title was verging on impossibility, as the Briton got ever closer to the back of race leader Giltaire.
With two minutes plus a lap still to go, Slater lunged down the inside of Giltaire to take the lead, and was now in prime position to claim the title.
A valiant effort from De Palo saw him climb nine places to finish 11th in the end. However, he was now out of the title fight, as Slater won the race to secure the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine drivers title.
There was another champion crowned in race one, as Dion Gowda wrapped up the rookie title with a P8 finish.
Slater was joined on the podium by second-placed driver Evan Giltaire, and Pedro Clerot who took his seventh podium of the season.
With the title secured and their battle now over, you would expect Slater and De Palo to relax a bit and take in their final race of the season on Sunday
Instead, the two of them locked out the front row for the centennial race of the championship, and the final race of the 2025 season.
They would remain in that order until the end of the race, which ended under safety car after an incident at turn one.
Race two, in a rather fitting way, perfectly represented what we had been watching all season: Drama at both ends of the grid, exciting racing, and through all of it, Freddie Slater and Matteo De Palo coming out on top.
The two of them will be competing alongside each other for Trident in Formula 3 next year.
As for FRECA, the series returns next year with all new car, new tyres, new teams in Rodin and MP Motorsport, as well as a full FIA status, cementing it’s place as one of the most important steps on the road to Formula 1
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